Born March 4, 1678 in Venice, Italy.
Died July 28, 1741 in Vienna, Austria.
Winter from the Four Seasons, Opus 8, Number 4
Published: 1725.
Instrumentation: Solo violin, strings, and continuo.
Duration: ~9 min.
The Paintings That Inspired Vivaldi These landscape paintings by Marco Ricci are similar to the ones that Antonio Vivaldi saw that inspired him to compose The Four Seasons. “ ‘The Four Seasons’ concertos were inspired by four paintings of the seasons by the artist Marco Ricci.” (See image below) because of this, these 4 Concertos are classified as Programme music. This is music that is used to tell a story or paints a picture in the audience’s mind about what is.
Antonio Vivaldi received his early musical training from his father Giovanni, who was a professional violinist at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. Giovanni used the surname Rossi, which implies that the red hair which gave Antonio the nickname “il prete rosso” (The red priest) was hereditary. Antonio was ordained as a priest in 1703, but was essentially thrown out for “conduct unbecoming a priest” (whatever that could be) in 1737.
Inspired by the landscape paintings of artist, Marco Ricci, Vivaldi penned four poems that drive the movements of his most famous work. Their translations, below, are nowhere near as eloquent to the modern listener’s ear, but you’ll find that reading them along with your favorite recording of the Four Seasons will corroborate Professor. The inspiration for the artist came from the landscape paintings by Marco Ricci- Italian artist, who composed Four Seasons painting between 1720 and 1723. In this masterpiece, Vivaldi made a place for sounds of instruments like violins, violas, cellos, bass and a harpsichord. Although the exact details behind the inspiration for Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons) remains a mystery, many music historians believe it was written during the years Vivaldi spent in Mantua There are also suggestions he was inspired by the sonnets that accompany the text.
In 1703 Vivaldi became the Maestro di Violino at the Seminario Musicale dell’Ospedale della Pietà in Venice which was an institution for orphaned or abandoned girls. The all-girl orchestra became quite famous and a bit of a tourist attraction. Besides his teaching duties, Vivaldi wrote a great deal of music for these young musicians, including hundreds of concerti.
Vivaldi wrote music in many genres including 46 Operas, oratorios, cantatas, sundry church music, and sonatas, but he is best known for his concerti – the solo concerto in particular.
The snarky comment that “Vivaldi composed the same concerto 400 times” is amusing, but the simple fact that no less than J.S. Bach held Vivaldi’s concerti in such esteem that he transcribed and arranged many of them, shows that it is unfair.
What we know as the Four Seasons was part of a larger collection of concerti entitled Il Cimento dell’Armonia e dell’Invenzione (“The Contest Between Harmony and Invention”). The collection was published in 1725 as his Opus number 8. Each of these four concerti are for solo violin with strings and continuo, and each are three movements that are fast, slow, then fast.
The three movements in the Winter concerto are marked:
I Allegro non molto
II Largo
III Allegro
The phrase “program music” still had to wait 200 years for Liszt to invent. But Vivaldi was indeed inspired by non musical sources. Vivaldi wrote that one of his inspirations for the Four Seasons was the landscape paintings by Marco Ricci (1676–1730) . Vivaldi included descriptive sonnets before each concerto in the published score. It is probable that he wrote them himself. Each line of the sonnet is enumerated as a letter, which is printed at the top of the staves of the music. This creates a clear connection for us between the imagery of the words and music. There are many wonderful musical illustrations describing teeth chattering, foot stamping, and strong winds. I particularly like his depiction of rain in the middle slow movement. The pizzicato strings play at different speeds just like rain drops.
Sonneto Dimostrativo sopra il concerto intitolato L’Inverno
| L’Inverno | Winter |
| Allegro non molto | |
| Aggiacciato tremar trà nevi algentí Al Severo Spirar d’ orrido Vento, Correr battendo i piedi ogni momento; E pel Soverchio gel batter i denti; | Frozen and shivering in the icy snow. In the strong blasts of a terrible wind To run stamping one’s feet at every step With one’s teeth chattering through the cold. |
| Largo | |
| Passar al foco i di quieti e contenti Mentre la pioggia fuor bagna ben cento Caminar Sopra il giaccio, e à passo lento Per timor di cader gersene intenti; | To spend the quiet and happy days by the fire Whilst outside the rain soaks everyone. To walk on the ice with slow steps And go carefully for fear of falling. |
| Allegro | |
| Gir forte Sdruzziolar, cader à terra Di nuove gir Sopra ‘l giaccio e correr forte Sin ch’ il giaccio si rompe, e si disserra; | To go in haste, slide and fall down: To go again on the ice and run, Until the ice cracks and open. |
| Sentir uscir dalle ferrate porte Sirocco Borea, e tutti i Venti in guerra Quest’ é ‘l verno, mà tal, che gioia apporte. | To hear leaving their iron-gated house Sirocco, Boreas and all the winds in battle: This is winter, but it brings joy. |
It is hard for us to believe now that Vivaldi was “forgotten” until after World War II. Actually he wasn’t totally forgotten. In particular the Primavera concerto was always around and rearranged. But in the past 60 years his popularity has skyrocketed, in no small part due to The Four Seasons. A current search at a popular online music store will return over 12,000 matches for The Four Seasons alone! Even better, his lost scores continue to be discovered and performed. Recently a Czech harpsichordist, Ondrej Macek, discovered the score to most of his opera Argippo. It was performed in 2008 for the first time since 1730!
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B011NBHV4C][amazon template=iframe image&asin=B000002994]
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=0634078976][amazon template=iframe image&asin=048628638X][amazon template=iframe image&asin=048640644X]
Jonathan Crow, leader & violin
Available to view March 26–April 15, 2021
Gabriela Lena Frank
“Coqueteos” from Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout
Read Gabriela Lena Frank’s bio on the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music website.
Work Composed: 2001
Watch the composer’s introduction to this performance.
Dinuk Wijeratne
“A letter from the After-life” from Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems
Read Dinuk Wijeratne’s bio on his website.
Work Composed: 2015
Watch the composer’s introduction to this performance.
Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 8
I. Concerto in E Major (“Spring”)
II. Concerto in G Minor (“Summer”)
III. Concerto in F Major (“Autumn”)
IV. Concerto in F Minor (“Winter”)
Born: Venice, Italy, Mar 4, 1678
Died: Vienna, Austria, Jul 28, 1741
Composed: 1716–1717
Program Note
The Four Seasons was published in 1725, by the Dutch firm headed by Michel-Charles Le Cène, as the first four in a collection of 12 violin concertos bearing the overall title Il cimento dell’ armonia e dell’ inventione (The Contest Between Harmony and Invention), Op. 8.
In his lifetime, Vivaldi’s busy and productive career as composer, violinist, and teacher drew its due share of acclaim, not least for his pioneering role in the rise of the concerto. As might be expected, of his 500-plus concertos, more than 200 focus on his own instrument—the violin.
His reputation, however, suffered a severe lapse following his death, returning to widespread currency only during the years following the Second World War. During that 220-year “down time,” virtually his only piece to remain in the standard repertoire was The Four Seasons, its popularity based to a great degree on its accessibility as programmatic (descriptive) music, an area in which Vivaldi was also a pioneer.
In the Le Cène 1725 first edition, the solo violin part included four sonnets—based on a set of paintings of the four seasons by Marco Ricci, an Italian artist of the Baroque period—likely written by Vivaldi himself. There is one sonnet for each concerto, with block letters printed to the left of each sonnet to indicate where Vivaldi saw the movements of the concerto in relation to specific lines in the text. As such, the sonnets themselves serve well as “composer’s notes” on the structure of the four concertos, and are provided in translation on the next page.
Program note by Don Anderson
A Note on the Petrarchan Sonnet Form
Unlike the Shakespearean sonnet, which is based on three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet, the so-called “Petrarchan” (Francesco Petrarca 1304–1374) sonnet, with which Vivaldi would have been intimately familiar, is based on an eight-line opening stanza (the octave), usually rhymed ABBA ABBA, which sets a scene, states a problem, or establishes an overall context. It is followed by a more flexibly rhymed sestet which acts on the octave in some way, or presents some counterpoint to it. Vivaldi works intricately within (and occasionally against) this Petrarchan sonnet form in terms of the breaks between movements in these four concertos.
These translations are based on those to be found in the entry on The Four Seasons Sonnets at en.wikisource.org.
The Four Seasons Sonnets
Spring (Concerto in E Major)
Allegro
Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are
softly caressed by the breezes.
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar,
casting their dark mantle over heaven.
Then they die away to silence,
and the birds take up their magical songs once more.
Largo
On the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy branches
rustling overhead, the goat-herd sleeps,
his faithful dog beside him.
Allegro
Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes,
nymphs and shepherds lightly dance
beneath the brilliant canopy of spring.
Summer (Concerto in G Minor)
Allegro non molto
Under a hard season, fired up by the sun
Man and flock both languish, and pine trees burn.
We hear the cuckoo’s voice; followed by
sweet songs of turtledove and finch.
Soft breezes stir the air, but, threatening,
the North Wind sweeps them suddenly aside.
The shepherd trembles,
fearing violent storms and his fate.
Adagio e piano – Presto e forte
The fear of lightning and fierce thunder
Robs his tired limbs of rest
As gnats and flies buzz furiously around.
Marco Ricci Four Seasons Paintings For Sale
Presto
Alas, his fears were justified
The Heavens thunder and roar; and hail
Cuts off the heads of the wheat, and damages the grain.
Autumn (Concerto in F Major)
Allegro
The peasant celebrates with songs and dances
the pleasure of a bountiful harvest.
And fired up by Bacchus’s liquor,
many end their revelry in sleep.
Adagio molto
Everyone is made to forget their cares and made to sing and dance
By the air which is tempered with pleasure
And (by) the season that invites so many, many
Out of sweetest slumber to blissful enjoyment.
Allegro
The hunters emerge at the new dawn,
And with horns and dogs and guns depart upon their hunting.
The wild beast flees and they follow its trail;
Terrified and tired by the great noise
of guns and dogs, the wounded beast,
tries futilely to flee, but harried, dies.
Marco Ricci Md
Winter (Concerto in F Minor)
Allegro non molto
To tremble from cold in the icy snow,
In the harsh breath of a horrid wind;
To run, stamping one’s feet every moment,
Teeth chattering in the extreme cold.
Largo
Before the fire to pass peaceful, contented days
while the rain outside pours down.
Allegro
We tread the icy path slowly and cautiously,
for fear of tripping and falling.
Then turn abruptly, slip, crash on the ground,
And rising, hasten on across the ice in case it cracks.
We feel the chill north winds course through the home
despite its locked and bolted doors...
This is winter, which, nevertheless,
brings its own delights.