The fear of lightning and fierce thunder Robs his tired limbs of rest As gnats and flies buzz furiously around.Īntonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons: Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. And, to make it worse, the flies have come out to bother him and his flock. The shepherd is still on the hill, but he cannot rest for fear of the approaching storm. Allegro non moto (Michel Schwalbé, violin Eberhard Finke, cello Horst Göbel, harpsichord Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Herbert von Karajan, cond.)
The shepherd trembles, fearing violent storms and his fate.Īntonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. Soft breezes stir the air, but, threatening, the North Wind sweeps them suddenly aside. We hear the cuckoo’s voice followed by sweet songs of turtledove and finch. Under a hard season, fired up by the sun Man and flock both languish, and pine trees burn. The winds come, but it’s not really to comfort but to put some drama into the air. The poetry keeps the focus on the countryside, with the shepherds up in the hills, seeking relief from the sun under the sparse trees.
Surprisingly, the work is in G minor, which gives us a hint that all is not pleasant summer play. Vivaldi uses the contrast between the still hot day and the violence of the storms to break up the work and make it more dramatic than one might have supposed simply from the title. The hot days, the soft breezes, the occasional thunderstorm to break up the stillness. In the middle of Act I, there’s a short little sinfonia, and we can hear what Vivaldi did with the theme from the first movement of his new concerto.Īntonio Vivaldi: Giustino – Act I: Sinfonia: Allegro (Alessandro Stradella Consort Estévan Velardi, cond.)Ĭontinuing through the seasons, we come to the most anticipated one: Summer. Martin in the Fields Neville Marriner, cond.)Īs a side note, if we take a look at Vivaldi’s opera Giustino, which was written in 1723 and had its premiere in January 1724 in Rome during carnival season, we’ll see an echo of The Four Seasons, which had been written 3 years earlier. Allegro (Alan Loveday, violin Academy of St. 1, RV 269, “La primavera” (Spring) – III. Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes, nymphs and shepherds lightly dance beneath the brilliant canopy of spring.Īntonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in E Major, Op. The dancers make their moves, with the occasional virtuosic turn, and everyone celebrates spring. Hearing the droning of bagpipes in the lower strings, we know we’re at a country dance. Martin in the Fields Neville Marriner, cond.) Largo (Alan Loveday, violin Academy of St. On the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy branches rustling overhead, the goat-herd sleeps, his faithful dog beside him.Īntonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in E Major, Op. The slow second movement seems to depict things that aren’t in the poem – what’s that recurring sound – an unseen bird? Branches hitting together? No matter, it’s a slow and sleepy warm afternoon. Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their magical songs once more.Īntonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in E Major, Op. Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven. The birds celebrate her return with festive song, and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes. It’s dancing and happy, the birds are singing in the voice of the violins, and even when we have the arrival of the thunderstorm, we know it’s only a temporary diversion from the beauty of the season. No Ricci paintings have been identified by Vivaldi scholars as being the inspiration for Vivaldi. The conjecture, frequently encountered online and in program notes that Vivaldi was also inspired by a lost seasonal cycle of paintings by Marco Ricci, seems to have arisen in the 1970s after an article making general style comparisons between Vivaldi and Ricci. It is not known if Vivaldi was the author of the poetry or someone else, but the match between the music and the poetry was unique. One unusual detail about these four works was that Vivaldi also published poetry with each concerto. Marco Ricci: Landscape with Mountain and Figures © Toronto Symphony Orchestra
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