Since then, Vivaldi’s masterwork has never stopped inspiring new variations.Īs a reference point, let’s start with a recent performance using Vivaldi’s original score, a Warner Music release by the Janaček Chamber Orchestra and violin soloist Bohuslav Matoušek under the direction of Zdenek Dejmek. He indicated on the score that one could substitute a hurdy-gurdy if one preferred. The earliest known arrangement of the Seasons for alternate instrumentation dates all the way back to 1739, when French composer Nicholas Chédeville reconceived the solo lines to feature his own specialty, the musette (small, delicate-sounding bagpipes with two chanters and a bellows under the elbow). This kind of extra-musical reference was avant-garde at the time, and the reception to the work varied widely, from adulation to mockery. He also added dramatic cues on individual parts, such as “Dog barking” during a viola passage in the “Spring” concerto. The composer may have written the sonnets himself, although that is still under debate.
With that level of saturation, it’s not surprising that a number of recent attempts have focused on rethinking this timeless work.Īntonio Vivaldi’s most famous composition, first published in 1725, is a set of four violin concertos, considered “programmatic” music in that each is paired with a sonnet about one of the four seasons of the year. A quick search of Spotify yielded over 500 versions, and the results hadn’t even finished loading. Vivaldi uses pizzicato violins to represent the rain (slightly gentile to afford a drenching, it must be said!) over which the solo violin weaves one of his most beautiful melodies.The Four Seasons is one of the most-recorded works in all of classical music. To rest contentedly beside the hearth, while those outside are drenched by pouring rain. The second movement of Winter has the following line appended: The Four Seasons is by far the most popular of these and was accompanied by specially writtensonnets (by Vivaldi, it is believed) that point to the various images described by the music.
Winter by vivaldi trial#
Published in Amsterdam in 1725, his opus 8, Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'invenzione (The trial of harmony and invention), consisted of twelve concerti, seven of which were descriptive: The Four Seasons, Storm at Sea, Pleasure and The Hunt. In fact, his conditions of employment stated that if he managed to write two concerti a month, it meant his presence on a daily basis was not required, so he was able to combine this post with that of director of the Teatro Sant' Angelo. Most of Vivaldi's concerti were intended for performance by his many talented pupils there. Often termed an orphanage, the Ospedale was in fact a home for the illegitimate female offspring of noblemen and was thus well endowed by the anonymous fathers.
Born in Venice on March 4th, 1678, Vivaldi was employed for most of his working life by the Ospedale della Pietà.
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