Yo! - Vivaldi's The Four Seasons

L O C A L

WEB

LOCAL

Search Tool > Local Links > Music > Vivaldi's The Four Seasons

WHERE WERE YOU WHEN

BACK

YOU FIRST HEARD THIS?

Antonio Lucio VIVALDI, 1678-1741. Venicean violinist and composer. More». His best known work is The Four Seasons, made up of four violin concertos, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Each concerto contains three movements, some of which you will intantly recognise (unless you're a trainee judge). For each movement Vivaldi wrote a sonnet, found in the right-hand column Enjoy...

PUBLISHED - July 2007

Spring "La Primavera"... 1st movement (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 charming songs once more.

Spring... 2nd movement (Largo)

On the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy branches rustling overhead, the goat-herd sleeps, his faithful dog beside him.

Spring... 3rd movement (Allegro)

Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes, nymphs and shepherds lightly dance beneath the brilliant canopy of spring.

Summer "L'Estate"... 1st movement (Allegro non molto)

Under a hard Season, fired up by the Sun
Languishes man, languishes the flock and burns the pine.
We hear the cuckoo's voice; then sweet songs of the turtledove and finch are heard.
Soft breezes stir the air... but threatening north wind sweeps them suddenly aside.
The shepherd trembles, fearing violent storms and his fate.

Summer... 2nd movement (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.

Summer... 3rd movement (Presto)

Alas, his fears were justified
The Heavens thunders and roar and majestically
Cuts the head off the wheat and damages the grain.

Autumn "L'Autunno"... 1st movement (Allegro)

Celebrates the peasant, with songs and dances,
The pleasure of a bountiful harvest.
And fired up by Bacchus' liquor, many end their revelry in sleep.

Autumn... 2nd movement (Adagio molto)

Everyone is made to forget their cares and to sing and dance
By the air which is tempered with pleasure
And (by) the season that invites so many, many
Out of their sweetest slumber to fine enjoyment.

Autume... 3rd movement (Allegro)

The hunters emerge at the new dawn,
And with horns and dogs and guns depart upon their hunting
The beast flees and they follow its trail;
Terrified and tired of the great noise
Of guns and dogs, the beast, wounded, threatens
Languidly to flee, but harried, dies.

Winter "L'Inverno"... 1st movement (Allegro non molto)

Shivering, frozen mid the frosty snow in biting, stinging winds;
running to and fro to stamp one's icy feet, teeth chattering in the bitter chill.

Winter... 2nd movement (Largo)

To rest contentedly beside the hearth, while those outside are drenched by pouring rain.

Winter... 3rd movement (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 lest it cracks up.
We feel the chill north winds course through the home despite the locked and bolted doors...
this is winter, which nonetheless brings its own delights.