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Antonio Vivaldi's The Four Seasons

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Vivaldi’s violin concerto The Four Seasons (1725) is an excellent example of the music of the Baroque era. The Baroque era was a time of artistic revolution. Virtuosic concertos, especially for stringed instruments like the violin, were great examples of this. Antonio Vivaldi was known for his work on such pieces - his most well known set of concertos is considered The Four Seasons.

During the baroque era, it was quite common for musical pieces to tell stories, or invoke specific emotions, also known as ‘program music.’ It was intended to tell a story, and Vivaldi became a legend in the style. The Four Seasons does this wonderfully. In fact, there were sonnets that go along with the piece, describing each season. The piece titled Summer, …show more content…
A tired melody that makes the listener want to take a cat nap in the sun. It is a calming tune, that properly depicts the emotions of a warm summer day:

Soft breezes stir the air….but threatening north wind sweeps them suddenly aside. The shepherd trembles, fearful of violent storm and what may lie ahead.

The music momentarily picks up, bringing a sense of underlying fear into the previously calmed the air. As quickly as the music picked up, it is back to the calming melody. This pattern repeats itself, truly throwing the listeners around, in and out of fear, as the sonnet depicts. These beautiful crescendos bring a sense of foreboding, even though the listeners is not truly in the path of the storm:

His limbs are now awakened from their repose by fear of lightning's flash and thunder's roar, as gnats and flies buzz furiously around.

Alas, his worst fears were justified, as the heavens roar and great hailstones beat down upon the proudly standing corn.

The music is back to it’s slow melody, with short sudden outbursts of aggressive crescendo. Suddenly, the music is altogether more aggressive. This is the most commonly played part of the Summer music. It is loud, fast, and assertive. It beautifully depicts the summer storm that Vivaldi wrote about in his

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