This interlude by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg comes from a much larger work based on a play by fellow countryman Henrik Ibsen. So jump-start your ears with these sometimes bright and breezy, sometimes riveting and relentless bits of music…and be sure to listen for musical illustrations of seasonal sounds like singing birds or rolling thunder along the way. From the gentle and graceful to the powerful and exciting, these works, like the season they represent, are full of expectation and inspiration. Rise and shine and get ready for these spring-themed works designed to evoke thoughts of new beginnings and endless possibilities. Why should you listen to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”? For example, Spring’s famous refrain is upbeat and “joyous,” while Winter’s characteristic ritornello is furious and forceful.
Oh, and as if that weren’t enough, each concerto occasionally inserts a ritornello (a musical “refrain” that repeats over and over, pronounced ree-torn-EL-oh) that helps listeners settle into the general sentiment of the season. That rumbling in the cellos in Winter? That’s supposed to represent a winter storm. Hear those trills (i.e., vibrating sounds) from the violin in Spring? Those are meant to be birds singing in springtime. What’s even more of a big deal is that Four Seasons helps you create some incredibly “detailed” mental pictures by casting certain instruments as “characters” or as elements of nature. Before Vivaldi, purely instrumental music rarely had a story blueprint or “program” to go along with it. What’s the big deal, you ask? The big deal is that this was a pretty new concept in Vivaldi’s day. What makes Four Seasons so special, however, isn’t its size (twelve movements total!) it’s that it manages to tell a story and capture specific scenes without the help of words…kind of like a musical painting.
Concertos were Vivaldi’s specialty-works in three movements, usually written for one solo instrument and a backup ensemble. In Four Seasons, winter, spring, summer, and fall each get their own concerto composed for a violin soloist, a group of string instruments, and a keyboard. Before we look at each season individually, let’s pause to consider one of the few classical pieces that was bold enough to tackle all of them in one go: Antonio Vivaldi’s set of four baroque concertos best known as the Four Seasons.
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