Antonio VivaldiFour Seasons -

SummerForrest Labrum

Music 1010

Early Life• Born in 1678 in Venice,

Italy

• Father was an accomplished violinist and taught his son

• Toured Venice with his father

• Became an ordained priest for a short time

Church where Vivaldi was baptized

The Ospedale• Brought on as the

maestro di violin at the Ospedale della Pietà

• Gained prominence as a writer for the Ospedale

• Made music director in 1716

Ospedale della Pietà

Kappelmesiter• Relocates to Mantua to

become Kappelmeister for Philips van Hesse-Darmstadt in 1717

• Wrote Teuzzone and Tito Manlio in this time period

The Four Seasons• Returned to Venice in

1720 for several years

• Published Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione in this time

• Wrote his arguably most famous work, The Four Seasons

Death• Spent most of the last

decade of his life travelling

• Settled in Vienna in 1741

• Died in Vienna of an internal infection July 27/28, 1741

The Four Seasons Summer

Composition HistoryAnd

Listening Guide

History

• Written in 1723 while Vivaldi was in Venice• Included with several other concerti in Il

cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione

• Part of four concerti for each season• Each concerto includes a sonnet by an

unknown author, broken into 3 sections to go with the movements of each concerto

Summer Sonnet Movement One

In the harsh season scorched by the sun, man and flock languish, and the pine is on fire; the cuckoo begins to call and soon after, the turtledove and the goldfinch are heard singing. Zephyr [the west wind] gently blows, but Boreas [the north wind] suddenly enters into a contest with its neighbor, and the little shepherd weeps for he hears the awesome threatening storm and his fate.

Summer SonnetMovement Two

To his tired limbs rest is denied by the fear of lightning, awesome thunder, and the furious swarm of flies and hornets!

Summer SonnetMovement Three

Alas, his fears are justified. The sky is filled with thunder and lightning and hail cuts down the proud grain.

Listening Guide• 0:00 – Summer begins with the

ensemble emulating the sound of a cuckoo. This is the beginning of the first of three movements within the piece, and is played Allegro.

• 0:17 – The first theme is expanded upon.

• 0:33 – The violins begin descending arpeggios and are followed by the lower register nearly mirroring them

• 0:50 – The original theme is repeated.

• 1:15 – This is where the lead violin shows itself. The solo violin plays a new melody while the other instruments provide a slow chord accompaniment in the background.

• 1:51 – The new theme is repeated, but this time the full ensemble plays along with the solo violin

• 1:58 – Once again, the original theme is repeated.

• 2:14 – A long, low, quiet note is played in the background as the solo violin plays over it. The distinctly minor sound gives a dark, almost foreboding feeling to the violin.

• 2:40 – The violin begins a series of trills to set up the piece for the next theme

• 2:52 – A new theme begins, with some violins providing a more staccato rhythmic accompaniment, while others play a new melody

Listening Guide (cont.)• 3:09 – The whole ensemble enters

strongly.

• 3:20 – Everything quiets down but soon becomes louder again, only to return to quiet. This effect creates a certain musical chaos that helps to make the next theme have more of an impact and not feel too repetitive.

• 3:36 – The main theme is repeated, in a different key. The first theme has really become a solid place for repetition to occur and serves to tie together the whole movement.

• 3:50 – A new theme starts, similar in form to those found earlier. It continues the trend of being slow with a lead violin providing a counterpoint to the slowly descending notes in the accompaniment, played by a viola in this case.

• 4:53 – The earlier theme is repeated, including the fluctuations in intensity. It is then expanded upon and played forcefully by all instruments until its conclusion on one powerful note.

• 5:27 – The second movement begins. This movement consists nearly entirely of violin. It is played slowly with the violin section providing a simple chord accompaniment with a relatively static progression to the slow, haunting solo violin. This movement can be interpreted as going with the sonnet, and being a sort of calm before the storm as the shepherd in the story realizes there’s no escaping the storm and the fear is setting in. This movement is played Adagio and doesn’t change much the whole way through.

Listening Guide (cont.)• 5:42 – The only variation of the movement, all

of the strings simply hit one note quickly. It’s played a few times through, and foreshadows the next movement.

• 5:47 – Solo violin restarts its melody and the other violins go back to giving accompaniment.

• 7:13 – The final variation is played and brings the movement to an end, ready to break the anticipation.

• 7:31 – Movement 3 of Summer begins, bringing with it the dramatic storm in the sonnet. The beginning of this movement is instantly recognizable, with the ensemble playing a fast repetition on the same note with a different note being played every twelfth note. The movement is played Presto.

• 7:42 – Two violins echo blistering runs of each other while the rest of the ensemble continues the choppy playing as before, but with variations in note choice.

• 8:06 – A new section is introduced, starting with repetition of melody with octave changes. The section quickly raises in pitch and intensity and is finished off with another fantastic violin run that ties the section into the next theme.

• 8:22 – This is basically just revisiting the original theme with a variation. The lead violin plays a slight variation on the first theme then leads the ensemble into a new theme.

• 8:41 – A new theme begins with the violins providing a strong lead, with the lower instruments going through their own runs, which the violins come to play an inverted version of.

• 9:01 – The whole ensemble fluidly transfers back to the first theme, making it the first true repetition.

• 9:22 – After a brief section of arpeggios on the violin, a more complex variation on the original theme is played.

Listening Guide (cont.)• 9:42 – The first echoing violin runs are

repeated, then finished off with a trill that moves into new, equally intense, solo violin runs.

• 10:05 – The whole ensemble joins together to play one final theme, with the pitch arching up and then back down to end on one final, sustained note from everyone.

Bibliography• Heller, Karl. Antontio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice. (Hong

Kong: Amadeus Press, 1997.) Print.• Talbot, Michael. Vivaldi. (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd.,

1978.) Print.• Oron, Aryeh. "Antonio Vivaldi (Composer)." Web. 7 Feb 2012.

<http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Vivaldi.htm>.• Gengaro, Christine. "Program Notes: Four Seasons." Los

Angeles Chamber Orchestra. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb 2012. <http://www.laco.org/performances/116/?program=1>.

•  Wright, Steve (23 August 1999). "Not quite Vivaldi: Nigel Kennedy remembers Hendrix". CNN.