The Four Seasons Essay

On 1st September, 1725, I attended a performance of “The Four Seasons”, a concerto by the Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi at the Pieta. The composer, often known locally as the “Red priest” (Heller, 1997) for his ostensibly red hair and ordainment, wrote the piece in 1723 in Mantua; Italy’s music sure seems to be increasing in its grandeur. However, I would doubt the sincerity of Vivaldi’s concertos; ever since Corelli these instrumental pieces are pumped out massively for the aristocracy (Michalik, 1998). However, I trust my colleague at Venice, who states the vivacious implementation of melodies are quite like no other person he’s seen in this style. Henceforth, I shall keep an open mind, as the use of solo instruments should be interesting
However, the embellishments of the theme that intrigued me the most were in the final concerto which represented winter. Set in the key of F minor, the first ritornello has an opening chord accompaniment playing quite dissonant; coinciding with that, the violin melody soars in high and low pitches where the violins rapid speed and dynamic shrills shows the virtuosity and contextualisation that seems distinct in Vivaldi’s music (Talbot, 2001). The solo episode is virtuosic, interrupted by loud tremolos from string accompaniment. During the second section, what I found interesting was each movement’s relationship to a fast-slow-fast paradigm, jumping from major key changes while connecting to the main themes. For instance, the second section makes us feel content with winter, where the pizzicato accompaniment and the transition to the E flat major key provides an dualistic relationship to winter prior to the first section; we hate it yet we love the aesthetic of it. It also suggests to me the feelings of winter to those privileged to be in the comfort of their homes and those that lay out in the cold (Heller, 1997). The E flat major then revolts to a C minor key, creating further humanistic tendencies between the