Classics Explained: Vivaldi - The Four Seasons

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An Introduction to … VIVALDI: The 4 Seasons (more info)
Composed by: Antonio Vivaldi
Jeremy Siepmann, reader


1.   Introduction: Opening, upward-pointing figure - 1:33
2.   Answering, downward figure completes the phrase - 0:22
3.   Beginning of dialogue - 0:25
4.   The nature of musical conversation; repetition; ' echo ' effect - 1:26
5.   Upward pointing to one ' target ' note - 0:40
6.   ' Answer ' points to two, downward notes - 0:11
7.   Same idea repeated 3 times - 0:19
8.   The first Solo section: birdsong from three soloists, not one - 1:53
9.   Repeat of ' two-pronged ' theme in orchestra - 0:22
10.   Orchestra depicts murmuring stream, but still there's no real melody - 0:51
11.   Further illustrative ' water studies ' - 0:32
12.   Orchestra erupts into thunderstorm - 0:27
13.   Orchestral thunder, virtuosic ' lightning ' from soloist - but still no ' tune ' - 0:54
14.   Soloistic ' birds ' return to the air - 0:41
15.   Variant of opening theme, with ' argument ' between two notes, one high, one low - 0:25
16.   Cue to First Movement - 0:20
17.   First Movement (Complete) - 3:29
18.   Scene setting and Main Theme of Second Movement - 1:56
19.   Analytical comment and Main Theme again - 0:57
20.   Main Theme varied - 0:41
21.   Further variation, tracing slow, descending scale-steps - 0:43
22.   Analytical discussion of ' pace ' and ' tempo ' ; further variant of main theme - 2:51
23.   Vivaldi springs a surprise, reversing direction and heightening tension - 0:44
24.   Analytical cue to Second Movement - 0:44
25.   Second Movement (Complete) - 2:35
26.   Undercover ' bagpipes ' initiate the finale - 1:05
27.   Second part of Main Theme: new notes, same rhythm - 0:18
28.   An ' echo ' with a difference - 0:23
29.   Reminder of ' echoed ' phrase in its original form - 0:12
30.   Surprise variant provides springboard into new descending four-note pattern - 0:19
31.   Unexpected, ' flowing ' entrance of soloist - 0:36
32.   The use of ' sequence ' in first extended solo - 1:21
33.   Vivaldi prepares expectation... - 0:19
34.   ... and frustrates it by bringing in a new theme, using his four-note ' motto ' - 1:07
35.   Violins accompanied by flowing ' commentary ' in lower strings - 0:34
36.   Soloist returns with new variant - 0:36
37.   Pace slows as violins trace another four-note scalewise descent - 0:24
38.   The peasants return with the main theme, which turns unexpectedly downward - 0:47
39.   Intensification as harmonies change under broad, descending four-note ' motto ' - 0:37
40.   Mini-earthquake transformed into harmonic landslide - 0:46
41.   Critical mood-change in soloist's lonely soliloquy - 0:42
42.   Cue to restoration of main theme in its entirety as the movement ends - 0:22
43.   Third Movement (complete) - 4:15
44.   Scene setting and opening of First Movement - 0:34
45.   Expanded groups of answering phrase - 0:24
46.   Upper and lower strings alternately succumb to lethargy - 0:49
47.   As in ' Spring ', soloist enters with birdsong - 0:34
48.   Orchestra hijacks soloist's material - 0:40
49.   Soloist returns,first as turtle-dove, then as goldfinch - 0:50
50.   Gentle breezes give away to North Wing - 1:03
51.   The storm subsides; soloist enters as weeping peasant boy - 1:00
52.   Movement ends as storm returns - 0:17
53.   First Movement (complete) - 5:20
54.   Second movement opens with extremecontrasts - 1:34
55.   Second Movement (complete) - 2:28
56.   Stormy Weather; thunder - 0:37
57.   Lightning from upper strings - 0:22
58.   More lightning: ' heat ' lightning from violins, ' fork ' lightning from violas - 0:24
59.   Torrential rain, depicted by entire orchestra - 0:46
60.   Deferred entry of solo violin, in virtuoso vein - 0:54
61.   Peasant's failing resolve as violin spirals down - 0:21
62.   Nature triumphant; soloist draws on orchestra's 'rain' music - 1:35
63.   The peasant's capitulation - 0:23
64.   Third Movement (complete) - 3:03

An Introduction to … VIVALDI: The 4 Seasons (more info)
Composed by: Antonio Vivaldi
Jeremy Siepmann, reader


1.   Repetitiousness and folk music; the movement's opening - 1:17
2.   Secondary theme, a closely related development of the first - 0:28
3.   Solo entry restates the opening theme, ' double-stopping ' - 1:05
4.   Unexpectedly, a new theme where a repeat might be expected - 0:36
5.   The soloist as ' drunkard ' - 0:45
6.   Further violinistic slips and slides - 0:15
7.   Orchestra re-enters with main theme, but is interrupted by the drunkard - 0:18
8.   Other drunks join in ' dialogue ' with the orchestra - 1:01
9.   The orchestral peasants continue their dancing, but things have changed - 0:57
10.   Enter another drunk, courtesy of the virtuoso soloist - 0:40
11.   The dance breaks up - 0:38
12.   The drunkard interrupts again, then falls asleep, breathing heavily - 0:56
13.   Conversation amongst the sober peasants leads to their final dance - 0:24
14.   First Movement (complete) - 4:46
15.   Scene-setting for Second Movement - 1:08
16.   Second Movement (complete) - 2:45
17.   Similarities between the Third Movement and the First - 1:06
18.   Expectation and surprise: Vivaldi tacks on one bar too many - 0:27
19.   A case of predictable unpredictablity: novelty and repetition - 0:36
20.   Soloist's double-stopping depicts hunting horns - 0:34
21.   Orchestra yields to unexpected display of virtuosity by soloist - 0:38
22.   Soloist suddenly takes the part of the fleeing beast - 0:25
23.   Symmetrical paralels with First Movement: ' beast ' / ' drunkard ' etc - 0:47
24.   Death of the quarry, end of the movement - 0:17
25.   Third Movement (complete) - 3:13
26.   Orchestral strings enter, part by part; soloist depicts the biting wind - 1:24
27.   Wind subsides and returns, tormenting the trudgers through the snow - 0:53
28.   Soloist depicts snow flurries - 0:27
29.   Soloist's flurries interrupted by six blasts of orchestral wind - 0:32
30.   Teeth chattering, and with stamping feet, the travellers finally reach their goal - 1:54
31.   Cue to First Movement as a whole - 0:11
32.   First Movement (complete) - 3:24
33.   Soloist's ' aria ' accompanied by pizzicato ' raindrops ' - 0:37
34.   A sequence of simple scales, accompanied by opening rhythm - 0:33
35.   Two scalewise ideas for the price of one: foreground and background - 0:52
36.   New, rising scale-pattern unfurled with ever-greater breadth - 0:36
37.   The pace increases eight-fold in concluding downwards scale - 0:36
38.   Against an unvarying tempo, the pace is repeatedly varied - 1:03
39.   Foreground / Background - 0:34
40.   Detailed discussion of foreground / background perceptions; analogies with speech - 2:14
41.   Second Movement (complete) - 2:19
42.   Scene-setting; soloist begins for the first time - 0:47
43.   Soloist rises progressively, in sequence, decoratively outling chord of the home key - 0:26
44.   First orchestral section; ace is halved; the undermining onset of chromaticism - 0:47
45.   The walkers lose their balance and stylishly fall down - 0:22
46.   Soloist returns as the original solitary walker and strides away from the others - 0:23
47.   One tempo, two rates of speed: fast for the soloist, slow for the orchestra - 1:51
48.   Orchestra evokes the warm winds of the Sirocco - 0:36
49.   Answering blast from the Borea, the could wind of the north; struggle for supremacy - 1:07
50.   Cue to final movement - 0:23
51.   Third Movement (complete) - 3:08

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