The Four Seasons

Introduction

This page contains my personal listening notes for “The Four Seasons,” Vivaldi’s most famous work, consisting of four violin concertos for the seasons. It is a famous example of program music, published with four sonnets and an annotated score associating the music with the physical elements.

Spring I — Allegro in E Major

Spring has arrived, and the joyful birds
Greet her with their cheerful song,
While streams, stirred by gentle breezes,
Flow with a soft murmur.
The sky is veiled in a dark cloak;
Lightning and thunder announce her coming.
When these fall silent, the little birds
Return once more to their enchanting song.

• 🌱 The spring theme: the orchestra announces a cheerful spring theme; its recurring returns are the ritornello.
• 🐦 Birdsong: high violin trills and flourishes suggest birds calling back and forth.
• 🌱 The spring theme returns: a brief return of the opening refrain.
• 💧 The brook and breezes: soft, undulating strings evoke a flowing brook and gentle breezes.
• 🌱 The spring theme returns: another brief return of the opening refrain.
• ⛈️ Thunder and lightning: hammering orchestral notes suggest thunder; rapid ascending violin runs depict lightning.
• 🌱 The spring theme darkens: the refrain returns, now subdued and in a minor key.
• 🐦 The birds return: the birds resume their trills and calls as the storm passes.
• 🌱 The spring theme returns, still subdued: a short return of the refrain remains in C# minor; the sunny opening has not fully returned yet.
• 🎻 Solo transition: a brief solo passage leads back toward E major.
• 🌱 Final spring refrain: the cheerful spring theme returns in E major to close the movement.

Spring II — Largo in C# Minor

Then, in the lovely meadow bright with flowers,
To the gentle rustle of leaves and plants,
The goatherd sleeps, his faithful dog beside him.

Three layers playing together:

• 😴 The sleeping shepherd: the solo violin’s long, unhurried melody evokes a shepherd sleeping peacefully in a meadow.
• 🍃 Rustling leaves and plants: soft, gently pulsing accompanying violins suggest leaves and plants rustling in the breeze.
• 🐕 The barking dog: the viola repeats a blunt, two-note barking figure, marked Il cane che grida (“the barking dog”).

Spring III — Allegro pastorale in E Major

To the festive sound of a shepherd’s bagpipe,
Nymphs and shepherds dance beneath the beloved canopy
Of spring, appearing in all her brilliance.

• 🕺 Opening dance: the orchestra introduces a buoyant, lilting dance in E major, evoking nymphs and shepherds celebrating spring. Low strings sustain a bagpipe-like drone beneath the melody.
• 🎻 First solo episode: the solo violin takes the foreground with more elaborate phrases, moving through several keys while retaining the pastoral dance character.
• 🕺 Dance returns: the familiar orchestral refrain comes back in E major.
• 🎻 Second solo episode: a longer passage centered on B major gives the violin room for lively flourishes over the accompaniment.
• 🕺 Dance returns, then darkens: the orchestral refrain reappears, moving from bright E major into E minor.
• 🎻 Third solo episode: a shorter violin passage continues in E minor, briefly shading the otherwise sunny celebration.
• 🕺 Final dance: the familiar refrain returns in E major, restoring the brightness of spring and closing the movement.

Summer I — Allegro non molto in G Minor

• The score marks this Languidezza per il caldo (“languor from the heat”).

In the harsh season, scorched by the sun,
People and flocks languish, and the pine burns.
The cuckoo lets its voice ring out; at once
The turtledove and goldfinch join in song.
The west wind breathes softly, but suddenly
The north wind rises to quarrel with its neighbor.
The young shepherd weeps, afraid of the fierce storm
Hanging overhead, and of his own fate.

• 🥵 Oppressive heat: quiet, halting string phrases, broken by rests, evoke people and animals languishing in the sun.
• 🐦 The cuckoo: the solo violin breaks into lively, repeated calling figures, marked Il cucco—a sudden burst of energy amid the exhaustion.
• 🥵 The heat returns: the orchestra brings back the weary, fragmented opening refrain.
• 🕊️ The turtledove: the solo violin’s softer, gently repeated figures suggest cooing.
• 🐤 The goldfinch: quicker trills and nimble flourishes suggest a more animated birdcall.
• 🍃 Gentle west winds: soft, flowing string figures evoke a welcome breeze.
• 💨 The north wind interrupts: forceful, rapid orchestral passages abruptly disturb the calm. This is the third ritornello statement, but its rushing wind music contrasts sharply with the opening’s exhausted heat.
• 🥵 The heat returns again: the opening’s exhausted music briefly reappears after the gusts.
• 😢 The shepherd’s lament: an expressive solo-violin passage, marked Il pianto del villanello (“the young countryman’s weeping”), evokes his fear of the approaching storm.
• 💨 The wind returns: the threatening, rushing orchestral music breaks in again and drives the movement to a forceful close; the shepherd’s anxiety remains unresolved.

Summer II — Adagio e piano – Presto e forte in G Minor

His weary limbs are robbed of rest
By fear of lightning and violent thunder,
And by the furious swarm of flies and buzzing insects.

• As with Spring II, there’s three parts. The shepherd and insects continue through out and are interrupted briefly by the thunder:
• 😟 The restless shepherd: the solo violin plays a slow, expressive melody, suggesting someone too anxious to rest.
• 🪰 Buzzing insects: beneath the melody, the accompanying violins repeat an insistent rhythm, like flies troubling the shepherd.
• ⛈️ Thunder interrupts: sudden, fast, orchestral bursts break into the quiet music, warning of the storm to come.

Summer III — Presto in G Minor

Alas, his fears prove all too true:
The heavens thunder and flash, and hail
Cuts the heads from the ears of grain standing tall.

The bullets follow successive sections, not simultaneous layers. The soloist remains part of the storm scene rather than representing a separate character; increasingly short solo-and-orchestra exchanges drive the ending.

• ⛈️ The storm breaks: the full ensemble launches into rushing notes and forceful downward sweeps, evoking the thunder and hail that fulfill the shepherd’s fears.
• 🎻 First solo episode: the solo violin takes the foreground with rapid passagework. The texture becomes lighter, but the storm’s restless energy continues.
• ⛈️ The storm returns: the orchestra restores the weight of the full ensemble. The passage moves through changing harmonies and includes a forceful shared line, momentarily replacing the soloist-and-accompaniment texture with the impact of the strings moving together.
• 🎻 Second solo episode: another violin passage emerges from the turbulence. Listen for the contrast between the individual solo line and the massed strings.
• ⛈️ The storm returns: the full ensemble reasserts the storm music, bringing the harmony from C minor back toward G minor.
• 🎻 Third solo episode: over a held bass, the violin repeats insistent notes between leaps that climb higher, briefly standing out against the suddenly sparse accompaniment.
• ⛈️ The storm returns: descending runs pass between the violin parts over driving repeated notes. The familiar orchestral force returns, but the passage is shorter than the earlier storm sections.
• 🎻 Fourth solo episode: the solo violin leaps between low and high notes above a quieter, regular accompaniment—a brief thinning of the texture, not a break in the storm.
• ⛈️ A short orchestral burst: a rapid rising-and-falling scale and forceful repeated notes bring the ensemble back for only a few bars.
• 🎻 Final solo episode: the orchestra falls away again, leaving the violin to send a final pair of quick, curling phrases upward.
• ⛈️ Final ritornello: the full ensemble returns for the last time, with repeated notes and cascading scales driving into the emphatic G-minor close. The storm does not gently subside; the sonnet leaves us with hail devastating the harvest.

Autumn I — Allegro in F Major

The villagers celebrate with dancing and singing
The great pleasure of a successful harvest;
And many, warmed by the wine of Bacchus,
End their merrymaking in sleep.

• 💃 Harvest dance: the orchestra introduces a sturdy, cheerful dance, evoking villagers celebrating a successful harvest. Listen for the firm beat and the answering phrases.
• 🎻 First solo episode: the solo violin adds nimble decorations to the celebration while keeping the dance’s buoyant character.
• 💃 The dance returns: a short orchestral refrain brings back the communal celebration.
• 🍷 The drunkard: the solo violin breaks into extravagant runs, abrupt changes of register, and uneven, stop-and-start gestures. The score marks this character L’ubriaco (“the drunkard”); the orderly dance gives way to tipsy display.
• 💃 The dance returns, now darker: the orchestra brings back the refrain in minor-key colors, briefly interrupting the soloist’s antics.
• 🍷 More drunken revelry: the solo violin again takes the role of a drunken villager, continuing the restless flourishes.
• 💃 The dance returns: the orchestra restores the communal dance, moving from C major back to F major.
• 😴 The drunkard falls asleep: the pace slackens into a slow passage. The violin’s phrases grow drowsy and hesitant, and the busy celebration seems to lose its energy.
• 💃 Final dance: the orchestra suddenly resumes the lively opening refrain in F major. The movement ends with the villagers’ celebration, rather than fading away into sleep.

Autumn II — Adagio molto in D Minor

Everyone leaves off dancing and singing,
As the mild air brings delight,
And the season invites so many
To enjoy the pleasure of the sweetest sleep.

One sustained scene of sleep, rather than a sequence of new events. Listen for these layers together:

• 😴 The sleeping villagers: soft, sustained strings create a hushed, suspended atmosphere. The solo violin blends into the ensemble rather than stepping forward with a showy solo.
• 🎹 Gentle movement underneath: the continuo keyboard spreads the chords into flowing broken notes, as directed in the score. Depending on the recording, this rippling layer may be more or less prominent beneath the held strings.

Within this shared texture, the harmonies keep shifting, sometimes becoming unexpectedly tense before easing again. Listen for how much changes beneath the apparently motionless surface; the ending remains poised on a chord that leads into the next movement.

Autumn III — Allegro in F Major

At daybreak the hunters set out for the hunt
With horns, guns, and dogs.
The wild beast flees; they follow its tracks.
Already frightened and exhausted by the great clamor
Of guns and dogs, and wounded,
It tries weakly to escape, but, overcome, dies.

The bullets follow the unfolding hunt. The returning orchestral refrain represents the hunters, while the solo violin often brings the fleeing animal into the foreground.

• 📯 The hunters set out: the orchestra announces a bright, springy hunting theme in F major. Its repeated notes and calls suggest hunting horns, although the instruments playing them are strings.
• 🎻 First solo episode: the solo violin adds agile figures to the hunting scene. The pursuit is still taking shape; the later solo passages bring the animal’s flight more explicitly into focus.
• 📯 The hunters return: the familiar orchestral calls come back in F major, briefly restoring the confident opening music.
• 🎻 Second solo episode: a longer violin passage carries the action forward, moving from F major toward C major.
• 📯 The hunters return: the orchestral hunting refrain sounds again, now in C major.
• 🦌 The animal flees; guns and dogs: the solo violin’s restless movement brings the quarry into the foreground. Short, repeated figures in the accompanying strings evoke gunfire and barking, so the animal’s flight and the sounds of its pursuers can be heard together within this episode.
• 📯 The hunters return: another short statement in C major interrupts the animal’s flight with the hunters’ familiar calls.
• 🦌 The chase continues: the solo violin resumes its rapid passagework, moving through several keys before working back toward F major.
• 📯 The hunters return: the orchestral refrain reappears in F major. The hunt is not over: one final solo episode remains.
• 🩹 The wounded animal: the violin’s line becomes more strained and faltering. Its remaining efforts to escape lose strength, and the music depicts its exhaustion and death.
• 📯 Final hunting refrain: the sixth ritornello brings back the confident hunting music in F major. The bright close belongs to the hunters—a striking contrast with the animal’s fate.

Winter I — Allegro non molto in F Minor

To shiver, frozen, amid the icy snow,
In the bitter blast of a dreadful wind;
To run, stamping one’s feet at every moment,
And chatter one’s teeth in the intense cold.

The bullets follow successive sections, alternating orchestral ritornellos with solo-violin episodes. The ritornellos do not repeat an identical refrain: different returns bring back the opening’s shivering chords or its more vigorous stamping figures.

• 🥶 Shivering in the snow: short, repeated notes enter one string part after another, building a tense, trembling texture. The sound grows more insistent as the parts accumulate.
• 💨 The icy wind: the solo violin bursts in with racing runs, cutting through the repeated orchestral notes like a bitter gust.
• 🥶 The orchestra returns; stamping feet: the opening’s shivering music briefly returns before giving way to heavier, more vigorous repeated notes, suggesting someone running and stamping to keep warm.
• 🎻 Second solo episode: rapid violin runs carry the motion forward through changing keys. Toward the end, quick exchanges between soloist and orchestra lead into the next orchestral return.
• 🥶 Shivering returns: the short, detached chords from the opening reappear, now in E♭ major. Listen for the return of the trembling texture—not the heavier stamping rhythm.
• 🦷 Chattering teeth: the solo violin’s rapid repeated notes suggest an involuntary chatter. Listen for the difference between this tight, rattling figure and the earlier sweeping wind runs.
• 🥶 Final stamping refrain: the ensemble brings back the vigorous repeated-note stamping figures in F minor for a forceful close. The movement ends still caught in winter’s cold, with no gradual thaw.

Winter II — Largo in E♭ Major

To spend quiet, contented days beside the fire,
While outside the rain drenches everyone.

Three layers:

• 🔥 Beside the fire: the solo violin sings a warm, unhurried melody, evoking the contentment of being sheltered indoors. Listen for the long phrases and gentle ornaments, so different from the first movement’s shivering and gusts.
• 🌧️ Rain outside: the accompanying first and second violins pluck a steady patter of quick notes, marked La pioggia (“the rain”). This continues beneath the solo melody; the rain does not interrupt the peaceful scene.
• 🎻 Quiet support: softly bowed viola notes and a gently moving bass fill out the harmony underneath. (Not representing a separate object.)

Winter III — Allegro in F Minor

To walk upon the ice with slow steps,
Moving carefully for fear of falling;
To hurry, slip, and tumble to the ground,
Then go onto the ice again and run hard
Until the ice breaks and splits apart;
To hear, bursting out through iron gates,
The south wind, north wind, and all the winds at war:
This is winter, yet it brings such joy.

• 🧊 Venturing onto the ice: the solo violin begins over a spare accompaniment, circling through small, repeated figures. The notes move quickly, but their tentative, testing motion suggests someone trying to find secure footing.
• 🚶 Cautious steps: the orchestra joins, giving the hesitant movement more weight. Listen for the restrained, deliberate phrases before the music suddenly loses its balance.
• 🫨 Slipping and falling: rushing downward figures and abrupt gestures suggest a skid and a tumble to the ground.
• 🏃 Back onto the ice: the solo violin sets off again in longer, more continuous runs, now suggesting a much less cautious dash across the frozen surface.
• 💥 The ice breaks: sharp ensemble gestures and interruptions fracture the flowing motion, depicting the ice cracking and splitting apart.
• 🌬️ The south wind: the pace relaxes into a contrasting Lento. Smoother, sustained phrases evoke the milder Sirocco—a brief change of atmosphere after the broken ice.
• 💨 The north wind: fast solo-violin figures break the calm, bringing back the cutting energy of winter.
• 🌪️ The winds at war: soloist and ensemble drive into a turbulent final stretch, with rushing scales and forceful repeated figures. The concerto closes emphatically in F minor; the sonnet’s joy comes amid winter’s exhilarating force, not through a peaceful turn to spring.