A Fling with Vivaldi's Spring
The Best Moments
Le quattro stagioni, Op. 8: Concerto No. 1 in E major, RV 269 ("La primavera")
I'm Vivaldi, and I'm delighted to welcome you to the best moments of Spring (Four Seasons). You'll discover how I turned one spring day into music without a single word, with birdsong, a sudden thunderstorm, a goatherd asleep beside his dog, and a rustic dance. Here on this site my fellow composers and I also teach you to recognize our music when it plays, so give the Trainer a go and see for yourself.
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Spring Walks In Without Knocking
I open the first movement in E major with a grand little announcement that Springtime has arrived, and I do it with a refrain whose two halves are each played twice, in case anyone was still looking for their seat. Then the solo violin and two of the orchestral violins start imitating the birds, chirping away until they finish with a flutter of trills, and after that the low, rumbling thunder and the quick rising scales of lightning drop in to remind everyone that spring weather has never been polite.
A Nap With Strict Rules
I begin the second movement in C-sharp minor, marked Largo e pianissimo sempre, which is my way of telling everyone to play very slowly and very softly the whole way through. The sonnet shows a goatherd asleep on a flowery meadow with his faithful dog beside him, and yes, I did mark "the barking dog" in the score, which would wake the poor man up, but I had no other way to put a dog into the music.
Bagpipes At The Garden Party
I open the third movement in E major with the marking Allegro pastorale, which is just a fancy way of saying that a country dance is about to begin. Underneath, the violas, cellos and basses hold one long note outlining a fifth, a steady drone like a bagpipe, so the nymphs and shepherds always know where the party is, even if they have forgotten where they left their shoes.
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So, did you enjoy learning about the best moments of Spring? I hope the birds, the thunder, the sleeping goatherd and the dancing shepherds now sound a little like old friends. When I look back on this concerto, what I love most is how plainly it tells its story, so that anyone can follow it without knowing a single note of theory. Still, we have only touched the surface, and there is much more to discover in Spring. The sonnets that go with the music are one example, and the story goes that I may have written them myself, though nobody can say for sure. Then there is the title of the collection it appeared in, Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, which means "The contest between harmony and invention". If you would like to go further, I invite you to click on the links provided and keep exploring Spring (Four Seasons). Next time you step outside on a mild spring morning, listen for the birds, and perhaps you will hear a few violins among them.