Bundling Up for Vivaldi's Violin Concerto No. 4 in F minor, RV 297, "Winter" (The Four Seasons)
The Best Moments
Violin Concerto No. 4 in F minor, RV 297
I'm Antonio Vivaldi, and here are the best moments of my Violin Concerto No. 4 in F minor, RV 297, "Winter" (The Four Seasons). In about nine minutes you'll live through a whole winter, from the first shiver to the last careful step on the ice, and that's time well spent. On this site my fellow composers and I also teach you to recognize our pieces when they play, so come and give the Trainer a go .
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Please Excuse My Shivering
I open the first movement, Allegro non molto, with the whole orchestra shaking on repeated notes and trills, which is my way of saying that it's cold and nobody brought a coat. Then the solo violin comes tearing in with very fast passages that are the wind, and later you can hear teeth chattering and feet stamping, so it's less a concert than a bus stop in January.
Rain On The Roof, Fire In The Hearth
When I get to the Largo, I finally let everybody warm up, and the solo violin sings a long, calm melody while the other violins pluck out raindrops underneath. The sonnet describes quiet, contented days by the fire while it pours outside, and I wrote it for anyone who has ever been delighted to be stuck indoors with a good excuse.
Careful, It's Slippery
In the last movement, Allegro, I begin I'm afraid with people tiptoeing across the ice in slow, nervous steps, and then, quite suddenly, somebody slips. After that the soloist whips up the cold north winds and the full orchestra keeps barging in, and the sonnet ends by saying that winter has its delights too, which I think is a generous thing to say after a fall.
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I hope you enjoyed learning about the best moments of Violin Concerto No. 4 in F minor, RV 297, "Winter" (The Four Seasons) as much as I enjoyed telling you about them. Looking back, it's a short piece, only about nine minutes, but it holds a whole season: the shivering, the wind, the quiet warmth of a room by the fire, and the careful steps across the ice. What stays with me is how the music makes you feel the cold and then lets you feel the comfort of getting out of it. There's still plenty more to discover in this concerto. I haven't said much about the sonnet that goes with each movement, or about how I reused the first movement as an aria in my operas, and there are many recordings and reworkings of the piece that show how differently it can sound. If you'd like to keep exploring, please click on the links provided here and wander a little further into the world of "Winter". I'd love for you to listen again with fresh ears, and perhaps hear something new this time.
Recording: The Modena Chamber Orchestra, PDM-owner