Bundling Up for Vivaldi's Violin Concerto No. 4 in F minor, RV 297, "Winter" (The Four Seasons)
I. Allegro non molto
Violin Concerto No. 4 in F minor, RV 297
Hello, I'm Antonio Vivaldi, and I'll be explaining the I. Allegro non molto movement of my "Winter" concerto. You'll notice how the orchestra's trembling repeated notes and trills are suddenly cut through by the soloist's rushing wind, and once you can spot that contrast, the whole movement makes sense. Whenever you want to find out whether you can recognize our pieces as they begin, which my fellow composers and I teach here, take a turn with the Trainer .
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Bring Your Own Scarf
Here's how I'd listen to this movement: keep your ear on two sides, the solo violin and everyone else. The solo violin is the one voice stepping out to speak, and the rest of the strings, with the basso continuo as a steady foundation underneath, answer it as a group. When the whole group plays together, you're hearing the cold itself, and when the soloist steps out, you're hearing something more specific, like the wind. If you only follow that back and forth, you've already understood most of what I'm doing.What's In A Name
I marked this movement Allegro non molto, which simply means lively but not too fast. I wanted the shivering to feel tight and nervous, not like a sprint. The name "Winter" comes from the season I pictured in the music and in the sonnet that goes with it, and the story goes that I may have written those lines myself. The sonnet talks about shivering in the frost, stamping icy feet and chattering teeth, so I simply set those pictures to music.A Shape You Can Follow
Choosing the form was an adventure in itself, because I wanted something sturdy enough to hold a whole snowstorm. I used ritornello form, which isn't a sonata or a rondo but a refrain that keeps coming back, with the soloist taking turns in between. In this movement the refrain opens the piece in F minor, then it returns after each of three solo episodes, and a last refrain in F minor closes everything. I'll walk you through it one section at a time, so you'll always know where you are in the storm.Section 1: The Cold Sets In
The movement begins with the opening refrain, which lasts only twelve bars but says everything about the weather. The strings repeat their notes and trill, and that's the shivering I wanted you to feel from the very first second. The music starts in F minor and then slides over to C minor, as if the chill is creeping somewhere deeper. The mood here is tense and tight, and the tempo never relaxes enough to let you get comfortable.Section 2: The Wind Takes The Stage
Now the solo violin steps forward for the first time, and it brings the wind with it. You'll hear very fast passages, in the tiniest note values I used, rushing up and down like a gust you can't catch. The mood shifts from the group's trembling to a single restless voice, and the contrast is the whole point. When the full strings return with the refrain, it feels like the wind has dropped and the shivering takes over again.Section 3: Chattering Teeth And Stamping Feet
The middle of the movement is where the refrain and the soloist trade places two more times. Here the music suggests chattering teeth and stamping feet, so the cold gets more physical each time it comes back. I let the soloist change the picture on each turn, while the refrain keeps pulling you back to the same shivering ground. That push and pull is how the story moves forward, because the weather never changes, only how it feels to stand in it.Section 4: Back Where We Started
The movement ends with a final refrain, and it returns to F minor, the key we began in. After all the wandering and the gusts from the soloist, it feels like coming back to the same cold doorstep. Nothing has been resolved into warmth, and that was deliberate, because winter doesn't give up that easily. I liked this music so much that I later gave it new words for the stage, but that's a story for another time.Press Play, Then Hold Your Breath
So go ahead and press play and let the music wrap around you. While it runs, listen for the shivering refrain, the soloist's wind, and the way the refrain keeps finding its way home. You don't need to know anything about classical music, because you already know what being cold feels like. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I enjoyed writing it.---
I hope you enjoyed this listen guide to the first movement of my Violin Concerto No. 4 in F minor, RV 297, "Winter" (The Four Seasons), the Allegro non molto. Now that you know where to hear the shivering, the wind and the chattering teeth, I think the opening will sound a little different the next time it comes around. There's still plenty more to discover about this concerto, because the first movement is only the beginning of my winter. The Largo brings a warm, quiet spot by the fire, and the final Allegro takes you out onto the ice, where every step needs some care. If you'd like to go further, click on the links on this page and keep exploring. Then come back to the music, close your eyes, and let the cold come in once more.