But none were to do so in such precise pictorial detail as Antonio Vivaldi in his Four Seasons concertos.Īs a descriptive basis for his Four Seasons, Vivaldi took four Sonnets, apparently written by himself. Music representing the moods of the four seasons has always been popular, and baroque composers such as Werner and Fischer among others produced cycles of concertos representing the fours seasons. Play students a short extract from each movement of Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' and see if they can identify the seasons correctly, giving reasons for their choices.Īpply this detective work principle to other pieces of music, for example, Holst's 'The Planets'.One of the earliest uses of music was in the accompaniment of theatrical dance and story-telling, so it is natural that composers should from time to time produce what we know as "program music" – music written to portray events, activities or moods such as pastoral scenes or storms. They could share these with class and discuss the differences in their interpretations. Once the music is complete, students should have a piece of artwork depicting all of the different moods and stories created by the music. When the music changes and a new image is created, they could move onto the next section of their paper. Provide each student with a large sheet of paper, around A2 in size, and fold this into 6 or 8 sections.Īs students listen to the music they could draw or paint the image created in their mind. Students could listen to ‘The Four Seasons’ in full and explore their own interpretation of the story being told. This short film can be used to illustrate the work of Antonio Vivaldi, and to encourage students to explore and develop their own taste in classical music. 'You'll even hear mosquitoes buzzing.'ĭo you know, it's so cold right now, I can't wait to escape the winter, and of course, with Vivaldi's help, I can.Time to switch seasons, can you guess which one I've gone for? Dogs barking, teeth chattering, ice cracking up, Cuckoos, parties. If you listen to The Four Seasons you'll hear it's packed with the sounds of life. 'Vivaldi's music has so much of the world in it.' You can make your own story up to it and still never get it wrong.' You can hear with the pizzicato and the strings that they sound like rain drops. 'I think that The Four Seasons is the perfect piece to start off with if you're not used to classical music because it's so evocative. All it is is bigger pieces, sometimes without words, that you just have to paint the pictures, and put the story in, for yourself. If you're new to classical music don't be frightened of it. So, for me, classical music was always in my household. I was very fortunate, because I was born into a line of six generations of classical musicians. Vivaldi really did know what he was doing when it came to writing for the violin, and The Four Seasons just shows it off to perfection. Violin is one of those instruments that is pretty tricky to master, however, once you've got the hang of it, it can sound beautiful. What's the mood f the conversation here?' Listen to this chase across the fields in Autumn. 'In each of the seasons the violin has a kind of musical conversation with the rest of the orchestra. And, in this case, the violin is definitely the star of the show. Vivaldi wrote The Four Seasons as a violin concerto.Ĭoncerto is a piece of music where an instrument takes a solo lead role. What kind of weather does it remind you of?įor me, it's the most magical winter rain that I've ever heard. He asked, in The Four Seasons, that they use their fingers to pluck the strings. We've all seen violinists move their bows backwards and forwards. He liked to try and get as many different sounds out of the violin as possible. We now call those pieces The Four Seasons.' 'One day in 1723, Vivaldi sat down to write four pieces of music each based on a poem describing a season of the year. But it was also a head that was bursting with musical ideas. He had a head that was so covered in bright ginger hair that people referred to him as the red priest. This is the kind of music that changes as fast as the British weather.Īll of this music came from the imagination of an Italian man called Antonio Vivaldi. Until, in the heat of summer, a fierce storm approaches, now the cellos sound like thunder and the violins are wind and rain swirling around me. The violins sound like dripping icicles and freezing cold air biting at my skin.īut this music can take you right through the year, because now I can hear the sound of the spring sun bursting through the clouds. 'Listening to this music, do you feel chilly. 'Can music sound like the world around you?
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