Concerto in E Major, La primavera (Spring)

Allegro
Largo
Allegro, danza pastorale

Concerto in g minor, L'estate (Summer)

Allegro non molto
Adagio
Presto, tempo impetuoso d'estate

Concerto in F Major, L’autunno (Autumn)

Allegro, ballo e canto de' villanelli (dances and songs of the peasants)
Adagio, ubriachi dormienti (the sleeping drunkards)
Allegro, la caccia (the hunt)

Concerto in F minor, L'inverno (Winter)

Allegro non molto
Largo
Allegro

Program Notes by Martin Pearlman

Vivaldi's The Four Seasons are not only among the most popular pieces of classical music today, but they circulated widely in the composer's time, as well, and inspired programmatic pieces by others.  The concertos were especially popular in France, where they were played many times in the Concert Spirituel.  Spring (La primavera), perhaps the particular favorite of the French, was not only often heard in its original form but was also arranged for larger forces (a choral motet by Michel Corette) and smaller (a version for flute alone by Jean-Jacques Rousseau).    

Then, along with the rest of Vivaldi's output, The Four Seasons fell out of the repertoire for over a century before being "rediscovered" in the first part of the twentieth century.  The gradual revival of Vivaldi's music from that time was at first of interest to musicologists because of its influence on Bach, who had studied it and transcribed a number of the concertos for harpsichord.  Although The Seasons were not among the concertos that Bach transcribed, they soon came to public attention as the Vivaldi revival continued.  The first complete recording of them dates from 1942, but it was after the second World War that they achieved the broad popularity that they enjoy today.

The Seasons were first published in Amsterdam in 1725 as the first four of a set of twelve concertos by Vivaldi with the overall title Il cimento dell' armonia e dell' inventione (The contest between harmony and invention), opus 8.  They are dedicated to Count Morzin of Bohemia, and from that dedication we learn that these were not new works but that they had found favor with the count some years earlier.  No autograph manuscript has survived, but, in addition to the Amsterdam edition, there is a valuable manuscript set of instrumental parts for all four concertos.  Originating in Italy during Vivaldi's lifetime and now housed in Manchester, England, that manuscript copy is both unusually accurate and a source for interesting variants in the text.

Ornaments

One of the greatest challenges in performing such a well known and frequently recorded work as The Four Seasons -- and particularly a work that has so much colorful characterization in it -- is to interpret it in a way that is honest and personal, without sounding arbitrary or self-consciously "different."  One feature has perhaps been "different" in Boston Baroque’s performances and recording, though, is the attitude toward ornamentation in the slow movements. 

Vivaldi's solo lines in the slow movements are generally extremely simple.  Yet we know from Bach's transcriptions of works by Vivaldi and other Italian composers, from surviving ornamented versions of slow movements by Corelli and others, and even from descriptions of Vivaldi's own playing that it was common -- even expected -- to hear ornamentation in this kind of music.  Today, with the revival of Baroque performance practices, we often hear ornamentation in Baroque slow movements, but oddly, the slow movements of The Seasons are most often played either with no ornamentation at all or with just a few added notes.  It is hard to say why this is so.  It may be that the iconic status of these works, in which each note is so well known, has made altering the lines with ornaments feel faintly sacrilegious, or that familiarity has made them feel satisfying without ornamentation.  But these are the types of pieces which, in the hands of Corelli, Bach, Geminiani and others, are often considerably ornamented.  When played with rhythmic flexibility, a few faster ornamental notes can fit easily into the relaxed pulse of these slow movements.  Only the second movement of Autumn remains unornamented, since it has no melodic line and depicts a stillness, with the score calling only for harpsichord arpeggios. 

The sonnets

The original publication of The Seasons provided sonnets -- quite possibly by Vivaldi himself -- that give detailed programs for each of the four concertos.  Capital letters are placed next to lines in the sonnets, as well as in the score, to show us exactly where the effects mentioned in the poems are taking place in the music.  In addition, captions over parts of the music -- sometimes over individual instrumental lines -- indicate pictorial effects even beyond those in the sonnets.  No other concertos by Vivaldi contain such detailed programs.  The sonnets printed below indicate with Roman numerals where the program for each of the three movements of a concerto begins. 

The famous bird calls among the violins in the first movement and the legato music of "the flowing streams" are interrupted by angry tremolos designated as "thunder" in the score.  As the sky clears, we once again hear the bird calls.  In the second movement, the solo violin line has the heading "the sleeping goatherd," while the gentle dotted rhythms in the accompanying violins are marked "the murmuring of the fronds and plants."  The viola, however, depicts an effect that is not mentioned in the poem: its marking is "the barking dog" and the viola is told to play forcefully.  (How the goatherd sleeps through the barking is not explained.)  The closing movement, a "Pastoral dance," unfolds over the sound of bagpipes, imitated by sustained open fifths in the lower instruments.

***

The first movement of Summer closely follows the program laid out in the sonnet.  The quiet stillness of the opening, headed "languishing in the heat," is broken by the voice of the cuckoo and then of the turtle dove and goldfinch in the solo violin, but the movement ends with the shepherd imagining a violent storm.  The second movement contrasts the calm repose of the solo line against the mildly annoying dotted figures of the orchestral violins, which are designated "flies and blowflies."  This peaceful scene is repeatedly interrupted by the distant approach of thunder.  The summer storm breaks in all its fury in the closing movement. 

***

The opening of Autumn is marked "dance and song of the peasants."  Soon, however, their liquor goes to their heads, and the indication "the drunks" at bar 33 suggests that the strong dance rhythm of the opening could become less steady, speeding up and slowing down whimsically.  Just before the final ritornello, a brief slow section is headed "the drunks asleep."  This anticipates the second movement, which is a more extended drunken sleep.  Here the music is very still, with muted strings and only gentle motion in the harpsichord, which is instructed to arpeggiate.  We are jolted from sleep by the last movement, "the hunt," in which the strings imitate horn calls and even individual gun shots.

***

Winter opens with shivering on the ice, interrupted by blasts of "horrible wind" in the solo violin. The stamping of feet and later the chattering of teeth described in the sonnet are marked in the score and clearly depicted in the music. The beautiful slow movement that follows is composed in layers: in the foreground, the melody line of the solo violin, although it bears no heading, paints the joy of resting peacefully by the fireside; the accompanying violins, marked pizzicato and forte, are designated as "the rain," a patter of drops against the window that contrasts with the legato solo melody; in the background, the violas sustain quiet, long notes; and a solo cello gently energizes the underlying pulse of the bass line with light, fast octaves. The concerto and the final season of the year close with sliding on the ice, falling as it cracks, and a fierce fight of the winter winds, all of it following the program of the sonnet.

Ornamentation by Martin Pearlman

Click here to view or download a PDF of ornaments for Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons by Martin Pearlman.

Boston Baroque Performances

Soloist:
Daniel Stepner, violin

August 5, 1987
Interlaken Congregational Church, Stockbridge, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist:
Daniel Stepner, violin

May 23, 1987
Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, NH
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist:
Daniel Stepner, violin

February 5, 1984
Essex Junction Auditorium, Essex Junction, VT
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist:
Daniel Stepner, violin

January 21, 1984
University of Maine, Orono, ME
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist:
Daniel Stepner, violin

October 14, 1983
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist:
Daniel Stepner, violin

July 17, 1983
deCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist:
Daniel Stepner, violin

July 12, 1983
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist:
Daniel Stepner, violin

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