In accordance with the highest expression of baroque concepts, nature is dramatized, and the audience feels actively involved in the rapid succession of events taking place in the work of art. The scenes range from the chirp of different birds in spring, to summer storms, from fleeing foxes in autumn, to teeth chattering and rain pouring down in winter. His music is thus freer, more fluid and able to better describe the story it wishes to narrate. The composition aims at astounding the listener with unusual melodies, created through increased rhythm and higher harmonic contrast. Not only is the feeling of astonishment conveyed by his spectacular description of nature, but also by his musical language. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons are a symbol of his era. As a consequence, a new attitude of awe and wonder towards the power of nature emerged. Galileo’s discoveries brought about a shift in the position of man, who was no longer at the center of the cosmos. Baroque art has a dramatic conception of the relationship between man and nature and between man and the universe. Bernini itself represented them in its fine sculptures. The whole Baroque epoch showed a deep interest in the amazing natural changes determined by the seasons. But none were to do so in such precise pictorial detail as Antonio Vivaldi in his Four Seasons concerto! And they evoke the whole compass of existence, from the beauty of nature to great Moghuls from the East.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. But the vast majority are for his own instrument, the violin. For example, Vivaldi was the first composer to treat the cello as a serious solo instrument. These concertos champion all sorts of instruments. They were a great influence on music all over Europe. They’re dazzling to listen to and performers relish them. He brought drama, excitement and a sense of story to them. But his real legacy are his 500 or so instrumental concertos, and maybe it’s Vivaldi’s prowess as an opera composer that is the secret to how affecting they are. Doesn’t that change how you feel about him?Īs a priest, Vivaldi wrote many religious works, and during his life, he was best known as a composer of operas, not instrumental works. But Vivaldi, he was teacher, and a great number of his compositions were for his students in an orphanage. Secondly, Vivaldi lived in an age when music was written either for the Church, or for noblemen and royalty. He’s known as the Red Priest, on account of his hair, which was, well, red. In fact it was touch and go when he was a baby, so much so that when he pulled through, his mother pledged that he would become a priest, and he did. There are two important pieces of information about Vivaldi, which I feel you should know.įirstly, he suffered from poor health his whole life - we think it was probably chronic asthma. There’s a lot to this composer that is easily missed to our modern ears. In fact, people who aren’t fans of his describe his music as being "cookie-cutter" or "samey." There’s even the joke that he composed just one concerto, 500 times!īut I want to make a case for Vivaldi as being much more than a purveyor of fluffy concertos. If music was a numbers game, this composer would be the undisputed greatest.
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