Famous works · Baroque
The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni)
Published 1725, Amsterdam
Four violin concertos that paint spring, summer, autumn and winter in sound.
The story behind it
The concertos opened Vivaldi's collection Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione, Op. 8, published in Amsterdam.
Each comes with a sonnet — possibly by Vivaldi himself — and the music follows the poems line by line: birdsong, storms, a sleeping goatherd, chattering teeth in the cold.
Largely forgotten after his death, they returned to fame with the 20th-century Vivaldi revival and early recordings.
What to listen for
- The barking dog played by the violas in Spring's slow movement.
- The violent summer storm.