Term 3 Week 10: Spring Concerto by Vivaldi

Continuing from last week's work we did on Antonio Vivaldi and his concertos for violins (The Four Seasons Op. 8, nos.1-4)

Il Prette Rosso - Antonio Vivaldi

The series of concertos which includes the Four Seasons was published in Amsterdam in 1725. They were dedicated to Count Wezel von Morzin who was a Bohemian nobleman and Vivaldi's patron (a bit like a sponsor nowadays).

A concerto is a piece of music made for a solo instrument and an orchestra. If the solo instrument (sometimes there might be two) is a violin, it is called a violin concerto. If the solo instrument is a piano, it's called a piano concerto).

During this time, Vivaldi was travelling all  around Europe and the Four Seasons was very popular. The French King Louis XV liked it very much when Vivaldi performed it in Paris in 1730.

Each 'season' is accompanied by a special 14-lined poem called a sonnet. These sonnets describe the setting and events of the music. 

Each season  concerto has 3 separate movements, written for a solo violin and an orchestra plus a continuous line  of music for a bass instrument, organ or harpsichord. This helped keep everyone in time when there was no conductor.

Concerto in E 'Spring'

Allegro   opens the music. It is a fresh and happy tune. A soloist and other  violins imitate birds singing (runs and trills); a 'flowing' passage represents a stream and a gentle breeze; rapid scales, tremolo,  and scampering solo passages represent a thunder storm. 

Largo is a long and tender melody for a solo violin with other strings accompanying, and this represents a peaceful scene of a shepherd and his dog dozing under some trees.

Allegro is a relaxed country (pastoral) dance where the soloist plays along with, and leads, the rest of the orchestra. 

An Italian sonnet has a special form. It has 8 lines then 6 lines. 
(Can you see there are 2 lots of 4 lines and 2 lots of 3 lines?)

The first part of the sonnet tells of birds, brooks, trees, the breeze, storms,  thunder and lightning.
The second part tells of rustling leaves, a goatherd,  bagpipes playing, a dog barking, and dancing  

(Note - there is a 'g' missing from 'dog' in the poem image)

 

Learn the parts of the violin and test yourself on the picture underneath.

From the bird feed nyc

From the birdfeednyc

This is easy violin music for Spring, but it might help you learn the names of the notes as well.

Here's another listening map of the first Allegro. Can you follow it?  

You can see more images of Vivaldi and Venice on this blog.

Here's a very easy chart of how to play a simple version of the first allegro of Spring.

Here's a video of the entire Spring Concerto with images of Spring - in Europe - and the words of the sonnet written to match the appropriate place in the music

Here's a group of musicians playing Spring in Venice. Watch for images and video clips of other scenes in Venice.

This is an animated graphic showing the tempo  (speed of the beat) of the first allegro of Spring. Can you see patterns and rhythms in the movement of the images?

Here's another listening map  called Prima vera which is Spanish for spring. 

Who would have thought there would be a link between sushi, rock guitar and Vivaldi's Spring Concerto? 

This electric guitar and drum rock version gives a very good example of the change in dynamics from forte to piano, and you can see the mimicking of the bird sound done well, too. It's also good for your air guitar and air drum practice.