10 Things to Know about Vivaldi's concerto 'Spring' from 'The Four Seasons'

by Dr. Paul Merkley

In this Music Appreciation 101 Blog series, we dive into Vivaldi's Four Seasons - Spring. Here are 10 things about it which you may find worthwhile to know:

1. It is a concerto grosso, with its first and third movements in the conventional Baroque ritornello form.

2. The ritornello is a recurring section of music, alternating with new material that is different each time.

3. This is a concerto grosso, in which the whole orchestra plays the ritornello and the new material is played by soloists.

4. The piece has the most common Baroque texture of basso continuo with two high solo instruments (violins in this case)

5. The work was published in 1715, shortly before J.S. Bachs 'Brandenburg Concertos,' composed between 1718 and 1721.

6. Vivaldi was a virtuoso violinist, and Italy was the center of violin performance and violin making

7. He wrote hundreds of concertos, many of them for his students (he taught at a renowned orphanage).

8. The piece was accompanied by a 'sonnet' of unknown authorship, possibly by Vivaldi himself. The sonnet was a traditional Italian poetic form, going back to Petrarch. This sonnet has lines that are eleven syllables long, one of the traditional forms.

9. Although this work is inspired by elements outside of music, it would be incorrect to call it 'program music,' because it follows the traditional form of the concerto.

10. The genre of concerto grosso could be considered to reflect Italian city states of this period. The large orchestra showed the accomplishments and expertise of a city (as did the manufacture of excellent stringed instruments) and the soloists showed the ways in which there was scope for individual achievement, talent, and virtuosity.

Dr. Paul Merkley is the co-founder of Seniors Junction and a retired professor of musicology from the University of Ottawa. He has a PhD in Musicology from Harvard University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.