Antonio Vivaldi’s“Four Seasons”

Art & Music

Presentation Created By

Beth Mitchell

Edited by Aimee Vilcins

The Four Seasons: Winter The Four Seasons: Winter (Allegro)(Allegro)About the ComposerVivaldi grew up in Venice and learned to play the

violin as a boy, probably from his father, who was both a violinist and a barber.

He began his career as the music master at an orphanage and school for girls, but soon became known for his compositions, many of which became bestsellers.

Vivaldi is best known for the Four Seasons, which, like the year, contains four parts, each divided into three small parts.

Vivaldi published the score of the Four Seasons with sonnets for his audience and cues for his musicians so that they would precisely know what sounds they were hearing or playing.

A Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird A Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird Trap, Trap, the workshop of Pieter Brueghel the the workshop of Pieter Brueghel the

Younger. Younger.

A Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird A Winter Landscape with Skaters and a Bird TrapTrap

About the ArtistBrueghel is called “The Younger”

because his father was also a painter named Pieter.

In fact, Brueghel the Younger is primarily know for running a workshop that made copies of the picture of his more well known father.

This painting is one of sixty versions he made, all based on the same work

Listen to the piece as you look at the picture…

Can you hear…The solo violin plays the skater, using quick notes to show the gliding motion? clumsy skater, turning, crashing, and falling, played by the strings quickly moving all the way down the scale?The north wind blowing hard, played by the solo violin going quickly up and down the scale?

The Four Seasons: Summer The Four Seasons: Summer (Presto)(Presto)

About the ComposerVivaldi grew up in Venice and learned to play

the violin as a boy, probably from his father, who was both a violinist and a barber.

He began his career as the music master at an orphanage and school for girls, but soon became known for his compositions, many of which became bestsellers.

Vivaldi is best known for the Four Seasons, which, like the year, contains four parts, each divided into three small parts.

Vivaldi published the score of the Four Seasons with sonnets fro his audience and cues for his musicians so that they would precisely know what sounds they were hearing or playing.

View from the Mount Holyoke, Northhampton, View from the Mount Holyoke, Northhampton, Mass.Mass.

After a Thunderstorm After a Thunderstorm-T-The Oxbow,he Oxbow, Thomas Thomas ColeCole

View from the Mount Holyoke, Northhampton, View from the Mount Holyoke, Northhampton, Mass.Mass.

After a Thunderstorm After a Thunderstorm-T-The Oxbowhe OxbowAbout the ArtistCole moved to America from and industrial

city in England when he was eighteen. Inspired by the grandeur and wilderness of

the American landscape, he became the most prominent figure in the group of painters now know as the Hudson River School.

In the lower-central part of the canvas, Cole depicted himself, at an easel

Listen to the piece as you look at the picture…

Can you hear…the strings play the thunder at the start of the piece, repeating the same low note? trees being blown by the wind, played by the violins going quickly down the scale? A bird trying to find shelter, played by the solo violin playing very high, quick notes?

The Four Seasons: Spring The Four Seasons: Spring (Allegro)(Allegro)

About the ComposerVivaldi grew up in Venice and learned to play

the violin as a boy, probably from his father, who was both a violinist and a barber.

He began his career as the music master at an orphanage and school for girls, but soon became known for his compositions, many of which became bestsellers.

Vivaldi is best known for the Four Seasons, which, like the year, contains four parts, each divided into three small parts. This piece is its best movement.

Vivaldi published the score of the Four Seasons with sonnets for his audience and cues for his musicians so that they would precisely know what sounds they were hearing or playing.

Mountain Mountain TorrentTorrent, ,

Jacob van Jacob van RuisdaelRuisdael

Mountain TorrentMountain TorrentAbout the ArtistRuisdael was one of the most

important landscape painters in Europe during the seventeenth century and was highly admired in Vivaldi’s day.

Naturalistic landscape painting flourished in the Netherlands from the 1620s onward, and was encouraged by trade, exploration, and the study of natural sciences.

This canvas depicts Scandinavian topography, which enjoyed a vogue in Amsterdam during the second half of the 1600s.

Listen to the piece as you look at the picture… Can you hear…the

solo violin trilling the same high note over

and over, playing the bird’s song?

Can you hear…the mountain stream,

played by the entire violin section, softly

repeating many short, connected

notes?

Can you hear…the thunder, played by the strings quickly repeating the same

low note?