Vivaldi's Four Seasons Presentation

I can talk about the life of Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi was born and lived in Italy from 1678-1741. He was a Baroque style composer and violinist.

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Antonio lived with his parents, father Giovanni and mother Camilla, as well as his five siblings.

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His father Giovanni worked as a barber before becoming a professional violinist. He taught Antonio to play the violin at a very young age.

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By the age of 24, Antonio became the maestro di violino (master of violin) at the Ospedale della Pietà, a convent, orphanage

and music school in Venice.


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Vivaldi worked at the Ospedale for the next thirty years, where he composed

most of his major works.


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• He held many different roles while working there; he taught the English viol as well as violin and became choir master.

• Vivaldi found being choir master very challenging, as he was required to compose an oratorio or concerto for every church festival.

• He also taught the orphans music theory and how to play certain instruments.


After working at the Ospedale for about 12 years, Vivaldi was appointed maestro di’ concerti (music director), where he became responsible for all of the musical activity at the institution.

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The Ospedale’s purpose was to give a shelter and education to children who were abandoned or orphaned, or whose families could not support them. The boys at the Ospedale learned a trade and left to work at 15 years old. The girls though received a musical education, and the most talented stayed and became members of the institution’s renowned orchestra and choir. Vivaldi wrote many musical works for the girls to perform both at the Ospedale and abroad.

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Vivaldi turned his hand to Opera in early 18th century Venice. 10


In 1717-18, Vivaldi was offered a new position as maestro di capella (master of the choir or orchestra) of the court of Prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt, governor of Mantua.

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Prince Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt


During this period, Vivaldi wrote Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), four violin concertos, depicting scenes appropriate for each season.

There is a debate as to whether the concertos were written to accompany four sonnets or vice versa. It is not known who wrote the sonnets, there is a theory that Vivaldi wrote them himself, given that each sonnet is broken down into three sections, neatly corresponding to a movement in the concerto.

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Vivaldi's music was well received during his lifetime, but it later declined in popularity until its vigorous revival in the first half of the 20th century.

Today, Vivaldi ranks among the most popular and widely recorded of Baroque composers, second only to Johann Sebastian Bach.

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I can represent Vivaldi’s Spring concerto in pictures

Whole Class Sit in a circle and start a thunderstorm. Go over the different hand motions involved in activity: • rubbing hands together • snapping fingers • tapping the floor

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Whole Class Introduce the four seasons of the year.

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Spring Summer Autumn Winter


Whole Class Recap last week’s lesson on Antonio Vivaldi. Introduce Spring as the focus concerto for this lesson. What does the season of Spring make you think of? Write children’s answers on the board.

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Whole Class Movement 1: Allegro (fast, joyfully) Play Spring (movement 1 only) • Listen to the music with eyes closed. • Draw and colour pictures while

listening to the movement.

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Class Discussion Show pictures and discuss what the children think the movement represents.

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Whole Class Read the first part of the sonnet: “Springtime is upon us.The birds celebrate her return with festive song, and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar, casting their dark mantle over heaven,Then they die away to silence, and the birds take up their charming songs once more.”

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Whole Class Can you hear the joy of spring and the birds?

Can you then hear the thunderstorm?

Can you lastly hear the birds again?21


Whole Class Movement 2: Largo (slowly) Play Spring (movement 2 only) • Listen to the music with eyes closed. • Draw and colour pictures while


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Whole Class Read the second part of the sonnet: “On the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy branches rustling overhead, the goat-herder sleeps, his faithful dog beside him.”

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Whole Class Does the music sound restful, like

someone is sleeping?

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Whole Class Movement 3: Allegro (fast, joyfully) Play Spring (movement 3 only) • Listen to the music with eyes closed. • Draw and colour pictures while


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Whole Class Read the third part of the sonnet: “Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes, nymphs and shepherds lightly dance beneath the brilliant canopy of spring.”

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In this music, we first hear bagpipes. Later on, there are musical passages as if someone is dancing.


Whole Class Does the music sound restful, like

someone is sleeping?

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Plenary Do you think Vivaldi represented the season of Spring well? Review the children’s initial brainstorm of Spring, and see whether he included all of these ideas. Can you think of any ways Vivaldi could have included any additional ideas?

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I can talk about the pitch of an instrument

Class Discussion Does anyone know what this picture is showing?

It is an orchestra!32


Class Discussion An orchestra is a large group of musical instruments that play together. It consists of four sections of instruments: • Strings • Brass • Woodwind • Percussion

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Whole Class Today, we are focusing on part of Vivaldi’s Summer concerto and the string section of the orchestra.

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Big is low

Little is highThis is a scientific rule, and affects all music and sound.


Whole Class • The pitch is how high or low a note

sounds. • The size of an instrument (and the

length of strings on a string instrument) affects how high or low the notes are that it produces.

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Class Demonstration String some elastic bands (of different widths) around an empty cardboard box with a hole cut out on one side. Demonstrate how thin, tight elastics will sound higher than thick, loose ones. 37


Whole Class Order these pictures from highest to lowest

(smallest to largest):

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Individual activity Cut out your string instruments and order them from highest to lowest (smallest to largest) and stick them on the sheet.

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I can sort instruments from highest to lowest pitch

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Violin Viola Cello Double Bass _______________________________________________ Highest Lowest


Plenary • Play ‘Presto’ from Summer. • Children to indicate the pitch of the

instruments using their hand to raise up for a high pitch and lower their hand as the pitch goes down.

• Talk about how Vivaldi represents summer.

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Autumn

I can talk about the colour and emotion of a piece of music

Whole Class • Play Vivaldi’s Autumn. • Discuss what the music made the children

think of. • Structure the discussion to the emotions,

colours and visual imagery of falling leaves.

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Whole Class Which colour best matches the music? Why?

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Discuss the emotions of different colours: Red – anger Blue – sadness Green – peace Yellow – vibrancy Purple - power


Group Activity • Explain that the class will be split into groups

of approx 7-8 children. • Each group will create an Autumn-themed

collage, based on Vivaldi’s Autumn concerto, while listening again.

• Children can draw, paint, stick etc., but must agree to work as a team on one piece of work.

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Plenary • Look at the collages and compare ideas/

themes that run through them (e.g. leaves falling from a tree/blowing in the wind, orange/red/brown/yellow colours etc.)

• Evaluation of collages: –What went well –What could be improved

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I can talk about the different sounds an instrument makes

Whole Class • Listen to movements 2 and 3 from the

Winter concerto. • How did the music make you feel? What

did it remind you of?

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I can talk about the different sounds a string instrument makes

Whole Class

Read the Winter sonnet:

“Frozen and shivering amid the chilly snow, Our breathing hampered by the horrid wind As we run, we continually stamp our feet Our teeth chatter with the awful cold. We move to the fire and contented peace While the rain outside comes down in sheets.We walk on the ice with slow stepsCareful how we walk, for fear of falling.

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Whole Class If we move too fast, we slip and fall to the ground Again treading heavily on the ice Until the ice breaks up and dissolvesWe hear from behind closed doors Boreal winds and all the winds of war. This is winter, but one that brings joy.”

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Class Discussion How does Vivaldi show differences in the weather through his string instruments? String instruments produce sound from vibrating strings that lay across the main body of the instrument. The vibrations transmit to the air inside it.

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Class Discussion There are three common techniques to play a string instrument:

1. Plucking 2. Bowing 3. Striking

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Whole Class Plucking is a method of playing on instruments such as the banjo, ukulele, guitar, harp, lute, mandolin, oud, and sitar, using either a finger, thumb, or plectrum to pluck the strings. Instruments normally played by bowing (see below) may also be plucked, a technique referred to by the Italian term pizzicato.

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Whole Class Bowing is a method used in some string instruments, including the violin, viola, cello, and the double bass (of the violin family) and the old viol family. The bow consists of a stick with many hairs stretched between its ends. Bowing the instrument's string causes a stick-slip phenomenon to occur, which makes the string vibrate.

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Whole Class The third common method of sound production in stringed instruments is to strike the string. The piano uses this method of sound production. Violin family string instrument players are occasionally instructed to strike the string with the stick of the bow, a technique called col legno. This yields a percussive sound along with the pitch of the note.

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Whole Class Vivaldi uses plucking to depict the falling raindrops, after which a warm melody on a solo violin describes the pleasant indoors with a roaring fire. The finale opens with bowed/sliding phrases by the violin – this gives the picture of walking and slipping on thin ice.

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Group Activity In groups of 4-5 children you will use percussion instruments (and body percussion if you wish) to compose a short piece of music to describe the winter season. Plenary Perform the compositions to the rest of the class and explain what part of winter was being portrayed.

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Music Glossary

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Title Definition

Orchestra A group of instruments consisting of strings, woodwind, brass and percussion. In the Baroque period (1600s), the orchestra often

Symphony A composition for orchestra in (usually) 3-4 movements, each of which corresponds to a specific form. Symphonies began to be

Music Glossary

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Title Definition

Concerto A musical composition that involves a dramatic interaction between a featured soloist (or small group of

Movement One complete, independent section of a larger work, such as a concerto or symphony.

Opera A theatrical work involving solo voices, chorus, orchestra, sets, costumes and lighting.

Music Glossary

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Title Definition

Melody This is the part of the music you would call the tune.

Metre This is the part of the music you can tap your foot to. You will usually find that the main pulses Tempo This is the speed of the music.

Dynamics How loudly or softly the music should be played.

Music Glossary

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Title Definition

Timbre The specific kind of sound each instrument makes.

Harmony Underneath the melody are clusters of notes called chords, each of which sounds different.

Vivaldi's Four Seasons Presentation

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