- The Four Seasons is the nickname given to the first four concertos in Vivaldi’s Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione op.8, a set of 12 concertos published in Amsterdam in 1725. The first four concertos in the collection are depictions of the four seasons:1
- Violin Concerto in E major, RV 269 “La primavera” (Spring)
- Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 315 “L’estate” (Summer)
- Violin Concerto in F major, RV 293 “L’autunno” (Autumn)
- Violin Concerto in F minor, RV 297 “L’inverno” (Winter)
- “Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione” means “The Contest between Harmony and Invention.” The playful title indicates that Vivaldi wanted to explore creative experimentation in the set, while also preserving the aesthetic and formal procedures of his day.
- Vivaldi dedicated his Op. 8 to Count Wenzel von Morzin, a Bohemian aristocrat who was one of his patrons.2 During the Baroque, when a composer dedicated a publication to a patron, the patron usually acknowledged the honor with a monetary gift. Von Morzin kept a cappella, or private orchestra, as part of his household.3
- Vivaldi prefaced each of the Four Seasons concertos with a descriptive sonnet, which he may have authored himself. You can find all four sonnets, in Italian and in English translation, here.
Sources
- Michael Talbot and Nicholas Lockey, “Vivaldi, Antonio,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed May 26, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040120.
- Ibid.
- Václav Kapsa and Lenka Kapsová, “Account Books, Names and Music: Count Wenzel Von Morzin’s “Virtuosissima Orchestra”,” Early Music 40, no. 4 (2012): 605-20, accessed May 26, 2021, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23391554.
Cut IDs
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