This Autumn is as we expect it – feasting and hunting, yet with some commentary in the setting. Allegro (Rainer Kassmaul, violin Berlin Baroque Soloists Rainer Kassmaul, cond.) The wild beast flees and they follow its trail Terrified and tired by the great noise of guns and dogs, the wounded beast, tries futilely to flee, but harried, dies.Īntonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in F Major, Op. The hunters emerge at the new dawn, And with horns and dogs and guns depart upon their hunting. It’s all to no avail, the hunters are triumphant and in a sad minor ending, the beast dies and then everyone celebrates. The hounds chase, the beast stands at bay, he escapes again, and the chase leads on. Adagio molto (Rainer Kassmaul, violin Berlin Baroque Soloists Rainer Kassmaul, cond.)įor the final movement, we have the other kind of autumn harvest – the hunters on the trail of a wild beast.

In the second movement, everyone has fallen asleep – so much to eat and drink and so much to celebrate that a little nap won’t go amiss.Įveryone is made to forget their cares and made to sing and dance By the air which is tempered with pleasure And (by) the season that invites so many, many Out of sweetest slumber to blissful enjoyment.Īntonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in F Major, Op. And fired up by Bacchus’s liquor, many end their revelry in sleep.Īntonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in F Major, Op. The peasant celebrates with songs and dances the pleasure of a bountiful harvest. Now the wine makes the violin positively loquacious, alternatively energetic and languishing. We open with a simple repeated dance tune before the violin takes off as the soloist. Up to this point, the first 8 lines illustrate the first movement, the next 3 are used for the second movement, and the last 3 become the core of the third movement. What’s also interesting here is how Vivaldi breaks the sonnet. The fear and frights of Summer disappear with the appearance of the harvest. Although Spring may be the concerto that most people are familiar with, it’s Autumn and its return to a major key that seems to be central to The Four Seasons.

Vivaldi seasons winter