I was surprised to find out that today is Antonio Lucio Vivaldi's birthday and Google celebrates!
Some years back, National Bookstore was selling the Classic Series in package of three and they had Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig Van Beethoven. I bought them all for a very nice price and to this day, I have kept it in my collection.
Four Seasons will always be mentioned whenever we talk about the man nicknamed as The Red Priest of Venice. Here's an entry from Wikipedia about this great work of his:
The Four Seasons (Italian: Le quattro stagioni) is a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Composed in 1723, The Four Seasons is Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each concerto is varied, each resembling its respective season. For example, "Winter" is peppered with silvery staccato notes from the high strings, calling to mind icy rain, whereas "Summer" evokes a thunderstorm in its final movement, which is why said movement is often dubbed 'Storm'.Now if you really want to learn more about this, visit Classical WETA FM 90.0 and read and overview of The Four Seasons.
The concertos were first published in 1725 as part of a set of twelve concerti, Vivaldi's Op. 8, entitled Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione (The Contest between Harmony and Invention). The first four concertos were designated Le quattro stagioni, each being named after a season. Each one is in three movements, with a slow movement between two faster ones. At the time of writing The Four Seasons, the modern solo form of the concerto had not yet been defined (typically a solo instrument and accompanying orchestra). Vivaldi's original arrangement for solo violin with string quartet and basso continuo helped to define the form.
More about the man:
- Catalog of Instrumental Works
- Complete Works Catalog
- Free Scores from ChoralWiki
- Free Scores from International Music Score Library Project
- Autobiography
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