45 minutes What to Listen for in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons 1723, Italy Published: 1725, Amsterdam as part of a set of 12 concertos, Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (The Contest Between Harmony and Invention) Genre: Concerto (set of four) Instrumentation: Solo violin, violins, violas, cellos, double basses, organ or harpsichord Duration: c. 8 Composer: Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) Period: Baroque Composed: c. Title: Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons), op. Here are some key moments to listen out for. They are some of the most extravagant examples of music that tells a story (“program music”) from the baroque period. The original score is augmented by a few selections of his ballet music from I Lombardi and Il Trovatore.Vivaldi’s Four Seasons are four violin concertos depicting the seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The present ballet follows his general plan.

Verdi’s notes suggest such notions as ballerinas warming themselves in Winter by dancing, Spring bringing on warm breezes, indolent Summer ladies being surprised by an Autumnal faun, etc. His libretto called for Janus, the God of New Year, to inaugurate a series of dances by each of the seasons in turn. For I Vespri Siciliani, he devised a ballet called The Four Seasons. Although seldom included in today’s productions, they contain some of the most delightful dance music of the period. The tradition of the third act divertissement was so firmly established that when Wagner put his Venusburg ballet at the very beginning of Act I of Tannhäuser, there were such forcible protests by the Jockey Club that the whole opera was nearly withdrawn.įortunately for us, Verdi was less revolutionary about Parisian conventions and composed many third-act opera ballets. Usually it didn't, but it gave the Jockey Club, a group of wealthy subscribers, a chance to look over their favorite beautiful ladies of the ballet at a convenient time of the evening, and these patrons were attentively in their seats for the ballet, if not for the rest of the opera. When opera was presented in Paris in the late nineteenth century, the composer was obliged to include a ballet at the beginning of the third act, whether or not it had anything to do with the plot of the opera. This audience favorite translates the seasons into frosty flirtation, springtime awakening, sultry revelry, and autumnal bacchanal, all set to Verdi’s vibrant melodies.

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