96 ITALIAN BAROQUE SOLO CONCERTO
The score of “Spring” from The
Four Seasons, part of L’estro armonico
(Harmonic Inspiration), a collection of
12 concertos whose lively flamboyance
transformed the stately form.four to six times, culminating in
a final orchestral restatement of
the ritornello.
The solo sections, meanwhile,
can also be seen in opera. Baroque
operas gave new prominence to the
aria, which allowed singers to show
off the power, range, and expressive
nature of their voices. Similarly,
the solo sections of concertos
allowed instrumental soloists to
display their virtuoso skills. In an
age characterized by theatricality,
Vivaldi brought a dose of dramatic
virtuosity to the concerto.Four Seasons
Vivaldi allowed his theatricality
free rein in The Four Seasons, first
published in Amsterdam in 1725.
Earlier versions of the pieces had
been circulating for a number of
years in manuscript form, and were
already widely known and admired.
Le quattro stagioni represented
the first four in a collection of 12
violin concertos entitled Il cimento
dell’armonia e dell’inventione (“The
Contest of Harmony and Invention”),
all written between 1723 and 1725.
Many of Vivaldi’s concertos sought
to evoke or describe particularmoods and states of mind, as
their titles made clear—for
example, Il piacere (Pleasure),
L’inquietudine (Anxiety), L’amoroso
(The Lover), and Il riposo (Rest).
Le quattro stagioni, however, along
with a cycle of three concertos
called La Notte (Night), took this
a step further, and used the music
to relate a simple musical narrative
known as a “programme,” a form
that was taken up by many
composers in the Romantic era.
In the published version, Vivaldi
made the programme explicit by
including four sonnets of unknown
authorship, often theorized to have
been written by Vivaldi himself.
These sonnets each tell the story
of one of the four seasons. The
sonnet for spring, for example,
starts by describing how birds
salute the new season “with joyous
song” and how brooks fanned by
soft breezes flow “with sweet
murmurings.” All this VivaldiThe concerto
The main attraction of the
concerto for composers
and musicians is the sheer
dramatic potential of the
form, as soloist and orchestra
alternately compete and
collaborate with one another.
Many composers have been
inspired to write concertos
by the talents of particular
performers, such as the
cellist Antonín Kraft, for
whom Haydn wrote his
Cello Concerto No. 2 in D
and Beethoven his Triple
Concerto. Mozart wrote his
famous Horn Concertos for
the horn player Joseph
Leutgeb. Concertos soon
became a showcase for
virtuoso performers, such
as the violinist Paganini and
the pianists Liszt and Chopin.
Around the turn of the 20th
century, Rachmaninov wrote
his piano concertos—and
Dvorak and Elgar their much-
loved cello concertos. Later,
fans of the concerto grosso
included Michael Tippett in
his Fantasia Concertante on
a Theme of Corelli.Violinist Nigel Kennedy records
The Four Seasons with the English
Chamber Orchestra in 1989. The
recording sold more than two
million copies.US_092-097_Vivaldi.indd 96 26/03/18 1:00 PM