Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons
Biography of Antonio Vivaldi
His mother was Camilla Calicchio and his father was Giovanni Battista Vivaldi. He had five siblings, three sisters and two brothers. His father was a professional violinist. When he was fifteen, he started studying to become a priest.
He was weak and sickly at birth, and would suffer health problems throughout his life. He continued his journey as a priest. But throughout the years 1709 and 1711 he began losing interest in his job as a priest.
After he started losing interest in priesthood, he became an accomplished violinist. He started composing music for the violin and other instruments. However he composed his most important works for the violin. His best-known sacred choral work is Gloria in D major (1708). His most famous piece is arguably The Four Seasons (1720).
Discussion of Musical Era
Vivaldi was a part of the Baroque Era. The Baroque Era has been described as music with brilliant effects and attempts to describe natural phenomena such as storms, wind, and rain. In this music, composers also use simulated bird calls and dramatic contrasts of loud and soft.
Vivaldi's music "fit in" because at the time, people only wanted to listen to the newest and latest music. His music was new and different which the people seemed to enjoy listening to.
Talk About the Music Selection
Vivldi's music started when he began writing opera scores in 1715. The people immediately liked his music because they loved listening to different music.
In the Baroque Era, mostly the instruments that are heard include the violin, mandolin, viola d'amore, oboe, recorder, bassoon, cello, horn, flute, and trumpet.
Connect Music to the Present
The story of The Four Seasons is Vivaldi was working in Mantua and had already written dozens of violin concertos prompted by the fact that he was probably the best violinist on the planet. But he was itching to explore a depiction of particular landscapes and scenes (in this case, the Earth's cycle of seasons) in music that would also convey specifics of human behaviour. All the while, the concertos form a bigger ensemble. Vivaldi was determined to prove that descriptive music could be sophisticated, intricate and virtuousic to be taken seriously.