The Four Seasons · Spring, RV 269

The 1725 sonnet begins: “Giunt’é la Primavera e festosetti / La Salutan gl’Augei con lieto canto” — “Spring has arrived, and the birds joyfully greet her with happy song.” The strings establish E major in firm phrases, each followed by a soft echo.

Spring was the work played on eleven of the sixteen Vivaldi occasions at the Concert Spirituel in Paris between 1736 and 1763. Michel Corrette turned it into a motet in 1765, and Rousseau made it into a piece for solo flute in 1775.

“E i fonti allo Spirar de’ Zeffiretti / Con dolce mormorio Scorrono intanto” — “Meanwhile the streams flow with a sweet murmur beneath the little breezes.” The violins play the streams of the sonnet in semiquavers. Repeated bass notes hold the passage in E major.

“Vengon’ coprendo l’aer di nero amanto / E Lampi, e tuoni ad annuntiarla eletti” — “Lightning and thunder come, chosen to announce her, covering the sky with a black cloak.” Vivaldi set the storm as repeated notes beneath racing arpeggios from the solo violin. The music reaches C♯ minor.

“Indi tacendo questi, gl’Augelletti / Tornan’ di nuovo al lor canoro incanto” — “Then, when these fall silent, the little birds return to their enchanting song.” In bars 59–⁠65 the trills return in C♯ minor. The continuo holds a long C♯ underneath them, where the bass was silent earlier.

The full strings play the closing phrase of the ritornello in E major. Vivaldi repeats it piano, and the movement ends with B moving to E in the bass.

“E quindi Sul fiorito ameno prato / Al caro mormorio di fronde e piante” — “And then, on the pleasant flowered meadow, to the gentle murmur of leaves and plants.” Vivaldi’s 1725 sonnet places the goatherd under trees. Two violin parts play dotted rhythms beneath the solo melody.

“Dorme’l Caprar col fido can’ à lato” — “The goatherd sleeps with his faithful dog beside him.” The viola plays the bark, two notes followed by a rest, marked always very loud and sharply attacked. The continuo is silent throughout.

After a cadence in G♯ minor, the solo violin rests for a bar and in bar 20 restates its opening three notes, G♯, E, C♯. The rustling of the leaves continues through the rest. This time the melody reaches C♯ minor by a shorter route.

In 1739 the French traveller Charles de Brosses wrote home about the concerts at Venice’s four girls’ hospitals. Some forty young women performed, and one conducted in a white habit with a bunch of pomegranates at her ear. His favourite was the Pietà, where Vivaldi had become violin master in 1703.

The solo violin repeats its last approach to C♯ and trills on D♯ just before the resolution. It stops before the other strings. The murmuring violins and the dog’s two-note bark continue for another bar, and then the accompanying strings hold the final chord.

“Di pastoral Zampogna al Suon festante” — “To the merry sound of a shepherd’s bagpipe.” The 1725 sonnet names the instrument for this dance. Long E and B notes in the bass imitate the bagpipe’s drone, and the violin tune moves in four groups of three quavers.

The strings play the rocking dance again, now in C♯ minor. The bass holds C♯ where it first held E. It then moves again, and the tune passes through E major towards B major.

“Danzan Ninfe e Pastor nel tetto amato / Di primavera all’apparir brillante” — “Nymphs and shepherds dance beneath their beloved shelter at spring’s brilliant arrival.” The sonnet places mythological nymphs beside working shepherds, and both dance to the same country dance.

In May 1713 Vivaldi’s first opera entirely his own, Ottone in villa, was given in Vicenza, away from the censorious eyes of his fellow Venetians. It was a success. He followed it with the oratorio La vittoria navale and then returned to Venice.

The dance returns in E major, then turns to E minor. G♯ becomes G♮, and the bass descends by semitones beneath the dance rhythm.

The Amsterdam publisher Le Cène issued the Seasons in 1725 as the first four of the twelve concertos in Op. 8, Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione. They were dedicated to Count Wenzel von Morzin, who had known them for some years. No autograph survives.

The long bass B resolves to E, and the full strings return to the dance in the major key (bars 79–⁠89). The final phrase is repeated piano as an echo.

The 1725 sonnet begins “Giunt’é la Primavera e festosetti / La Salutan gl’Augei con lieto canto” — “Spring has arrived, and the birds joyfully greet her with happy song.” The strings play E major in firm phrases, each followed by a soft echo.

“E i fonti allo Spirar de’ Zeffiretti / Con dolce mormorio Scorrono intanto” — “Meanwhile the streams flow with a sweet murmur beneath the little breezes.” The violins play the streams in semiquavers. Repeated bass notes hold the passage in E major.

“Vengon’ coprendo l’aer di nero amanto / E Lampi, e tuoni ad annuntiarla eletti” — “Lightning and thunder come, chosen to announce her, covering the sky with a black cloak.” The orchestra plays rapid repeated notes beneath arpeggios in the solo violin. The harmony moves to C♯ minor.

“Indi tacendo questi, gl’Augelletti / Tornan’ di nuovo al lor canoro incanto” — “Then, when these fall silent, the little birds return to their enchanting song.” In bars 59–⁠65 their trills return in C♯ minor. The continuo holds a long C♯ beneath them, where the bass was earlier silent.

The full strings bring back the refrain’s closing phrase in E major. Vivaldi repeats it softly, then ends with B resolving to E in the bass.