The Four Seasons · Winter, RV 297

The 1725 sonnet opens with “Aggiacciato tremar trà nevi algenti” — “To shiver, frozen, among icy snows.” Repeated string notes build upwards from the bass. The solo violin joins with a trill on each short note.

“Al Severo Spirar d’orrido Vento” — “In the harsh breath of a dreadful wind.” The solo violin plays demisemiquavers in broken chords and descending scales. Short orchestral passages bring back the shivering figure.

“Correr battendo i piedi ogni momento” — “To run, stamping one’s feet at every moment.” Vivaldi set the repeated notes closer together. The semiquavers break into short bursts of demisemiquavers.

Charles de Brosses wrote from Venice in 1739: “Vivaldi has become one of my intimate friends, to sell me concertos very dear.” The old man, he added, had a prodigious fury for composing, boasting he could write a concerto, with all its parts, faster than a copyist could copy one.

“E pel Soverchio gel batter i denti” — “And to chatter one’s teeth from the excessive frost.” The solo violin repeats short notes under the words Batter li denti. The repeated notes continue while the harmony passes through A♭ major and C minor towards F minor.

The full strings take over in F minor for the final ritornello (bars 56–⁠63). Vivaldi brings back the stamping part of the refrain, with its rapid repeated notes, and carries it to the final cadence.

“Passar al foco i dì quieti e contenti” (“To spend the days by the fire, peaceful and content.”) The 1725 sonnet moves the scene indoors. The solo violin plays in E♭ major over plucked violin notes, and the bass is marked always quiet.

“Mentre la pioggia fuor bagna ben cento” — “While outside the rain soaks a hundred others.” The orchestral violins play pizzicato throughout. After its first cadence in B♭ major, the solo melody starts again from B♭ and moves back towards E♭.

In November 1737 Vivaldi wrote to his patron Guido Bentivoglio that he had not said Mass in twenty-five years. The cause was a chest ailment he had had from birth, his “strettezza di petto”. He was ordained in 1703 and stopped saying Mass after leaving the altar three times before the end of the service.

The solo violin reaches E♭ and holds it through the last bars. Below, the orchestral violins continue their plucked semiquavers, the rain of the movement. They stop only at the final fermata, where they hold the chord.

“Caminar Sopra’l giaccio, e à passo lento / Per timor di cader gersene intenti”, “To walk on ice with slow steps, taking care for fear of falling”, come from the 1725 Winter sonnet. The solo violin changes direction above a long F. The other upper strings rest.

“Gir forte Sdruzziolar, cader à terra / Di nuovo ir Sopra ’l giaccio e correr forte” — “Turn sharply, slip, fall to the ground; go back onto the ice and run hard.” The orchestra plays falling scales. Then the solo violin climbs in detached semiquavers.

“Sin ch’il giaccio Si rompe, e Si disserra” — “Until the ice breaks and splits open.” The strings break off their running figures with short notes and rests. Brief bursts of demisemiquavers fill the gaps, and then the soloist takes over again.

“Sentir uscir dalle ferrate porte” — “To hear emerging from the iron gates.” The sonnet describes the winds. For the Sirocco, Vivaldi marked the music Lento in E♭ major and left out the bass entirely, so only the upper strings play.

“Sirocco, Borea, e tutti i Venti in guerra” — “Sirocco, Boreas, and all the winds at war.” Solo runs alternate with short orchestral passages, and the strings move towards F minor. The sonnet ends: “Quest’è ’l verno, mà tal, che gioja apporte” — “This is winter, yet it brings joy.”