Why should you listen to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"? - Betsy Schwarm
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Light, bright, and cheerful, "The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi is some of the most familiar of all early 18th century music, featured in numerous films and television commercials. But what is its significance, and why does it sound that way? Betsy Schwarm uncovers the underlying narrative of this musical masterpiece.
In the lesson, there was a reference to “melodies that pop back up later in a piece to remind us of where we’ve been.” This is a compositional trick called “ritornello,” which Vivaldi especially liked to use in fast movements. Listen to a recording of one of the fast movements of one of The Four Seasons, and notice how the opening melodies tend to return. Vivaldi isn’t the only composer to use this trick; in fact, a lot of popular and traditional music even today does this at times. What other music can you think of that tends to repeat itself this way, and is there anything different about how that music does it, in comparison to Vivaldi?
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Betsy Schwarm
- Director Vessela Dantcheva, Ivan Bogdanov
- Animator Vessela Dantcheva, Ivan Bogdanov
- Illustrator Vessela Dantcheva, Ivan Bogdanov
- Producer Vessela Dantcheva
- Sound Designer Big Banda Soundscapers
- Composer Antonio Vivaldi
- Music Performance Big Banda Soundscapers
- Narrator Betsy Schwarm
