Name: 【TED-Ed】Why should you listen to Vivaldi's "Four Seasons"? - Betsy Schwarm
Uploaded: 2016-10-25T02:17:16.000Z
Duration: 4 min 20 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

It's some of the most familiar of all early 18th century music.

It's been featured in uncounted films and television commercials,

but what is it  and why does it sound that way?

This is the opening of "Spring" from "The Four Seasons,"

"The Four Seasons" are famous in part because they are a delight to the ear.

is the fact that  they have stories to tell.

At the time of their publication in Amsterdam in 1725,

describing exactly what feature of that season

Vivaldi intended to capture  in musical terms.

In providing specific plot content for instrumental music,

Vivaldi was generations ahead of his time.

If one were to read the poems simultaneously to hearing the music,

synchronizing nicely  with the musical imagery.

We are told that the birds welcome spring with happy song,

Soon, however,  a thunderstorm breaks out.

Not only is there musical thunder and lightning,

In "Summer," the turtle dove sings  her name "tortorella" in Italian,

"Autumn" brings eager hunters dashing out in pursuit of their prey.

The "Winter" concerto begins with teeth chattering in the cold

before one takes refuge by a crackling fire.

where there'll be slips  and falls on the ice.

In these first weeks of winter, the old year is coming to a close,

and so does Vivaldi's musical exploration of the seasons.

would such expressive instrumental program music, as it was known,

By then, larger, more varied ensembles were the rule

with woodwinds, brass, and percussion to help tell the tale.

But Vivaldi pulled it off with just one violin, strings, and a harpsichord.

Vivaldi wasn't much interested in complicated fugues.

He preferred to offer readily accessible entertainment to his listeners

with melodies that pop back up later in a piece

So the first movement of the "Spring" concerto begins with a theme for spring

and ends with it, too, slightly varied from when it was last heard.

It was an inspired way  to attract listeners,

considered one of the most electrifying  violinists of the early 18th century,

understood the value  of attracting audiences.

Such concerts might feature himself as the star violinist.

Others presented the young musicians of the Pietà,

a Venetian girls' school where Vivaldi was Director of Music.

Music training was intended not only as social skills suitable for young ladies

for those who might fail to make good marriages.

Vivaldi's music served  as diversion for all,

300 years later, it's an approach that still works,

and Vivaldi's music still sounds like trotting horses on the move.