Analysis Of The Four Seasons

The symphony is in four very powerful and entertaining movements. The first movement begins in the pianissimo tone with the strings section, but quickly enters the fortissimo tone with the introduction of the woodwind, brass and percussion sections. The dynamics of the musical melody varies throughout the movement moving from crescendo to decrescendo modes. The first movement reminds you of a raging storm from soft blowing winds to thunder and lighting. The audience is mesmerized by this first movement of the sonata.

Antonio Vivaldi is a famous Italian baroque composer, known by most Suzuki violin students who study his concertos or by audiences everywhere who have heard and love his composition of the Four Seasons.  Having grown up as students of the Suzuki Violin Method, we recognize this composer and have experience performing his pieces.  In addition to his many concertos written for solo violin, Vivaldi composed many concertos intended to be performed by two solo violins, accompanied by a small orchestra.  Because we are both violinists, we chose to analyze the second movement of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins in A minor, RV 522, included in his L’Estro Armonico works.

Plantiga, Leon. "Beethoven's Concertos: History, Style and Performance. " New York: W.W.Norton, inc., 1999. pp.3-21, 113-158

The Baroque period stretched across half of European history. It began shortly before 1600 and ended with the death of Bach in 1750. During this time, there were change and

The first movement, “Spring,” in E Major represents the birdsong of the season. The solo violin is supported by two other violin soloists, Jorge Ochoa and Martin Irving. Unfortunately, the cohesiveness between the three violins was slightly off in tempo. However, they quickly recovered representing a high level of musicianship. Next, “Summer,” demonstrates the intense heat and storms by the G Minor key. Takayama imitates the goldfinch, turtledove, and cuckoo on her violin while the orchestra imitates buzzing insects. Later, in F Major, “Autumn,” consists of the theme of a drunken solist which provides extreme freedom in the music. Lastly, the terrifying season of “Winter” voices the frozen water and bitter cold of the outside air. The instruments begin by conversing in F Minor prior to the virtuosic entrance of solist, Akemi Takayama. The second movement switches to E-flat Major, demonstrating the coziness of the indoors during the colder

Music is constantly changing. The Baroque period (1600-1750) and the Classical period (1750-1820) have both differences and similarities in elements such as form, texture, and dynamics. I will be comparing the first movement of Spring from the Four Seasons composed by Antonio Vivaldi and the first movement of Symphony No. 5 in C minor by Ludwig van Beethoven. I will construct a stylistic comparison of the two compositions and their musical stylings with regard to the periods of music of which they belong.

Music during the Baroque era was regarded as a powerful form of communication that could invoke any emotion in the audience members. This philosophical belief was derived from a revival of the ideas of the Greco-Roman culture. As a result of these ideas, composers believed that they could also affect their listeners through the power of melody, harmony, rhythm, and stylistic details. The emphasis on communication was reflected in the major styles and components that were used throughout Baroque compositions. Baroque music is characterized by the composers’ attention to detail, such as contrast in dynamics, ornamentation, and the emphasis on bass line. These characteristics of the Baroque era of music are reflected in Antonio Vivaldi’s compositions. Known as one of the most popular pieces in Baroque repertoire, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons reveals how composers of the Baroque period used different techniques, such as ritornello and contrast, to invoke emotion through the powerful communication of music. The Four Seasons perfectly represents the Baroque period because of Vivaldi 's style, techniques, and theme.

The fourth movement is titled “thunderstorm” and is a romantic movement. It is in episodic form (a format of the romantic period). It is extremely programmatic. The movement depicts a thunderstorm through the use of the timpani that creates the rumble of the thunder and the punctuated sforzando chords that create a harsh lightning (for example in bar 21). These programmatic features are romantic traits and show Beethoven’s ability to push the boundaries of the style he was contained to. The use of percussion and brass in a dominant role is also a romantic feature. There are multiple dramatic dynamic changes throughout the movement ranging from pianissimo to fortissimo, which is unusual for the classical period. The movement also exercises dissonance and the melody is unresolved, a

In the 1700s, Antonio Vivaldi composed his highly accredited Four Seasons concerto. The autumn movement in this concerto follows the allegro-adagio-allegro pattern. Vivaldi provided sonnets to go along with each movement to explain what the true meanings are. As a group, we felt it was necessary to provide all of our reactions to the piece. This allowed us to interpret what each of the others were visualizing throughout the composition. Some of our opinions may have varied, but overall the general mood of the piece allowed us each to have the same emotions toward the Autumn movement of the Four Seasons.

Beethoven’s symphony No. 5 in c minor, Op. 67, I has four movements allegro con brio, andante con moto, scherzo allegro, and allegro. The first movement is a sonata that contains a motif and fortissimo phases using imitation and sequence with a constant flowing melody. The second movement contains two themes in alternation. The first theme starts later followed by the second which later dies of as a third theme is born followed by fortissimo The third movement contains a scherzo and trio and is in ternary form the theme is immediately stated and continually gets revived. The fourth and final movement starts immediately after the third and is a variation of a sonata. The piece has strong cadence and recapitulates only to finish in an extremely

This work was composed during the Classical period, 1750- 1820. One aspect of the classical music style beign applied to this work includes the reoccurance of two or more contrasting themes. Another is the use of short and clearly defined musical phrases. Lastly, this piece, on a purely musical level, was simply more to hum along to. This type of melody took over the complex polyphony of the Baroque period.

The Seventh Symphony itself can and has been described in many words and fashions. It’s victorious, moving, energetic, powerful, and full of heart. The piece is known for its rhythmic devices (such as dotted rhythm and repeated rhythmic figures) and the celebratory emotion to it, in which makes listeners want to dance and burst into blissful joy. It involves four movements: 1. Poco sostenuto – Vivace, 2. Allegretto, 3. Presto – Assai meno presto (trio), and 4. Finale, Allegro con brio. The score includes two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, two drums (in which are tuned to A and E, except in the scherzo where they are in F and A), and basses. The first movement is in A major, with repeated modulations between C major and F major. The second movement also includes modulations (originally in A minor with switches to A major) and the third movement is in F major.

The symphony consists of four movements. The first movement, Allegro vivace, is in sonata form. In the first theme (Ex.1), many sequences were used to construct the melody. And being inspired by Italian opera, Mendelssohn here tired to delay the closure of the theme as much as possible. While the second theme, it shares the similar materials as the first theme. In the development section, although a new theme appears, it consists of some materials of the first theme. Then, all these three themes appear again in the recapitulation, creating a sense of unity.

The baroque period of music commenced in the year 1600 and ended around 1750 (Fuller – “Baroque”). Its texture was mainly polyphonic (Fuller – “Classical”). Polyphonic means that two or more different melodies are played simultaneously (McComb). This provides an energetic rhythm, long melodies, and many ornaments. The most famous composers of this time period were Vivaldi, Corelli, Monteverdi, Purcell, Handel, J.S. Bach, and Couperin. Many new styles of music were introduced, such as operas, sonatas, oratorios, suites, fugues, and concertos. Orchestras began to develop, but it was not until the classical period when orchestral music was perfected (Fuller – “Baroque”).

The speaker seems to appreciate nature so much that he sees the complete difference between the seasons and that he admires the birth of the natural world. He explains his feelings in almost all aspects as he describes the rinsing in his ears in one line which may mean that, his mind, soul, and body is refreshed with what the natural sound that he hears during this season. As for him, he conceptualizes the natural world as a pure creation of God and that it helps in spiritual awakening.