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Author
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741, Venetian)
- father was a barber and later a professional violinist
- was ordained as a priest at age 25
- nicknamed il Prete Rosso ("the red priest") because of his red hair
- was violin master at an girls' orphanage early in life
- Wikipedia Article
About the Piece
(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)
- Genre is violin concerto
- string instrumental piece
- homophonic texture
- evokes feelings of spring: playful birds, flowing brooks, thunder and lightning
- several very virtuosic solos
- two contrasting types of sound (as with all concertos): light and happy spring versus thunder and lightning
- frequently repeated (and catchy) ritornello is pervasive throughout
- several key changes, including minor key usage in "thunder and lightning" section
Purpose
- entertainment
- used for instruction in violin
Reflections
I like this piece a lot. It evokes pictures so perfectly and precisely that if someone asked me what this piece was about, without telling me the name, I would probably say spring. Perhaps this is only because I have heard it in that context before. Particularly well done, in my opinion, is the bird section. The "catchiness" of the tune is also something missing from many previous pieces, except for perhaps the Hallelujah choras from Handel's Messiah.