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Chapter 14
Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons first movement
Chapter at a Glance
Listen to This First
Contrasting Timbres
Form: The Ritornello Principle
Word-Music Relationships: Program Music
Connect Your Playlist: Concerto
Profile: Antonio Vivaldi (1678 1741)
Expand Your Playlist: Vivaldi
Chapter Objectives
After reading the chapter and listening to the work, students should be able to:
14.2 Listen for the application of the ritornello principle through the use of contrasting
14.6 Discuss violin-making in the era of Stradivarius.
Key Concepts
concerto, ritornello, violin, program music
Chapter Highlight: Program Music
Program music is instrumental music explicitly connected in some way with a story,
person, or idea. This first movement of a three-movement concerto for violin and string
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Chapter Summary
oncertos for solo violin and string orchestra known as The Four Seasons,
during the Baroque period. Each section consists of three movements, fast, slow, and
fast. Vivaldi, a violinist himself, took advantage of the violin-making craft and the
musicians to play his concertos, and Vivaldi wrote most of his concertos here before he
moved on to Vienna and the court of Charles VI.
This movement has contrasting sections of full orchestra, or tutti, passages and
soloists. Each time the full ensemble returns, it is called the ritornello
This design of soloists and orchestra is known as the ritornello principle. It is found in
almost every Baroque work that contrasts a soloist with an ensemble for example,
Listening Guide
Bonds notes places where Vivaldi paints a musical picture of that text. These also
MyMusicLab Resources
Automated Listening Guide: Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
first movement
Profile: Antonio Vivaldi (1678 1741)
Flashcards
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Discussion Topics and Critical Thinking Questions
8. Discuss the various ways Vivaldi uses the design principles of contrast and repetition
9. ary to know the extra-musical connotations that
accompany the music to enjoy listening?
Activities and Exercises
5. Consider all of the musical ventures that were available to talented composers like
Vivaldi in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in Venice teaching
violin, directing the orchestra, writing operas, conducting opera orchestras, playing
violin in opera orchestras yet Antonio Vivaldi was a priest. Collect information from
websites and other sources about his life and more generally about musicians of the
early 1800s. How was he able to do it all?
Journaling Prompt
Four Seasons are the first works covered in the textbook
that were written specifically for instruments. Are you familiar with many purely
instrumental works composed in the past few years? Why do you think vocal music
seems to be more popular than instrumental music?