Title: "Spring" from The Four Seasons, 1st movement
Composer: Antonio Vivaldi
Listening link: Spring - YouTube
Score link: Cantorion.org
Background info: Antonio Vivaldi published The Four Seasons, a group of four violin concerti in 1725. It was published along with eight additional violin concerti. Each concerto in The Four Seasons is written in three movements, fast-slow-fast, and accompanied by poems also in three sections, likely written by Vivaldi himself. It is an excellent early example of program music.
Poem for the allegro movement:
Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.
Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar,
casting their dark mantle over heaven.
Then they die away to silence,
and the birds take up their charming songs once more
Sources:
background info:
Britannica (n.d.b). Britannica.com encyclopedia. Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Four-Seasons-by-Vivaldi
poem:
Baroque Music (n.d.). The four seasons. Retrieved March 25, 2022, from https://www.baroquemusic.org/vivaldiseasons.html
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