Noteworthy
The Hidden Treasures in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons Score
“The Four Seasons is a piece that has offered me new discoveries every time I perform it,” says TSO Concertmaster Jonathan Crow.
Vivaldi’s score, written in 1725, includes four sonnets that the composer likely wrote himself, inspired by paintings by Marco Ricci (1676–1730).
Those sonnets, written into the score, indicate where Vivaldi saw the movements of each concerto in relation to specific lines in the text. They provide musicians with an inside view of the composer's vision for the work and opportunities to illuminate the imagery contained in the music.
“When we last performed the The Four Seasons in Roy Thomson Hall in 2019, I invited four of my colleagues in the Orchestra to recite each of the sonnets in their native language. It felt like a message that Vivaldi would have appreciated—the universality of poetry and beauty,” explains Jonathan.
In this TSO On Demand concert, Jonathan is also very focused on bringing Vivaldi’s playful integration of nature sounds to the forefront.
Listen for: