Violin Concerto in F Minor

Bodies tremble and teeth chatter in the shivering dissonance and goosebump rhythms that introduce “Winter”—the final concerto in Vivaldi’s musical cycle of the year. The opening “Allegro non molto” movement is caught between music seemingly frozen on a single note and frenzied bursts of activity launched by the solo violin, blowing through the texture in jagged gusts. This motion spreads to the orchestra which, suddenly galvanised, picks up the soloist’s energy, transforming it into a foot-stamping dance. But winter isn’t all hardship. The “Largo” slow-movement basks in warmth and contentment. A simple melody in the solo violin sits on top a bed of plucked strings—their pulsing brightness suggesting not only the insistent patter of raindrops outside, but a flickering fire within. In the closing “Allegro”, the rain is now frozen—treacherous underfoot. Solo violin once again leads the way, slipping and sliding chromatically, any anchoring harmony all but stripped away. The orchestral violins follow timidly, but their caution isn’t enough as descending scales send people tumbling to the ground. There’s beauty to be found here, too, as heard in the sweet central theme in the orchestra—a moment of calm before the solo violin leads the ensemble into a wild musical game of tag. About Vivaldi's The Four Seasons From a sudden spring thunderstorm to lazy summer heat, harvest songs and dances (and the drinking that fuels them) to the tooth-chattering chill of the winter wind—Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons is a vivid portrait of a year in country life, painted in sound. Published in 1725, this group of four violin concertos are the opening works of a larger collection, The Contest Between Harmony and Invention, but they’ve always stood apart: descriptive music in an age of abstraction, film music long before film itself. Dismissed in their day as gimmicks or wild innovation, it took more than 200 years for these sonic snapshots to find a regular place in the repertoire.