Since then, Vivaldi’s masterwork has never stopped inspiring new variations.Īs a reference point, let’s start with a recent performance using Vivaldi’s original score, a Warner Music release by the Janaček Chamber Orchestra and violin soloist Bohuslav Matoušek under the direction of Zdenek Dejmek. He indicated on the score that one could substitute a hurdy-gurdy if one preferred. The earliest known arrangement of the Seasons for alternate instrumentation dates all the way back to 1739, when French composer Nicholas Chédeville reconceived the solo lines to feature his own specialty, the musette (small, delicate-sounding bagpipes with two chanters and a bellows under the elbow). This kind of extra-musical reference was avant-garde at the time, and the reception to the work varied widely, from adulation to mockery. He also added dramatic cues on individual parts, such as “Dog barking” during a viola passage in the “Spring” concerto. The composer may have written the sonnets himself, although that is still under debate. With that level of saturation, it’s not surprising that a number of recent attempts have focused on rethinking this timeless work.Īntonio Vivaldi’s most famous composition, first published in 1725, is a set of four violin concertos, considered “programmatic” music in that each is paired with a sonnet about one of the four seasons of the year. A quick search of Spotify yielded over 500 versions, and the results hadn’t even finished loading. The Four Seasons is one of the most-recorded works in all of classical music.
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