Vivaldi, The Four Seasons - Autumn

 
Antonio Vivaldi, known in his time as il prete rosso (the red priest, because of the color of his hair, a family characteristic) received minor orders when he had just turned fifteen. However, the young violinist did not feel a strong religious vocation. Apparently, he chose the habits as a way of gaining access to a social status that would otherwise have been forbidden to him: his family album is full of unvirtuous personages, with an abundance of sailors, pirates, and bandits, with the exception of his father, who was also a famous violinist. However, in 1703, at the age of twenty-five, he was ordained a priest.

At L'Ospedale
That same year he began in Venice a very long and fruitful relationship with the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage he would remain in relatively regular contact with for 36 years. It was there that he composed most of his works, which total an astonishing 454 concertos, according to the latest research. However, most of these compositions remained unknown until the first quarter of the 20th century, when 300 autograph manuscripts plus nine operas and a beautiful oratorio were collected.

Il Cimento dell'armonia e dell'invenzione
Needless to say, only a tiny part of this immense work was published during the author's lifetime. An exception to this were the twelve concertos that make up the collection Il Cimento dell'armonia e dell'invenzione, published in Amsterdam in 1725, and whose first four concertos have become very famous under the title of The Four Seasons.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741)

The imitation of nature

Perhaps for the first time in his entire oeuvre, Vivaldi resorts here to the imitation of nature as a reflection of one of the basic tendencies of enlightenment culture, understanding that imitation of nature here means "imitation of human nature," that is, the translation of sensible human impressions into music.
They constitute the first incursions into the so-called "programmatic music" that would have a notable presence during the romantic century to come.
The four concertos already mentioned are: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, all written for solo violin, string orchestra and harpsichord, and structured in three movements: fast - slow - fast.

Presented here is the Concerto in F major, Autumn, in a rendition by German violinist (and also pianist) Julia Fischer, accompanied by the London-based ensemble Academy of St Martin in the Fields.

Movements:
00        Allegro
04:48  Adagio molto
07:11  Allegro pastorale