Brass in Four Seasons

Brass in Four Seasons

Antonio Vivaldi's Le quattro stagioni ("The Four Seasons") are a set of violin concerti, each representing a season. These concerti were written around 1716-1717 and published in 1725. 

Each concerto represents a season of the year, making Vivaldi one of the earliest composers of program music, or music that tells a story. 

Also something fairly novel at the time was Vivaldi's use of an accompanying sonnet for each concerto, possibly written by the composer himself. Although this is not known for sure, the fact that the sonnets seem to line up with the movements of each concerto support this theory. 

To hear a performance of the original orchestration, click here. 

Canadian Brass has performed all four of these concerti arranged for brass quintet, although at different times throughout the group's history and on different albums. Information on each of the recordings can be found in the description of each YouTube video. Below, you'll find Vivaldi's sonnets, accompanied by their respective movement played by Canadian Brass. 

Spring

Allegro

Spring has arrived with joy

Welcomed by the birds with happy songs,

And the brooks, amidst gentle breezes,

Murmur sweetly as they flow.

The sky is caped in black, and

Thunder and lightning herald a storm

When they fall silent, the birds

Take up again their delightful songs.

Largo e pianissimo sempre

And in the pleasant, blossom-filled meadow,

To the gentle murmur of leaves and plants,

The goatherd sleeps, his faithful dog beside him.

Allegro

To the merry sounds of a rustic bagpipe,

Nymphs and shepherds dance in their beloved spot

When Spring appears in splendour.

Summer

Allegro non molto

Under the merciless sun of the season

Languishes man and flock, the pine tree burns.

The cuckoo begins to sing and at once

Join in the turtledove and the goldfinch.

A gentle breeze blows, but Boreas

Is roused to combat suddenly with his neighbour,

And the shepherd weeps because overhead

Hangs the fearsome storm, and his destiny.

Adagio

His tired limbs are robbed of rest

By his fear of the lightning and the frightful thunder

And by the flies and hornets in furious swarms.

Presto

Alas, his fears come true:

There is thunder and lightning in the heavens

And the hail cuts down the tall ears of grain.

Autumn

Allegro

The peasant celebrates with dancing and singing

The pleasure of the rich harvest,

And full of the liquor of Bacchus

They end their merrymaking with a sleep.

Adagio molto

All are made to leave off dancing and singing

By the air which, now mild, gives pleasure

And by the season, which invites many

To find their pleasure in a sweet sleep.

Allegro

The hunters set out at dawn, off to the hunt,

With horns and guns and dogs they venture out.

The beast flees and they are close on its trail.

Already terrified and wearied by the great noise

Of the guns and dogs, and wounded as well

It tries feebly to escape, but is bested and dies.

Winter

Allegro non molto

Frozen and shivering in the icy snow,

In the severe blasts of a terrible wind

To run stamping one’s feet each moment,

One’s teeth chattering through the cold.

Largo

To spend quiet and happy times by the fire

While outside the rain soaks everyone.

Allegro

To walk on the ice with tentative steps,

Going carefully for fear of falling.

To go in haste, slide, and fall down to the ground,

To go again on the ice and run,

In case the ice cracks and opens.

To hear leaving their iron-gated house Sirocco,

Boreas, and all the winds in battle—

This is winter, but it brings joy.

Not many brass players attempt to play works originally designed for virtuoso string instruments. Covering the range with the speed and agility that string players can achieve requires an enormous amount of skill and control on any brass instrument. Canadian Brass has never been short on this amount of technique and virtuosity in any of their recordings, and these pieces are no exception.

But is Vivaldi Better in Brass?

That's for you to decide.