THE FOUR SEASONS

AN ANALYSIS OF RHYTHM AND HARMONY

Mark Royzenblat

Music History I

Dr. Natasha K. Forman

November, 22nd 2016

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The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi are some of the most renowned works of music in

the world from the Baroque Era. To this day, many orchestras and string ensembles still

perform the music for audiences and listeners who are completely captivated by the utter

genius of the composer. The pieces contain more than just music, they tell a story and are

extremely dense with complex syncopated rhythms, cross-rhythms, and harmonic and melodic

figures that provoke emotion by creating a picture in our minds. This paper will focus on the

subjects to not only analyze what Vivaldi is doing but also learn from the way he creates.

Among the main highlights of The Four Seasons, rhythm is one of the defining

characteristics that makes these violin concerti stand out. Using elements of syncopation, cross

rhythm, and hemiola, Vivaldi is able to create vast rhythmic landscapes that showcase an

almost symphonic texture by not only creating a story with melody and harmony but also

rhythms ahead of his time. Starting off with the first movement of L’estate or Summer, the

piece begins in 3/8 time, but the notes being played do not give off the sense of three to the

listener’s ear, due to the fact that there are two eighth notes played in succession on beats two

and three.1

1 Gian Francesco Malipiero, Violin Concerto in E major, RV 269 (Milano: G. Ricordi & C., 1950)
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The melody accents the off-beat thus throwing off the listener from m.1 to m.6,

although even when the melody does play three eighth notes to the bar in m.6 the sense of

three is still not present. This is to give off a certain mood and establish the beginning theme of

the movement, which is the intense heat of summer.

As the seasons progress, Autumn comes around which is rhythmically dense with

syncopated figures. M.53 marks the point where the melody is in a syncopated dance with the

other instruments which are on the beat, while the melody plays on the second half of the

beats, creating a simple, yet effective example of a very musical of syncopation that is sparsely

used in popular music today.2

Another fantastic example of complex syncopated imitation begins in the second

movement of Spring. This movement commences with a very slow tempo which allows the

harmonies to create a background setting where the harmony instruments are playing

extremely quick figures, which are dotted sixteenth notes followed by thirty-second notes.

These are immensely fast, so to a listener, the time signature is quite difficult to follow, and

2 Gian Francesco Malipiero, Violin Concerto in F major, RV 293 (Milano: G. Ricordi & C., 1950)
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only until the melody enters, does the meter unveil itself (in this case it is 3/4). The viola part

plays its first notes on the second half of beat 1 and because of the difficulty of following the

meter the viola part falling on this section of the beat displaces the listener only until the

melody comes in.3

Even after this occurs the viola part remains unchanged and it keeps the sense of

syncopated accompaniment intact.

Vivaldi’s use of cross rhythm/hemiola gives the pieces a new flare. M. 80 of Autumn

begins as a pickup on beat 1 of the measure with a quarter note; as the song progresses to beat

2 the listener anticipates beat 2 to come but instead Vivaldi brilliantly puts an eighth note rest

to signal the beginning of a new rhythmic motive that begins right in the middle of the bar on

3 Gian Francesco Malipiero, Violin Concerto in E major, RV 293 (Milano: G. Ricordi & C., 1950)
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the second half of beat two with 2 quick sixteenth notes followed by an eighth note on beat

three and a quarter note on the second half of beat three.4

He continues this little figure with no eighth note rest. What this does, is create a

pattern that is copied and pasted one after another. The thing that stays consistent is the

eighth falling on the downbeat and beat three, followed by a quarter note. This figure has no

accents, but since the quarter note is longer, it is naturally stressed more due to the length. This

ostinato almost gives off a sense of a 2/4 meter because of the short phrasing add is a fantastic

example of a hemiola.

Cross-rhythms are another form of syncopation Vivaldi uses in his pieces, the most

common being the 3 over 2 cross rhythm, where one instrument is playing 3 notes per beat

while another is playing 2. In this case, m.78-81 of summer showcase this rhythm.5

4 Gian Francesco Malipiero, Violin Concerto in F major, RV 293 (Milano: G. Ricordi & C., 1950)
5 Gian Francesco Malipiero, Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 315 (Milano: G. Ricordi & C., 1950)
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The melody violin along with the aiding of the other violins and violas are playing rapid

sixteenth note triplets while the cello is playing sixteenth notes against these triplets, in this

case creating this rhythmically compelling sound.

One thing many people do not know about Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons is that he wrote

text that was meant to be followed along with the music. There are multiple harmonic and

melodic examples that demonstrate these scenes without even saying a word.

Looking upon the beginning of Summer at m.31, the melody violin mimics the sound of

the cuckoo bird, by using sixteenth notes for passing notes and hiding the cuckoos sound within

them. The melody plays fast notes repeated as a base while the actual cuckoo sound is the Bb

descending down a minor third to the tonic, G, with a passing tone in between. The descending

third continues throughout the following 20 measures. This completely emulates the line from

the text “the cuckoo unleashes its voice and, as soon as it is heard, the turtle dove sings and the

goldfinch too.” After the cuckoo introduces itself, the tension slowly builds with the number of

notes being played by the other instrument diminishing to just an offbeat sixteenth note pickup

starting on the last quarter of beat 1 with a quarter note follow up landing on beat 2. This figure

repeats for 8 bars from m.40 to m.48. “The cuckoo’s voice, itself a premonition for disaster, and

the other bird-songs do nothing to relieve the uncomfortable sense of expectancy.”6 With a

sudden jerk all the instruments come in with a bang like the turtle dove and the goldfinch; the

whole ensemble enters with a forte in a medley of bird calls, following the cuckoo rhythm but

6Paul Everett, Vivaldi: The Four Seasons and Other Concertos, Op. 8 (Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, 1996), 83.
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also adding many, many notes. This medley only appears for 3 bars until it dramatically changes

back to the motif that began the movement.

Vivaldi was very clever when he wrote the text for the seasons because he was very

precise with the texture, tones, and themes he wanted to portray in every movement. Spring

glows with examples of text to music relationship but one example that stands out is the

thunder and lightning in m.45. What goes from a beautiful melody of the sound of the birds

goes to a sudden drop to extremely fast thirty-second notes which show off the rumbling growl

of the thunder. The following bar introduces the lightning with a thirty-second note ascending

the B mixolydian scale in the upper parts while the lower notes retain the dark sound of the low

B creating a very treacherous tension that continues from m.45 to m.55. “The stormy passage,

for which the first modulation has been reserved, presents no great sense of conflict” 7. This

dark, rousing passage is followed by the return of the birds, the main ritornello that begins at

the beginning of the piece to signify how Spring storms come and go quickly, with the birds

coming out just like they did in the song.

Nature is a primary subject that appears in The Four Seasons but another key aspect

that Vivaldi implements in the Autumn is human nature. Vivaldi mentions two traditions that

still take place in human society: drinking and hunting. Looking upon m.33 of Autumn, this

section piece is where the drinking begins. It starts off as a bit of dance between the melody

and the other instruments going back and forth and then as it moves forward, the melody

becomes merrier. It almost follows the stages of being drunk, begins with fun and towards the

end goes through the process of not knowing wat is going on (the syncopation and at the end,

7 Ibid., 81.
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going to sleep (fermata closing the movement, signaling the next movement). This “story”

written with music, perfectly follows the text, “and, fired by Bacchus’ liquor, many end their

enjoyment in slumber”8.

Besides using melody to relate to text, Vivaldi also uses harmony to create emotions and

stories in the listener’s mind. Modulation from E major to C# minor, a diatonic key change, in

m.56 of Spring. The melody changes from the initial bright feeling of the major key that is

introduced at the beginning to the darker feeling of C# minor. This indicates the stormy

passages of Spring which directly precede the transposed melody; “thunder and lightning,

chosen to proclaim her,…”9

Another use of modulation happens in the 2nd movement to 3rd movement in Winter.

The 2nd movement ends in the dark warm Eb major setting back to the beginning cold F

minor10. This shift goes from “to pass the days of calm and contentment by the fireside while

the rain outside drenches a hundred others;” to “to walk on the ice, and with slow steps…”11.

This modulation is quite apparent not only from the sound but the pause between the two

movements.

Besides using modulation to use harmony to portray text, Vivaldi also uses vertical

harmony to emulate moments in the text. Using articulation and the use of the half diminished

II chord, the movement begins in a very dissonant fashion. Immediately, the movement begins

with a staccato on the tonic, F, which familiarizes the listener with the key. Interestingly

8 Ibid., 75.
9 Ibid., 73.
10 Ibid., 88.
11 Ibid., 75.
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enough, the harmony begins to stack from the bottom up, starting with a G natural, creating

the naturally dissonant minor second. He then stacks Db, which creates the tri-tone between

the predeceasing note. He finally gets to the third of the chord in m. 4, the Bb, which identifies

the chord as a G half-diminished 7th chord. This piercing sound is played as staccato by the

accompaniment instruments, while the first violin trills its notes very statically, which really

allows the listener to feel the icy sting that the composer is trying to deliver through his

music.12

Musicians of past and present can still look upon the greatest musicians of all time and

learn from them. Vivaldi definitely falls into place as one of those composers from these pieces

alone, not considering the fact that he wrote over 500 pieces of music. His progressive use of

syncopation, hemiola, cross-rhythm, and relating text with harmony and melody defines him as

a musical genius especially for his time. Antonio Vivaldi will stay in history books and music

stands of orchestras because he was able to convey emotion and project image with sound, a

rare feat in composing and his inspiration will remain within our minds for years to come.

12 Gian Francesco Malipiero, Violin Concerto in F minor, RV 297 (Milano: G. Ricordi & C., 1950)
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Bibliography

Everett, Paul. Vivaldi: The Four Seasons and Other Concertos, Op. 8. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996.

Malipiero, Gian Francesco. Violin Concerto in E major, RV 269. Milano: G. Recordi & C., 1950.

Malipiero, Gian Francesco. Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 315. Milano: G. Recordi & C., 1950.

Malipiero, Gian Francesco. Violin Concerto in F major, RV 293. Milano: G. Recordi & C., 1950.

Malipiero, Gian Francesco. Violin Concerto in F minor, RV 297. Milano: G. Recordi & C., 1950.

Pincherle, Marc. Vivaldi, Genius of the Baroque. N.p.: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1957.