Molina Phear MUSC 1010-Sp14 February 24, 2014 Term Paper

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was a music composer from the Baroque Era. He was born March 4, 1678 in Venice to Giovanni Battista and Camilla Calicchio. Both his mother and father were born of tailors. Antonio was the eldest of his nine siblings. His father worked as a barber and later became a professional violinist. At a young age, Antonio, against his own will, became a priest. This was because it was the only way that a poor family was able to receive free schooling. During his priesthood, his father, Giovanni, taught him how to play the violin. Antonio worked at the Ospedale della Pieta, a convent orphanage and music school in Venice, at the age of 25, when he was deemed a violin teacher. At the Ospedale della Pieta, boys learned about trade and girls learned music. Those who were talented enough joined the orchestra and played Antonios compositions. Between the years of 1709 and 1711, Antonio worked for Teatro Sant Angelo, an opera theater, taking leave from the Ospedale della Pieta to state his first opera, Ottone in Villa, in Venice; only to return to Ospedale della Pieta after. Antonio became an active composer around 1711, where 12 of his concertos were published in Amsterdam by the music publisher Estienne Roger, under the title lEstro armonico (harmonic inspiration). A few years after his first publication, he moved to Mantua to take his post as Chamber Kapellmeister at the court of Landgrave Phillips van Hessen-Darmstadt. His task there was to provide operas, cantatas, and even possible concerto music, in 1717. In 1720, Antonio returned to Venice to state a new play hed written at Teatro Sant Angelo. While in Mantua, he had the pleasure of being acquainted with a singer, Anna Giraud

(Giro). She had moved in with Antonio, maintaining that she was no more than a housekeeper and good friend. Antonio continued to teach and write music, even touring Prague with Anna and his father in 1730. After his stay in Prague, he focused mainly on operas, though still writing music, selling the manuscripts to private persons or to the Ospedale della Pieta. In 1739, Antonio traveled to Amsterdam to conduct an opening concert for the 100th anniversary of Schouwburg Theater. Returning to Venice, who was going through a severe economic downturn, Antonio resigned from Ospedale della Pieta, in 1740, and moved to Venice under the patronage of Charles IV. That, however, was short lived as he died July 28, 1741, from internal fire which was most likely due to the asthmatic bronchitis in which hes suffered all his life.

Molina Phear February 24, 2014 MUSC1010-Sp14 Term Paper: Composition History The music Ive selected of Vivaldis composition includes all three movements of Spring of the Four Seasons and the first and third movement of Summer of the Four Season. These songs were published in 1725, in a set of 12 concertos entitles II cimento dell armonia e dell invention. Along with each composition of the Four Seasons, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and

Winter, Vivaldi wrote a sonnet that accurately and musically portrays the movement. The sonnet for the first movement of Spring is described as calm and happy. Then, there is a disturbance, such as a storm, silencing the peaceful song of the birds. The sonnet for the second movement is described as serene and quiet as a man sits with his dog at his side. The final movement of Spring is described by Vivaldi as festive and creates a mood to welcome the arrival of Spring. The first movement of the composition, Summer, is described as hot but breezy and flowy. However, there is a storm threatening to arrive and the shepherd whimper as it makes its way. The last movement of Summer is described by Vivaldi as the storm arriving accompanied by thunder and lightning.

Molina Phear February 24, 2014 MUSC1010-Sp14 Term Paper: Timed Listening Guide Spring (all three movements) [0:00] Introduction: The melody is repetitive. As it echoes, it changes in dynamics going from forte to piano. The rhythm is changing from fast notes to slower notes and speeding up again. Its pitch is high throughout the entirety of the intro. Its harmony with other instruments make it flowy. [0:35] Start of Verse 1: The melody starts with a tremolo making it sound like a bird chirping. The notes flow well together going from lower pitched notes to high pitched notes. The dynamics go up and down gradually; you almost cant hear the change until toward the end. Many instruments harmonize together in high pitches created an effect of multiple birds singing. The texture is polyphony. [1:09} Start of Chorus: The chorus is much like the intro, however, on the first part of it. The rhythm is changing from fast notes to slower notes and speeding up again. There are no dynamics. [1:17] Start of Verse 2: The melody repeating the same notes but in different pitches. The dynamic is more of a piano, playing softer and quieter. The texture is polyphony. The texture is homophony. It has a nice transition from playing shorter notes to playing longer notes. [1:39] Start of Chorus: Chorus is still the same; however, it is played in lower pitch than previously.

[1:47] Start of Bridge: Throughout the bridge, the notes are played hard and fast, creating a sense of urgency. Theres no real melody, just quick strokes of the note. [2:12] Start of Chorus: The chorus is the same, going back to the high pitch as it was in the beginning. [2:20] Start of Verse 3: The transition goes well with dynamics going into forte. There is also a repeat of the melody but in a lower pitch. The rhythm changes from slow smooth notes into faster notes and of higher pitches. The texture is monophony. The pitches of the different instruments harmonize very well together. [2:37] Start of Verse 4: The texture is monophony. Its melody is the somewhat same as the chorus, however, it is more flowy. It repeats a few parts changing in dynamics. The rhythm changes from a fast paced beat to a slower beat, lengthening the notes. The pitches of the note change from high to higher as it gets louder and the note is held longer. [3:02] Start of Chorus: chorus is the same, going back to the high pitch as originally in the beginning. This time it repeats itself, like in the introduction, playing at piano repeating what was played in forte. End of first movement [0:00] Introduction: The melody is slow and flowy. The texture is polyphony. There is one instrument playing choppy notes at a low pitch, and another playing at a higher pitch and smoother. [0:34] Start of Verse 1: The melody is still slow and flowy and the texture is still polyphony. The rhythm has changed a little, holding the notes for longer beats. The notes that are choppy are changing notes descending and ascending the scale. Ive listened to it a few times, and I cant distinguish if there is a chorus. The notes go smoothly together in harmony, echoing the

original notes. The rhythm doesnt really change until [2:30] where it changes from smooth and flowy to a faster tempo. End second movement [0:00] Introduction: The melody repeats itself. The notes echo the original in piano dynamics. The texture is polyphony. [0:17] Start Verse 1: The melody echoes almost like the introduction, playing the original notes in piano dynamics. The rhythm changes from echoing notes to a smooth descending and ascending of scale notes. [0:37] Start Verse 2: The rhythm begins with a fast tempo. The texture is more polyphony though I do want to say that it is homophony. The dynamics go to forte and back down, however, never really hitting piano. [0:57] Start of Chorus: The chorus is much like the first part of the introduction. Except that it doesnt echo. [1:05] Start Verse 3: The melody starts out slow moving to a faster tempo fairly quickly. The notes are ascending the scale and are held a little longer each time. There is an echo that repeats the original notes played in piano dynamics. From there, the dynamics goes from piano to forte still ascending and descending notes of the scale. [1:29] Start of Verse 4: The melody changes to a more upbeat tempo. Some parts of the composition are slurred while others are played short and separate. The notes still ascend and descend the scale. The notes transition from the fast upbeat tempo to a more serene and calming one. I believe the texture to be monophony and harmony between many instruments [2:03] Start of Verse 5: The rhythm is hoppy. The texture is polyphony. Quick, fast notes are played and repeated echoing the original in a slightly softer dynamic.

[2:27] Start of Chorus: The chorus is the same. [2:35] Start of Bridge: The bridge is very much echoing the melody of the chorus. It even repeats the original notes in a piano dynamic. Though, it sounds like instead of playing a sharp, it plays a flat, creating an effect be being sad or lonely. The texture is polyphony, though harmonizing well together. The rhythm changes from its tempo of the chorus to a slower pace where the notes are held for longer beats. The notes are ascending and descending from the background. They dynamics are very good going from forte to piano to forte again, ascending and descending the scale.
[3:29] Start of Chorus: Chorus is the same. It doesnt repeat all its measures; however, it does repeat a few of them. It alternates between dynamics. End of third movement Summer (movement one and three) [0:00] Introduction: Lower and higher strings alternately yield to lethargy. The lower and higher strings are in harmony. The melody is slow. The texture is monophony. The note length goes from short, short, long; short, short, long. Towards the end, the melody repeats itself, or rather, echo the original notes. The melody is slow and repetitive ascending and descending notes of the scale every other note. [1:08] Start Verse 1: The rhythm went from a slow repetitive melody to a more upbeat but is still repetitive. The texture is polyphony. The notes ascend and descend the scale though does not change dynamic. After a few more measures, more instruments join in. The same tempo and dynamics is kept throughout the verse. [1:44] Start of Chorus: The chorus is like the introduction tempo wise. Compared to verse one, the introduction and chorus are very slow in and drags out the notes, while the notes in verse one are fast and

hasty. [1:58] Start of Verse 2: The rhythm starts out slow but then speeds up just a tad. There are repetitive sequences of notes. The notes change from a low pitch to a higher pitch, using a

tremolo to transition. The texture is more monophony than any. Although there may be more than one instrument, for the most part, you and hear the distinctiveness of only one for the majority. [2:20] Start of Bridge: This section is particularly high in pitch and fast in tempo and rhythm. The texture is homophony. The dynamics alternate to piano and back to the original tone. It doesnt really have a melody to it, just playing notes repetitive notes in different pitches and dynamics. At [2:45] the tempo picks up a bit more and more instruments harmonize with the current. The dynamic also went straight from piano to forte. Notes become shorter as it goes up and down the scale. [3:12] Start of chorus: chorus is the same. [3:22] Start Verse 3: They rhythm and tempo are slower than that of the bridge, but faster than that of the intro and chorus. The texture is polyphony. This section seems to play in forte throughout the entirety of it. Towards the end, the melody seems to repeat slightly, but with different notes and a small change in the ending of the measure. As it continues, the tempo slows down significantly. [4:20] Start of Verse 4: There is a random change in rhythm going from smooth to a more hoppy type and finally to a face paced tempo. As the rhythm progressively gets faster it also becomes louder, dynamic to forte. Theres no melody really; just repeating notes of different pitch. There are many incidences where the notes just go up and down the scale. As it is ending, the notes are echoed though playing at a slightly different pitch. End of first movement

[0:00] Introduction: The intro has a very fast tempo. Not really creating a melody as much as it is repeating notes. The texture seems to be monophony. It starts out loud, in forte, and stays that way. [0:12] Start of Verse 1: The notes are repeated and echoed. The tempo is kept the same from the introduction as is the texture. Again, there is not really a melody as to just being repetitive. Towards the end, there are a different variation in the rhythm, though nothing about it has really changed, it still echoes the notes. At [0:35] the variation changes again. Ive noticed that most parts of the composition of the Four Season are notes that just go up and down the scale like finger exercise. Id say this is one of the more advanced exercise. At [0:49] the variation changes slightly taking in a different tone and pitch. At [1:08] more instruments join in. There is more of a melody at this point, alternating notes and the length in which these notes are held. [1:31] Start of Verse 2: the variation changed, though the tempo remained the same. The texture, I feel, is more homophony. The dynamic also significantly changed from a forte to a piano and gradually makes its way up back to forte. At [1:45] the variation changes back to repetitive notes. This has a texture of monophony. The variations continue to change throughout the song. There are no rests so its hard to differentiate where one part begins and another stop. At [2:20] there is a very short violin solo. It echoes and just goes up and down the scale. Im more than positive that this song is for finger exercise. It goes up and down the scale but it keeps at a very fast pace.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Antonio Vivaldi: A Detailed Informative Biography." Antonio Vivaldi: A Detailed Informative Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. "Antonio Vivaldi Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. "Antonio Vivaldi Profile." About.com Classical Music. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.