Antonio Vivaldi Four Seasons Essay

987 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Baroque period music

On Sunday, January 14th, I was able to watch an extraordinary concert that focused on Antonio Vivaldi’s masterpiece, “Four Seasons,” through YouTube. “Four Seasons” is one of the best composition to ever come to life during the Baroque era. It is an instrumental song. “Four Seasons” is made up of four concertos, each expressing a specific season of the year (spring, summer, autumn, and winter). The concert was performed for the International Kamermuziek Festival. The performers are in a musical group called the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and the concert featured a violinist named Janine Jansen. There was not a conductor in this performance. Unfortunately, even though the video was recorded in high quality, I could not describe much about the audience …show more content…

I noticed that they wore all black except for the featured violinist, Janine Jansen. The concert only had string instruments and a keyboard instrument. It was an assortment of violins, cellos, a bass, and one harpsichord. Janine Jansen, who is also the soloist and prominent violin player in this performance, was in the front and center. The harpsichordist was completely in the center surrounded by all the performers that will play string instruments. The instruments with lower pitches, which are the cellos and bass, were on the left side of the stage. The instruments with the higher pitches, which are the violins, were on every side of the stage including the …show more content…

The unique characteristics of movements can be clearly heard. The second movement played within the concertos seemed to heavily contrasts the other movements, while the other two movements were more similar to one another with a faster tempo and a livelier mood. The dynamics kept changing within a movement. At times the movement is played softly perhaps around a piano level, building my anticipation for what comes next. Soon enough, the dynamics changes where each performer plays loudly around the level of forte. The variation in dynamics was beautiful. It kept me entertained and wanting to hear more of the concert. Most importantly, the variation in dynamics helped make the characteristics of each concerto and movement stand

Show More
Related

  • The Orion String Quartet and Nash Ensemble: A Concert Review

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    I thoroughly enjoyed this concert from beginning to end. The opening piece, “String Quartet in F Major, K 590”, was both soothing and moving with an engaging theme that followed through the piece. The sudden stops and starts with changes in theme built the suspense and pulled the listener in to a jaunty gallop through the second section. Also the bass tones in the back ground seem to be slightly off kilter with the violins, providing a complex texture and harmony that provides depth and poignancy to the music.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Pablo Mahave Veglia

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    The concert that I attended was of the cellist “Pablo Mahave Veglia” and he performed at the recital hall at Saint Cloud State University on September 9th. His concert was specifically instrumental and it was a solo recital. This concert’s genre was mainly a concerto and the concert represented the Baroque period. The main instrument that was used in this concert was the cello and there was also some electronic music incorporated throughout his performance.

    Read More

  • Vivaldi's The Four Seasons: Live Performance Review

    822 Words  | 2 Pages

    The final piece that was in the concert was a solo done by Julia Fischer. She performed Niccolo Paganini’s “Caprice NR. 2.” This piece sounded like Vivaldi’s which may be why I didn’t notice it was a different piece until I noticed the pause between pieces. It was also very amazing to see her handwork as she played the violin in the close-up it gave. I think what made me like this piece the most, and this entire concert was because of the violin. They’re naturally a quiet instrument but they’re also a very powerful instrument when played with

    Read More

  • Reflection Of A Concert At The Chicago Symphony Center

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    The dynamic levels at the beginning were in piano, but it did not stay that way, there were changes in the sound there were crescendos and decrescendos but mostly toward the end. The harmony was very polyphonic it had many sounds play at one and the texture was also thick it had many layers of sounds because of the number of instruments and the variety of instruments playing simultaneously. The instruments played in this composition were strings, woodwind, brass, and percussion like, cello, flute, French horn, and timpani and they for the tone color the instruments did have a high pitch range. The form for this was theme and variation because he had a theme and variation he took the melody and used it over and over and over again by changing different elements. Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 16 rhythm was a medium walking pace and the steady beat was recognizable. For dynamics, the composition started off mezzo and had changed where it was forte and had crescendos. The melody seemed to be in minor scale

    Read More

  • Jazz Showcase

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rudder Theatre is a large venue for this Jazz Showcase. There are five sections with fifteen rows deep in each section. The theatre is decorated modestly with solid colors and nothing too spectacular or eye catching. The chairs were covered in a yellowish fabric. The initial backdrop behind the stage was a white backdrop with red and blue lighting. This backdrop would change colors throughout the concert. Located at the doors were ushers with programs detailing the Texas Music Festival. The seats inside were not assigned but on a first come first serve basis. Seated in the very front and centered to the audience were the performers. The stage was set up with five chairs lined up three rows back. Each row was more elevated than the previous. The piano was at the far left, the guitar and bass were next to the piano, and the drums were in the back. The first row of chairs included the saxophone players, the second row were the trombone players, and the trumpet players were in the third and last row.

    Read More

  • Beethoven Symphony Orchestra Report

    744 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first movement the orchestra was smooth and graceful.The violinist were playing gently,and soft. The second movement is quite faster than the first, and the performers were smiling and enjoying themselves. By the third movement the orchestra was playing faster and louder, and having much fun. The orchestra began feeding off of the crowd, who was enjoying the piece. The fourth movement, the orchestra slowed down and were playing beautifully. The performance was graceful, the conductor just let her hand flow, and barley had to the guide the orchestra, because they had it down pack. The performers did not just play Beethoven Symphony No. 7, but they told a story. one could hear when character went from happy to

    Read More

  • Music 101

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    The concert was on March 13, 2014 at 12:30 pm the performers were Lisa Fujita, Brendan O’Donnell, Daniel Mitnitsky, Yannick Rafalimanana they performed five different Piano Quartet pieces. The first was a Piano Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 15 it was Allegro Molto Moderato, the next was III. Adagio and both of these pieces were written by Gabriel Faure. The next was a Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op.47, called Sostenuto assai- Allegro ma non troppo this was written by Robert Schumann. Lastly there is the Piano Quartet in G-minor, K.493, I. Allegro, III. Allegretto and these two pieces were by W. A. Mozart. This was not the exact order and they did change a few thing like the way things would be played and they change the Quartet from E-Flat major to G-Minor because they said that it was difficult to play. By playing different types of music they offered us diverse experience. I really enjoyed the entire performance. Each of the Performers played a different instrument. Lisa Fujita played the violin, Brendan played the viola, Daniel played the cello and Yannick played the piano. Each of them played a very important role. Each of the performers looked calm and as if they knew what they were doing, they were dressed very formally but the audience was not dressed as formally due to the fact that it was during the school day and the event wasn’t a black tie event.

    Read More

  • Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto Summary

    1828 Words  | 4 Pages

    The orchestration comprises of a standard set of instruments, including two flutes, two clarinets, two oboes, two bassoons, two trumpets, three trombones, four horns, timpani, bass drum, cymbals and strings. An additional instrument is the tuba (Chung 22). Moreover, it appears that the piano is not the only soloist; rather other instruments such as flutes, clarinets and horns make minor appearances for similar purposes.

    Read More

  • Beethoven Symphony 5 Essay

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    The concert I watched was Discovering Masterpieces of Classical Music: Beethoven Symphony No. 5 via the video link as found in the course syllabus: http://digital.films.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?aid=35642&xtid=59065 This performance of Ludwig Von Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Op. 67 in C Minor, is conducted by Claudio Abbado, conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in Rome in 2001. The Berlin Philharmonic is widely considered one of the best orchestras in the world.

    Read More

  • Percussion Ensemble Analysis

    941 Words  | 2 Pages

    The very first piece in the performance is one of the most interesting works of the concert. Bloom, the marimba quartet seemed to be blending in between post-rock and minimalism. It began with a four note motive which was a subtle introduction. I noticed constant repetition throughout the work. The members each had four mallets in which they introduced various thick textures. It sounded as if this piece had an overall joyful tone especially when all members played together...

    Read More

  • Concert

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Its dynamic is piano to forte. There are periods of dynamics through movement of the symphony. As the second movement ends, there are crescendos and decrescendos. The third movement begins with fortissmo, and then decrescendos into piano. The range of the instruments make the movement sound magical, yet ominous.

    Read More

  • The Symphony Orchestra Concert Analysis

    818 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...re was very interesting transitions between the variation, for example, string section plays the variation from low to high, when they reach the highest note, the brass family takes over and continue with the scale and make it more higher. Tremolo style was used in this piece, which is a quick ups and downs stroke mode. The music were very soothing and attracted the audience. Lastly, they end the piece with the same variations that was played at the beginning.

    Read More

  • Concert Report

    1072 Words  | 3 Pages

    The final and twelfth piece was made up of excerpts from a longer work called Five Short Pieces for Clarinet and Bassoon. To me, maybe because the concert was beginning to get long or maybe because I did not have many notes over it, the last piece seems fairly similar throughout its movements, or “Short Pieces.” The first was an up-beat piece with a distinct melody. The clarinet and bassoon alternated, with the clarinet playing the higher notes. The second movement had a have complete feel to it. The two instruments played at the same time, close to it. The third movement was an impressive sounding mix of ups and downs. It seemed that the performers were working very hard and it sounded very complex.

    Read More

  • A Night at the Gala: 2010 Gala Performance

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    Each piece was unique choreographed to commemorate different eras. All tied into the major theme in observation of the occasion to hone Mrs. Miller. The inaugurate piece Strict Love caught me by surprise. Before the performance music is played in the background.

    Read More

  • A Report About a Concert Attended

    728 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ext and final movement was the finale. This movement brought back themes from the first movement and the third movement and gave the piece a feeling of ending. This movement was quicker and louder than the movements before. I enjoyed this piece. It was very interesting and used differences in dynamics to keep people interested. The themes in the movements differed and really captivated my attention. This and the first piece of the concert were very nice and I really enjoyed them.

    Read More

More about Antonio Vivaldi Four Seasons Essay

Open Document