Four Seasons

In Western musical history, there are a handful of works that have transcended the musical world to become widely-recognized cultural touchpoints. Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons is one such work. Originally published in 1725, the set of four violin concerti portrays spring, summer, fall, and winter through vivid musical renderings of highly descriptive sonnets. Because of its remarkable ability to capture seasonally evocative scenes in music, The Four Seasons is sometimes viewed as an origin point for the genre of programmatic music, the narrative-focused style that would sweep Europe long after Vivaldi’s death.

In addition, this week’s program highlights Benjamin Verdery’s the rain falls equally on all things, a fantasy for solo guitar that, like Vivaldi’s work, draws on natural elements. In addition, Verdery, who composed the work in 2017 for the Changsha International Guitar Festival, drew inspiration from Romantic composer Franz Schubert, even incorporating melodic and harmonic fragments of Schubert’s art song Nachtstuck into his own work.