Baroque · 1725
Summer — Concerto No. 2 (The Four Seasons), 3rd movement
A. VivaldiOp. 8 No. 2, RV 315
- Key
- Gm
- Time
- 3/4
- Tempo
- ♩=88
- AO focus
- AO3
Incipit
Form
Presto — third movement, 'the storm'. The most virtuosic of all Four Seasons solo passages: rushing semiquaver figuration depicting summer thunderstorm. Programmatic — Vivaldi's sonnet describes hailstones flattening the wheat.
Teaching points
- Programmatic detail — match each musical gesture to a line of the sonnet (printed in concert programmes since 1725)
- Solo violin tremolos and arpeggios — depict thunderstorm. Practise as separate technical études
- AO3: Vivaldi's programmatic concretisation — every gesture has an extra-musical referent
Full score ↓Public domain
Score: IMSLP (Le Cène 1725 + Ricordi modern editions, all public domain).