99: Summer

 The season that follows spring is, of course, summer. But it may have seemed strange that yesterday, the first season was “spring,” not either winter in the north or summer in the south. Currently, of course, the day that follows December 31 of year X is January 1 of X+1; the first 10 weeks or so of the calendar year, then, are spent in summer or winter, depending on your hemisphere. However, in Vivaldi’s day, the year started and ended in a completely different place: March 24 of X was followed immediately by March 25 of X+1. This system put the beginning of the year right when spring was starting, so it made Easter one of the first major events of the year, not somewhere in the third or fourth month of the year as it is today. If the year begins in March near Easter, the spring is the first season, followed by summer, followed by fall or autumn, followed by winter, before the cycle repeats.

This, together with the twelve months of the year matching up with the tweleve movements of the Four Seasons, gives us a clue to the mapping. Spring I was from late March to late April; Spring II was meant to evoke late April to late May; and Spring III was meant to evoke late May to late June. Likewise, the next season, Summer, is broken down in the following way. Summer I is late June to late July; Summer II is late July to late August; and Summer III is late August to late September.

Just as before, there’s a sonnet split up into 3 parts (written by Vivaldi) describing each movement, and we’ll get to showing you what each part is and what you should listen for. But before we do that, let me briefly point out a tonal quirk of Summer: it’s the only one of the four that has no movements at all primarily in major. (Winter, the other Season in a minor key, is in minor-major-minor; Summer, by contrast, is minor-minor-minior.) 

In Summer I, listen out for “Under the heat of the burning summer sun, / Languish man and flock; the pine is parched./ The cuckoo finds its voice, and suddenly, / The turtledove and goldfinch sing./ A gentle breeze blows,/ But suddenly, the north wind appears./ The shepherd weeps because, overhead,/ Lies the fierce storm, and his destiny.” In Summer II, listen for “His tired limbs are deprived of rest / By his fear of lightning and fierce thunder,/ And by furious swarms of flies and hornets.” Finally, in Summer III—the most famous and show-y movement of the 3—listen out for “Alas, how just are his fears, / Thunder and lightening fill the Heavens, and the hail/ Slices the tops of the corn and other grain.”


Here are some great recordings:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw9azzywa8Q&list=RDiw9azzywa8Q&start_radio=1

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g65oWFMSoK0&list=RDg65oWFMSoK0&start_radio=1

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDt_KtOzbc&list=RDRvDt_KtOzbc&start_radio=1

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0o_TUq70Fk&list=RDB0o_TUq70Fk&start_radio=1

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syJbduBPPXM


 


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