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Vivaldi - L'Inverno (inverno) - I Allegro
José Rodríguez Alvira
The first movement, an Allegro, uses the ritornello form. In this form the main musical idea - the ritornello - is presented with variations by the full orchestra (tutti or ripieno), alternating with soloists sections (concertino).
Follows the structure of this movement (click on the sections to examine them):
Section
Measures
Key
Text
1 - 12
F minor, C minor
To tremble from cold in the icy snow,
Vivaldi describes the frozen shivering among the silvery snow with repeated notes and trills. The section ends modulating to C minor:
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
12 - 18
C minor, F minor
In the harsh breath of a horrid wind;
The soloist describes the winter wind with 32nd notes movement. He occasionally interrupts the tutti by recalling the shivering. The section ends by returning to F minor:
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
18 - 26
F minor
To run, stamping one's feet every moment,
The ritornello describing the frozen shivering among the silver snow reappears. In measure 20, the use of semiquavers prepares a new musical idea using 32nd notes to describe the to run, stamping one's feet every moment:
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
26 - 38
F minor, Eb major
Over the shivering motive, the soloist moves using 32nd notes. From measure 33 on, it is interrupted on occasion by the tutti imitating the wind (VENTI). The passage ends modulating to E flat major:
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
38 - 44
Eb major
Ritornello in the key of E flat major. The semiquavers of the previous ritornello reappear, but without the variant of the rhythmic foot-tapping at all times that is reserved for the final ritornello.
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
44 - 56
Eb major, Ab major, C minor and F minor
Our teeth chattering in the extreme cold
From measure 47 on, Vivaldi very effectively describes the teeth chattering. We end in F minor to prepare for the final ritornello.
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
56 - 63
F minor
For the final ritornello Vivaldi confines himself to the section describing stamping one's feet every moment:
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. José Rodríguez Alvira. Published by teoria.com
