teoria.com uses cookies. By using our site you agree to the use of cookies. Read our privacy policy for more information. Close
Vivaldi - L'Inverno (Winter) - III Allegro
José Rodríguez Alvira
The third movement is based on this text:
We tread the icy path slowly and cautiously,
for fear of tripping and falling.
Then turn abruptly, slip, crash on the ground and,
rising, hasten on across the ice lest it cracks up.
We feel the chill north winds course through the home
despite the locked and bolted doors...
This is winter, which nonetheless
brings its own delights.
Vivaldi uses the ritornello structure in this movement while taking many liberties to follow the sonnet text. It begins with the soloist (click on the sections to examine them):
Section
Measures
Key
Text
82 - 101
F minor
We tread the icy path,
Over a tonic pedal, the soloists describe how we tread the icy path.
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
102 - 132
F minor
slowly and cautiously for fear of tripping and falling. Then turn abruptly, slip, crash on the ground and,
The ritornello describes the slow walk to avoid falling and how they inevitably fall when slipping on the ice. The entire passage is over a dominant pedal.
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
132 - 166
F minor, C minor
rising, hasten on across the ice
Now the Soloists describe how the hasten on across the ice. We modulate to C minor and end with tonic and dominant pedals.
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
166 - 174
C minor
lest it cracks up
We hardly recognize elements of the previous ritornello. For Vivaldi, it seems to be more important to describe the text of the sonnet than to maintain the formal structure.
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
174 - 181
C minor
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
182 - 201
Eb major
despite the locked and bolted doors...
The ritornello appears in E-flat major without the participation of violoncellos, double bass and continuo.
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
201 - 221
Eb major, F minor
We feel the chill north winds course through the home
The soloist describes all the winds at war and is constantly interrupted by the tutti illustrating the winds. We return to F minor for the final section.
John Harrison, violín, Robert Turizziani, director. Wichita State University Chamber Players. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
221 - 305
F minor
This is winter, which nonetheless brings its own delights.
The final tutti develops the motif of the winds from the previous section.
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
