Vivaldi's Four Seasons

While I am not a connoisseur of classical music, I can probably identify some of the more well known pieces. Some of my knowledge in this area comes from my kids, who took music lessons in piano and violin and had to play many of those well known pieces. I would bet that Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" is one piece that many would recognize.

This week I came across a writer on Squidoo who is doing some fabulous writing! She goes by the name 'greenspirit' and I had a hard time picking which lens I wanted to review. While she writes mostly about gardening, I finally settled on this article, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, because it is just so well written, beautifully designed, and interesting too.

Did you know that, while Vivaldi was quite popular for awhile during his life in the 1700's, his music then went out of favor and lay in an attic for more than two hundred years? It wasn't until the 1960's that new recordings of his work started gaining in popularity. This is one of the interesting tidbits you will find on this page about his most famous work. She then goes on to outline each of the four concertos which make up this piece, including sample videos and accompanying sonnets. While she states that the Winter concerto is probably the most recognizable, for me it was Spring and Autumn. Vivaldi was from Italy and his interpretation of the seasons was based on what he experienced in Venice.

It is obvious that greenspirit knows something about music and this piece in particular because she delves into the nuances of different interpretations of the concertos and provides video as evidence. Of course, recommended books and recordings to learn more are also included.

This is exactly the type of page that represents what Squidoo is best at - experts writing about what they know and love.

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Image Credit: Heart Vivaldi by thinkers