Christian Li Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) greatly influenced his time's European musical life. He wrote hundreds of solo concertos for different instruments and more than 200 for his own instrument, the violin. While alive, he was just as famous for his sparkling violin playing as for composing. Vivaldi received music commissions from kings and emperors from all over Europe but was also popular among ordinary people. He had a priestly education but worked as a music teacher at an orphanage for girls in Venice for most of his life. 

One does not know for sure when Vivaldi wrote the four violin concertos he is most known for today - The Four Seasons - 1723 is one likely year. The music matches four poems that Vivaldi perhaps wrote himself, with detailed descriptions of the way of nature. The composer also wrote hints in the sheet music of what the music describes: a dog barking in the Springs's second movement, lethargy in the stifling heat that ushers in the Summer, and drunk people dozing off in the middle of Autumn. Together, The Four Seasons form a fascinating and detailed soundscape of nature's course.