The Sound of Summer Rain in Classical Music Vivaldi, Rameau, Beethoven, Grofé and Whitacre
by Maureen Buja, Interlude Channeling the sound and fury of nature through an orchestra gives everyone, from the composer to the conductor to the orchestra (primarily the string section) a thorough workout. Antonio Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Violin Concerto in G Minor, Op. 8 (Summer) © unripecontent.com One of the most familiar of storms is in the third movement of Vivaldi’s Summer concerto from the Four Seasons (1720). The sonnet that goes with the concertos sets this up at the end of the first verse: ‘Soft breezes stir the air, but threatening | the North Wind sweeps them suddenly aside. |The shepherd trembles, | fearing violent storms and his fate’. And then, in the 3rd verse: ‘The Heavens thunder and roar and with hail | Cut the head off the wheat and damages the grain’. And starting with rain in the violins, the heavens open. Jean-Philippe Rameau: Platée – Act I Scene 6 – Orage Jean-Paul Fouchécourt as ...