In it he exercised his imaginative powers with great aplomb, accomplishing a quadruple evocation of mood as well as incorporating striking elements of realism. Here Vivaldi did indeed put harmony and invention to the test by writing an early and lengthy example of orchestral program music, perhaps the first such treating the seasons. Together, these four concertos constitute the first third of his Opus 8, a collection of twelve concertos dedicated to a Bohemian Count which were published in Amsterdam in 1725 under the title Il Cimento dell’ Armonia e dell’ Inventione, or the testing of harmony (representing the rational side of composition) and invention (imagination). Vivaldi’s musical theater in Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons) was Nature in her four changing guises. Even architecture took on semblances of the theater Versailles and its gardens look like a stage set. The sense of expression and theatrical awareness had many manifestations. Vivaldi, himself, was fully immersed in it. Baroque composers began earnestly exploring music’s expressive powers and, with the development of opera during that period, became actively involved with the theater.
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