Showing posts with label Four Seasons. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Four Seasons. Show all posts

Monday, June 29, 2026

The Top 25 Doo-Wop Groups of All Time

Doo-Wop:

Top 25 Acts

Doo-wop emerged in the 1950s as an integral force in the shaping of early rock and roll. The genre was marked by vocal groups, predominantly male and black. More than a dozen lists were aggregated to come up with this DMDB list of the top 25 doo-wop groups of all time.

See other lists of Acts/Music Makers by Genre.


The Platters

1. The Platters
2. The Drifters
3. The Coasters
4. The Flamingos
5. The Clovers

6. The Orioles
7. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers
8. The Spaniels
9. Dion & the Belmonts
10. The Dominoes

11. The Moonglows
12. The Cadillacs
13. The Del-Vikings
14. The Five Satins
15. Little Anthony & the Imperials

16. The Crests
17. The Harptones
18. The Dells
19. Hank Ballard & the Midnighters
20. The Five Royales

21. The Skyliners
22. The Cleftones
23. The Four Seasons
24. The Diamonds
25. The Penguins

Resources/Related Links:

First posted 3/5/2026; last updated 6/29/2026.

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Friday, February 27, 2026

Classical Works: Top 100

Classical Works:

Top 100

This was originally posted as a top 10 on the DMDB Facebook page on 2/21/10 and then expanded to a top 50 on 5/2/2011. This list was determined by an aggregate of more than 30 classical-music-focused, best-of lists combined with the works’ standings in the overall Dave’s Music Database. Here’s the top classical works (which includes operas, symphonies, concertos, etc.) according to the DMDB. Note: most of these are considered “albums” based on their lengths. Those works noted with an asterisk (*) are shorter pieces and not considered album-length works.

Check out other best-of-genre/category lists here.

Composer Name of Work (year composition was finished)
1. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 5 (1808)
2. Richard Wagner The Ring Cycle (Der Ring Des Nibelungen) (opera, 1848-1874)
3. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 7 (1812)
4. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (1824)
5. Antonin Dvorák Symphony No. 9 in E minor (From the New World) (1893)
6. Antonio Vivaldi The Four Seasons (1725)
7. Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 (1875)
8. George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, & Dubose Heyward Porgy and Bess (1935)
9. Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B Minor (“Pathétique”) (1893)
10. Georges Bizet Carmen (opera, 1873-74)

11. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) (1786)
12. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 6 “Pastorale” (1808)
13. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 3 in E-flat “Sinfonia Eroica” (1804)
14. Hector Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique (1830)
15. Johann Sebastian Bach Goldberg Variations (1741)
16. Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4 (1885)
17. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Don Giovanni (opera, 1787)
18. Richard Wagner Tristan Und Isolde (opera, 1857-59)
19. Johann Sebastian Bach Brandenburg Concertos (1719-21)
20. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 40 in G minor (1788)

21. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) (1791)
22. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” (1811)
23. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 (1785)
24. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 20 (1785)
25. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter” (1788)
26. Johann Sebastian Bach Cello Suites (1717-23)
27. Giacomo Puccini La Bohème (The Bohemian Life) (opera, 1896)
28. Giacomo Puccini Tosca (opera, 1900)
29. Gioacchino Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) (opera, 1816)
30. Ludwig van Beethoven Violin Concerto in D Major (1806)

31. George Friedrich Handel Messiah (1741)
32. Franz Schubert Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished”) (1822)
33. Giuseppe Verdi La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) (1853)
34. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor (1904)
35. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A Major (1791)
36. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Requiem Mass in D minor (1791)
37. Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in D minor (1937)
38. Franz Schubert Piano Quintet in A Major (“Trout”) (1814)
39. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 2 in C minor “Resurrection” (1894)
40. Igor Stravinsky The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre Du Printemps) (ballet, 1913)

41. Claudio Monteverdi L’Orfeo (Orpheus) (opera, 1607)
42. Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor (1901)
43. Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C minor (1876)
44. Béla Bartók Concerto for Orchestra (1944)
45. Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 14 (1826)
46. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor (1786)
47. Giacomo Puccini Turandot (1926)
48. Giuseppe Verdi Rigoletto (1851)
49. Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 13 (1826)
50. Giuseppe Verdi Aida (opera, 1871)

51. George & Ira Gershwin An American in Paris (classical soundtrack, 1951)
52. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 1 in D major (“Titan”) (1884-88)
53. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 in C minor (1786)
54. Franz Schubert Symphony No. 9 in C major (1828)
55. Henry Purcell Dido and Aeneas (1689)
56. Claudio Monteverdi Vespers of the Blessed Virgin (1610)
57. Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 15 (1826)
58. Ludwig van Beethoven Fidelio (1805)
59. Modest Mussorgsky Tableaux d'une Exposition (Pictures at an Exhibition) (1874)
60. Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto in D major (1879)

61. Felix Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor (1845)
62. Edvard Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor (1868)
63. Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina Missa Papae Marcelli (Pope Marcellus Mass) (1562)
64. Johann Sebastian Bach Mass in B Minor (1749)
65. Giacomo Puccini Madame Butterfly (Madama Butterfly) (1904)
66. Antonin Dvorák Cello Concerto in B minor (1895)
67. Vincenzo Bellini Norma (1831)
68. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 38 in D major (1787)
69. Richard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose) (1911)
70. George Friedrich Handel Water Music (1717)

71. Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor (1909)
72. Franz Josef Haydn String Quartet No. 5 in D major (Largo) (1797)
73. Franz Josef Haydn String Quartet No. 3 in C major (Emperor) (1797)
74. Johann Sebastian Bach St. Matthew Passion (1736)
75. Felix Mendelssohn Octet for Strings in E flat major (1825)
76. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Sonatas (32) (1795-1822)
77. Claudio Monteverdi L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppaea) (1642)
78. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 8 in F major (1812)
79. Franz Josef Haydn Symphony No. 104 in D major (1795)
80. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major (1791)

81. Alban Berg Wozzeck (1922)
82. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major (Stadler) (1789)
83. Johann Sebastian Bach Sonatas and Partitas for Violin (1720)
84. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 39 in E flat major (1788)
85. George Friedrich Händel Julius Caesar in Egypt (Giulio Cesare in Egitto) (1724)
86. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphony No. 35 in D major (1782)
87. Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 4 in B flat major (1806)
88. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 14 in E flat major (1784)
89. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major (1786)
90. Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 9 in D major “Farewell” (1912)

91. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major (1784)
92. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major (1777)
93. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major (1784)
94. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major (1806)
95. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Cosí Fan Tutte (Thus Do They All) (1790)
96. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio) (1781)
97. Johann Sebastian Bach Violin Concerto No. 2 in E major (1723)
98. Claudio Monteverdi Madrigals of Love and War (Madrigali Guerrieri ed Amorosi) (1638)
99. Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor (1800)
100. Luciano Pavarotti/Placido Domingo/Jose Carreras The Three Tenors in Concert/Mehta (1990)

Resources and Related Links:

First posted 2/21/2010; last updated 2/27/2026.

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Monday, May 10, 2021

The Top 100 Doo-Wop Songs of All Time

Doo-Wop:

Top 100 Songs

Doo-wop emerged in the 1950s as an integral force in the shaping of early rock and roll. The genre was marked by vocal groups, predominantly male and black.

This list was originally a top 20 list posted on the DMDB Facebook page in 2010 after I stumbled across a Doo Wop Hall of Fame (which looks like someone’s personal site). The list has since been revised, aggregating more than 25 best-of lists of doo-wops songs (see sources at the bottom of the page). Those songs appearing on three or more lists were then ranked based on their overall status in Dave’s Music Database.

You can check out an older version of this list here which was used by Stuart Weiss, a DJ with MemoryLaneOldies.com, to do a top 100 countdown his Sunday Night Doo Wop Party radio show in March 2021.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

The DMDB Top 1%

1. The Penguins “Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)” (1954)
2. The Flamingos “I Only Have Eyes for You” (1959)
3. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” (1956)
4. Danny & The Juniors “At the Hop” (1957)
5. The Platters “The Great Pretender” (1955)
6. The Platters “Only You (And You Alone)” (1955)
7. The Five Satins “In the Still of the Nite (I’ll Remember)” (1956)
8. The Chords “Sh-Boom” (1954)
9. The Drifters “Save the Last Dance for Me” (1960)
10. The Tokens “The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)” (1961)

11. The Platters “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (1958)
12. The Orioles “Crying in the Chapel” (1953)
13. The Four Seasons “Sherry” (1962)
14. Gene Chandler “Duke of Earl” (1962)
15. The Four Seasons “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (1962)
16. The Dell-Vikings “Come Go with Me” (1957)
17. The Platters “My Prayer (Avant de Mourir)” (1956)
18. The Diamonds “Little Darlin’” (1957)

The DMDB Top 2%

19. The Marcels “Blue Moon” (1961)
20. The Coasters “Yakety Yak” (1958)

21. The Platters “Twilight Time” (1958)
22. The Shirelles “Soldier Boy” (1962)
23. The Dominoes “Sixty Minute Man” (1951)
24. The Drifters “There Goes My Baby” (1959)
25. Dion & the Belmonts “A Teenager in Love” (1959)
26. The Drifters “Up on the Roof” (1962)
27. The Monotones “Book of Love” (1958)
28. The Crests “Sixteen Candles” (1958)
29. The Chantels “Maybe” (1958)
30. The Skyliners “Since I Don’t Have You” (1959)

31. The Drifters “Money Honey” (1953)
32. Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs “Stay” (1960)
33. The Elegants “Little Star” (1958)
34. The Impressions featuring Jerry Butler “For Your Precious Love” (1958)
35. The Silhouettes “Get a Job” (1958)
36. The Coasters “Searchin’” (1957)
37. The Shirelles “Dedicated to the One I Love” (1959)
38. The Bobbettes “Mr. Lee” (1957)
39. The Rays “Silhouettes” (1957)
40. The Dominoes with Billy Ward “Stardust” (1957)

41. The Spaniels “Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight” (1954)
42. The Fleetwoods “Come Softly to Me” (1959)
43. Dion & the Belmonts “I Wonder Why” (1958)
44. The Clovers “Love Potion No. 9” (1959)
45. The Chordettes “Lollipop” (1958)

The DMDB Top 5%

46. The Crows “Gee” (1954)
47. Little Anthony & the Imperials “Tears on My Pillow” (1958)
48. The Capris “There’s a Moon Out Tonight” (1960)
49. The Dells “Oh What a Nite” (1956)
50. The Coasters “Charlie Brown” (1959)

51. The Cadillacs “Speedoo” (1955)
52. The Coasters “Young Blood” (1957)
53. Shep & the Limelites “Daddy’s Home” (1961)
54. The Moonglows “Sincerely” (1955)
55. The Coasters “Poison Ivy” (1959)
56. The Orioles “It’s Too Soon to Know” (1948)
57. The Duprees “You Belong to Me” (1962)
58. The Danleers “One Summer Night” (1958)
59. The Jive Five “My True Story” (1961)
60. The Heartbeats “A Thousand Miles Away” (1956)

61. The Harptones “A Sunday Kind of Love” (1953)
62. Curtis Lee & the Halos “Pretty Little Angel Eyes” (1961)
63. The Dell-Vikings “Whispering Bells” (1957)
64. The Impalas “Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)” (1959)
65. The Cleftones “Little Girl of Mine” (1956)
66. The Earls “Remember Then” (1962)
67. The Coasters (as The Robins) “Smokey Joe’s Café” (1955)
68. The El Dorados “At My Front Door” (1955)
69. The Cleftones “Heart and Soul” (1961)

The DMDB Top 10%

70. The Clovers “Devil or Angel” (1955)
71. The Mello-Kings “Tonite Tonite” (1957)
72. The Five Satins “To the Aisle” (1957)
73. The Flamingos “Lovers Never Say Goodbye” (1958)
74. The Skyliners “This I Swear” (1959)
75. Lee Andrews & the Hearts “Teardrops” (1957)
76. Dion & the Belmonts “Where or When” (1959)
77. Randy & the Rainbows “Denise” (1963)
78. The Olympics “Western Movies” (1958)
79. The Spaniels “Stormy Weather (Keeps Rainin' All the Time)” (1958)
80. The Jaguars “The Way You Look Tonight” (1956)

81. Lee Andrews & the Hearts “Long Lonely Nights” (1957)
82. The Falcons “You’re So Fine” (1959)
83. The Turbans “When You Dance” (1955)
84. The Chimes “Once in Awhile” (1960)
85. The Willows “Church Bells May Ring” (1956)
86. The Dubs “Could This Be Magic” (1957)
87. Little Caesar & the Romans “Those Oldies But Goodies Remind Me of You” (1961)
88. The Blue Jays “Lover’s Island” (1961)
89. Danny & the Juniors “Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay” (1958)
90. The Shirelles “Tonight’s the Night” (1960)

91. The Shields “You Cheated” (1958)
92. The Mystics “Hushabye” (1959)
93. The Nutmegs “Story Untold” (1955)
94. The Cadillacs “Gloria” (1954)

The DMDB Top 20%

95. The Clovers “Blue Velvet” (1955)
96. The Crests “The Angels Listened In” (1959)
97. The Regents “Barbara-Ann” (1961)
98. The Classics “Till Then” (1963)
99. The Safaris “Image of a Girl” (1960)
100. The Crests “Step by Step” (1960)

The Top 100 Doo-Wop Songs:

The Version Played on MemoryLaneOldies.com

1. The Penguins “Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)” (1954)
2. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” (1956)
3. The Platters “The Great Pretender” (1955)
4. The Five Satins “In the Still of the Nite (I’ll Remember)” (1956)
5. The Platters “Only You (And You Alone)” (1955)
6. The Flamingos “I Only Have Eyes for You” (1959)
7. Danny & The Juniors “At the Hop” (1957)
8. The Chords “Sh-Boom” (1954)
9. The Orioles “Crying in the Chapel” (1953)
10. The Tokens “The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)” (1961)

11. The Four Seasons “Big Girls Don’t Cry” (1962)
12. The Platters “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (1958)
13. The Platters “My Prayer (Avant de Mourir)” (1956)
14. The Four Seasons “Sherry” (1962)
15. Gene Chandler “Duke of Earl” (1962)
16. The Platters “Twilight Time” (1958)
17. The Dell-Vikings “Come Go with Me” (1957)
18. The Drifters “Up on the Roof” (1962)
19. The Marcels “Blue Moon” (1961)
20. The Diamonds “Little Darlin’” (1957)

21. The Drifters “There Goes My Baby” (1959)
22. The Crests “Sixteen Candles” (1958)
23. The Monotones “Book of Love” (1958)
24. The Coasters “Yakety Yak” (1958)
25. The Elegants “Little Star” (1958)
26. The Dominoes “Sixty Minute Man” (1951)
27. The Silhouettes “Get a Job” (1958)
28. The Skyliners “Since I Don’t Have You” (1959)
29. The Drifters “Money Honey” (1953)
30. The Coasters “Searchin’” (1957)

31. The Fleetwoods “Come Softly to Me” (1959)
32. Dion & the Belmonts “A Teenager in Love” (1959)
33. The Rays “Silhouettes” (1957)
34. The Shirelles “Soldier Boy” (1962)
35. Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs “Stay” (1960)
36. The Dominoes with Billy Ward “Stardust” (1957)
37. The Impressions featuring Jerry Butler “For Your Precious Love” (1958)
38. The Spaniels “Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight” (1954)
39. Dion & the Belmonts “I Wonder Why” (1958)
40. The Cadillacs “Speedoo” (1955)

41. The Moonglows “Sincerely” (1955)
42. The Shirelles “Dedicated to the One I Love” (1959)
43. The Capris “There’s a Moon Out Tonight” (1960)
44. The Chantels “Maybe” (1958)
45. The Dells “Oh What a Nite” (1956)
46. The Bobbettes “Mr. Lee” (1957)
47. The Clovers “Love Potion No. 9” (1959)
48. The Harptones “A Sunday Kind of Love” (1953)
49. The Coasters “Young Blood” (1957)
50. Little Anthony & the Imperials “Tears on My Pillow” (1958)

51. The Coasters “Charlie Brown” (1959)
52. Shep & the Limelites “Daddy’s Home” (1961)
53. The Orioles “It’s Too Soon to Know” (1948)
54. The Duprees “You Belong to Me” (1962)
55. Curtis Lee & the Halos “Pretty Little Angel Eyes” (1961)
56. The Coasters “Poison Ivy” (1959)
57. The Jive Five “My True Story” (1961)
58. The Clovers “Devil or Angel” (1955)
59. The Jaguars “The Way You Look Tonight” (1956)
60. The Heartbeats “A Thousand Miles Away” (1956)

61. The Danleers “One Summer Night” (1958)
62. The Crows “Gee” (1954)
63. The Dell-Vikings “Whispering Bells” (1957)
64. The Chordettes “Lollipop” (1958)
65. Dion & the Belmonts “Where or When” (1959)
66. Randy & the Rainbows “Denise” (1963)
67. The Cleftones “Little Girl of Mine” (1956)
68. The Impalas “Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)” (1959)
69. The El Dorados “At My Front Door” (1955)
70. The Cleftones “Heart and Soul” (1961)

71. The Skyliners “This I Swear” (1959)
72. The Chimes “Once in Awhile” (1960)
73. Lee Andrews & the Hearts “Teardrops” (1957)
74. The Clovers “Blue Velvet” (1955)
75. The Coasters (as The Robins) “Smokey Joe’s Café” (1955)
76. The Cadillacs “Gloria” (1954)
77. The Earls “Remember Then” (1962)
78. The Velvetones “The Glory of Love” (1957)
79. The Five Satins “To the Aisle” (1957)
80. The Blue Jays “Lover’s Island” (1961)

81. The Channels “That’s My Desire” (1957)
82. Lee Andrews & the Hearts “Long Lonely Nights” (1957)
83. The Falcons “You’re So Fine” (1959)
84. The Classics “Till Then” (1963)
85. The Regents “Barbara-Ann” (1961)
86. The Mello-Kings “Tonite Tonite” (1957)
87. The Safaris “Image of a Girl” (1960)
88. The Nutmegs “Story Untold” (1955)
89. Danny & the Juniors “Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay” (1958)
90. The Diablos “The Wind” (1954)

91. Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers “I’m Not a Juvenile Delinquent” (1956)
92. The Crests “The Angels Listened In” (1959)
93. The Channels “The Closer You Are” (1956)
94. The Olympics “Western Movies” (1958)
95. Little Caesar & the Romans “Those Oldies But Goodies Remind Me of You” (1961)
96. The Crests “Step by Step” (1960)
97. Lee Andrews & the Hearts “Try the Impossible” (1958)
98. The Willows “Church Bells May Ring” (1956)
99. The Flamingos “Lovers Never Say Goodbye” (1958)
100. The 5 Royales “Dedicated to the One I Love” (1958)

Resources and Related Links:

First posted 2/26/2010; last updated 5/10/2021.

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Saturday, November 17, 2012

The Four Seasons hit #1 with “Big Girls Don’t Cry”

Big Girls Don’t Cry

The Four Seasons

Writer(s): Bob Gaudio, Bob Crewe (see lyrics here)

First Charted: October 20, 1962

Peak: 15 BB, 14 CB, 13 GR, 16 HR, 13 RB, 13 UK, 12 CN, 11 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 18.5 video, 88.24 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Five weeks after the Four Seasons got their first #1 with “Sherry” they were back on top again with “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” The two songs “were recorded at the same session and it was a toss-up as to which would be released first. As it turned out, it didn’t matter. They both established Frankie Valli’s falsetto voice and the danceable rhythms of the group as the definitive East Coast sound, with its roots in doo-wop and R&B music of the fifties.” FB

The two songs – both of which spent five weeks at #1 – were very similar. The group’s chief songwriter Bob Gaudio said, “I didn’t feel it was the freshest follow-up…After the success of ‘Sherry,’ we had to follow it up with something vaguely similar. The harmonies were structured differently, a little bigger.” FB The group would reach #1 again in early 1963 with “Walk Like a Man,” making them the first group in history to have three consecutive non-holiday #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

“Big Girls Don’t Cry” was inspired by a line in the 1955 Western Tennessee’s Partner, which starred Ronald Reagan with John Payne and Rhonda Fleming. In one scene, Payne slaps Fleming and asks her what she thinks about that. She responds, “Big girls don’t cry.” According to the liner notes in Time-Life Records’ Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Gaudio was dozing off during the movie, but heard the slap. He wrote the line on a scrap of paper and wrote the song the next morning. WK However, another account attributes the story to Bob Crewe, the Four Tops’ producer and the song’s other writer. SF

While not featured on the blockbuster soundtrack to the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing, this song played in the opening scene of the movie. It also appeared in the movies The Main Event (1979) and Mermaids (1990). SF

Resources:

  • FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 120.
  • SF Songfacts
  • WK Wikipedia

Related Links:

First posted 3/12/2021; last updated 5/12/2025.

 
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Thursday, January 1, 1998

Today in Music (2018): Before the recording ban, a Carnegie Hall performance revives Vivaldi's Four Seasons

The Four Seasons (Le Quattro Stagioni)

Antonio Vivaldi

Composed: 1718-1723

Published: 1725

Peak: 130 US

Sales (in millions): 0.6 UK

Genre: classical > concerto > violin

Parts/Movements:

  • Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in E major (“La Primavera,” The Four Seasons; “Il Cimento” No. 1), Op.8/1, RV 269 [10:10]
  • Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in G minor (“L’estate,” The Four Seasons; “Il Cimento” No. 2), Op. 8/2, RV 315 [10:30]
  • Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in F major (“L’autunno,” The Four Seasons; “Il Cimento” No. 3), Op.8/3, RV 293 [11:20]
  • Violin Concerto, for violin, strings & continuo in F minor (“L’inverno,” The Four Seasons; “Il Cimento” No. 4), Op. 8/4, RV 297 [8:50]

Average Duration: 40:50

Rating:

4.310 out of 5.00 (average of 7 ratings)

Quotable:

“A cycle of the most popular works ever written” – Aaron Rabushka, AllMusic.com

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Work:

On January 1, 1948, a recording ban was instituted in the United States. Before the ban, however, American violinist Louis Kaufman revived The Four Seasons, “the best known of Vivaldi's works,” WK with his performance at Carnegie Hall, the first American recording of the work. In 2002 it was elected to the Grammy Hall of Fame and the next year was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. WK

It “is a group of four violin concerti” WK “written around 1721 and were published in 1725 in Amsterdam.” WK Each “gives musical expression to a season of the year.” WK “The inspiration for the concertos was probably the countryside around Mantua, where Vivaldi was living at the time. They were a revolution in musical conception: in them Vivaldi represented flowing creeks, singing birds (of different species, each specifically characterized)…buzzing flies, storms…frozen landscapes, and warm winter fires.” WK The approach “imbued ‘The Four Seasons’ with an undimming freshness and propelled it to undiminished popularity.” R1

“Unusually for the period, Vivaldi published the concerti with accompanying sonnets (possibly written by the composer himself) that elucidated what it was in the spirit of each season that his music was intended to evoke. The concerti therefore stand as one of the earliest and most detailed examples of what would come to be called program music – i.e., music with a narrative element. Vivaldi took great pains to relate his music to the texts of the poems, translating the poetic lines themselves directly into the music on the page. For example, in the middle section of the Spring concerto, where the goatherd sleeps, his barking dog can be heard in the viola section.” WK

“Spring”

“Though three of the concerti are wholly original, the first, Spring, borrows motifs from a Sinfonia in the first act of Vivaldi's contemporaneous opera Il Giustino.” WK “The outer movements…are cast more or less in the traditional ritronello form that was the standard for baroque solo concerti. The opening Allegro gets off to a cheerful start, and subsequent episodes include depictions of bird calls, flowing brooks, rain and thunder. The Largo that follows projects three images at once: a sleeping goatherd (solo violin), rustling leaves (muted violins in the orchestra), and a barking dog (violas). The concluding Allegro returns to the cheery atmosphere of the beginning, rejoicing in the mellow merriment and security of a jaunting shepherds’ dance.” R1

“Summer”

“The first movement of the Summer concerto is orthodox in form, somewhat less so in feeling. It begins with a tutti that represents summery langour and stickiness from the heat. The solo violin speeds things up as it imitates the sounds of a turtle dove and a goldfinch as a cello accompanies with the sounds of a cuckoo. The opening tutti returns, and the stuffiness of summer winds slow and fast is projected in the subsequent solo passages. Some of the solos contrast strikingly in meter and texture with the tutti. The adagio second movement alternates slightly melancholy phrases from the violin with resolute repeated-note phrases from the orchestra that depict the swarming of summer insects. In the final Presto a summer rainstorm breaks loose, with furious repeated notes, scales and eventually fingered tremolos from the orchestral violins leading the way.” R2

“Autumn”

“The Autumn concerto’s opening Allegro begins with a jubilant celebration of a harvest. Peasant dancing proceeds with full and abandoned happiness to a joyful foot-stomping (grape-stomping?) beat, and a few drunkards make themselves heard along the way. The subsequent adagio molto, which contains no solo passages, depicts sleeping drunkards in a mostly non-melodic stupor. The autumn rejoicing concludes in the final allegro, where we hear the sounds of a exhilirating hunt. Again the rhythm is unequivocally extroverted, and the sounds of horns (handily implied by the solo violin) and dogs (grumbling in the the low register of the orchestral violins) are unmistakable.” R3

“Winter”

“The opening Allegro non molto of the Winter concerto begins with repeated staccato chords vividly projecting the feel of wintertime chill. Several virtuoso passages for the violin represent the incisive winter winds, and a tutti rich in rapid repeated notes depicts people running and stamping their feet to ward off the cold. The subsequent Largo depicts winter raindrops with pizzicati in the orchestra over which the soloist spins a gorgeous singing theme representing those viewing the rain and ice from inside a warm home. The concluding Allegro opens with a depiction of precarious walking on ice, followed by the blasting of winter winds. Near the end there is a contrastingly mild tutti before some furious scalar passages and repeated notes take us out with a full blast of winter cold.” R4

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First posted 4/17/2022; last updated 2/23/2026.

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