Which composer wrote The Four Seasons, a set of four violin concertos published in 1725?

Antonio Vivaldi wrote The Four Seasons, a set of four violin concertos published in 1725.

Each concerto represents one season and is associated with a sonnet describing scenes such as birdsong, storms, harvest celebrations, and winter cold. The music is therefore an early and highly famous example of program music, in which instrumental sounds suggest an extra-musical story or image.

The four concertos form part of Vivaldi’s collection Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione, published in Amsterdam. Vivaldi was a Venetian composer and violinist who worked for much of his career at the Ospedale della Pietà, an institution known for the musical education of girls.

The concertos were influential but were not continuously famous after Vivaldi’s lifetime. Interest revived strongly in the twentieth century, when historically informed performances and recordings helped make the set a staple of the international concert repertoire. Each concerto is in three movements.