The Spring Concerto
Celebration of Spring in Western Music

For centuries, the changing of the seasons, especially the renewal and re-clothing of the earth at Spring, has provided inspiration for composers, poets and artists to compose their most enduring works. One of the earliest uses of music was in the accompaniment of theatrical dance and story-telling, so it is natural that composers should from time to time produce what is known as "program music" – music written to portray events, activities or moods such as pastoral scenes or storms.

Music representing the moods of the four seasons has always been popular, and baroque composers such as Werner and Fischer among others produced cycles of concertos representing the fours seasons. But none were in such precise pictorial detail as Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons concertos, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. Vivaldi lived between 1678 and 1741 AD in Italy.  As a descriptive basis for his Four Seasons, he took four Sonnets, apparently written by himself. Each of the four sonnets is expressed in a concerto, which in turn is divided into three phrases or ideas, reflected in the three movements (fast-slow-fast) of each concerto.

Following is an English rendering of the original Italian sonnet from the Spring Concerto in E Major:

Allegro
Springtime is upon us.
The birds celebrate her return with festive song,
and murmuring streams are softly caressed by the breezes.

Thunderstorms, those heralds of Spring, roar,
casting their dark mantle over heaven,
Then they die away to silence,
and the birds take up their charming songs once more.

Largo
On the flower-strewn meadow, with leafy branches rustling overhead,
the goat-herd sleeps, his faithful dog beside him.

Allegro
Led by the festive sound of rustic bagpipes,
nymphs and shepherds lightly dance
beneath the brilliant canopy of spring.

There are many other examples of composers having inspired by the spring. Robert Schumann, as a romantic era composer, chose a symphony to express his appreciation of Spring. A symphony is an extended sonata allegro form or ABA form for orchestra. Written in three or four movements, each movement contains themes which do not usually appear in other movements. The movements are written in contrasting moods, rhythms and tempi, with a definite conclusion or cadence. Schumann's Symphony #1 in B flat Major, op38, is written as a continuous work without pauses between movements. It is energetic and enthusiastic as young life.

American composer, Aaron Copland wrote the ballet, Appalachian Spring, written for thirteen instruments. A ballet is a dance, which complements the orchestra music to tell a story. The setting of Appalachian Spring is a pioneer wedding at a Pennsylvania farmhouse. The story was choreographed (set to music) by Martha Graham. The title comes from a poem by Hart Crane.

A more controversial amongst the musical compositions on the spring themes, is Stravinsky's "Rites of Spring" or Le Sacre du printemps. This was a ballet commissioned by the Russian choreographer Dyagilev, which premiered in Paris in 1913 at Les Ballets Russes. The ballet presents a primeval pagan myth, in which a maiden is sacrificed to a god, in order to ensure the coming of spring. The sacrificial victim is danced to death, quite literally. The first performance of the piece became one of the most legendary happenings in all music history. Riots broke out, with fights occurring between those who loved the music and those who detested the 'primitive' sounds. The music catapulted Stravinsky to fame. The Rite of Spring is divided into two parts, The Adoration of the Earth, and The Sacrifice. Breaking with custom in both choreography and scenography, the ballet became an instant scandal. The wild, often disharmonious motions of the dancers, and the syncopated, dissonant music were a deviation from the acceptable norms of the time.

Twentieth century breakthroughs in communication exposed more and more people to traditions and musical styles of other cultures, thus giving rise to newer styles of music that are a synthesis of many different styles, broadly known as the World Music. As most traditional music thrives on the themes of nature, the sounds of World music naturally took the sounds and beats of nature, seasons and festivities. Spring as a concept has been explored by many World music composers in their experiments.