Swindon Festival Of Literature : Hannah French

Listening to the Seasons, with Vivaldi

– and Dr HANNAH FRENCH

Listening habits can ground us in the year. Music can have seasonal messages of comfort, insight, and hope, if we listen for them.

To spend a year in the company of Vivaldi is to witness the sounds of ancient human festivals and the beauty and brutality of nature. His 300-year old music can enhance our experience of the ever-evolving seasons, today.

In her new book, The Rolling Year, BBC Proms and Radio 3 presenter and former tutor at the Royal Academy of Music, Dr Hannah French, explores the creation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, bringing to them new perspectives and a seasonal freshness.