THE ROLLING YEAR
Listening to the Seasons with Vivaldi
'The Four Seasons', Antonio Vivaldi's famous set of highly descriptive violin concertos, was published 300 years ago, but the themes it contains continue to reveal new truths to listeners today.
Through the rich imagery of each concerto and its accompanying poetry, Dr Hannah French uncovers the detail of Vivaldi's personal and creative life. In conversation with fellow musicians and experts in health, nature, food, wine, and science, she helps bring a new perspective to the music through our shared experiences of the joys and fears of the ever-evolving seasons.
To spend a year in the company of Vivaldi is to witness the sounds of both ancient festivals and the beauty and brutality of the natural world - a rolling year that enhances our sensory experience of the seasons today.
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Published by Faber on 6 November 2025
Reviews
A fascinating and richly informative journey, filled with personal reflections, into and around Vivaldi's descriptive masterpieces. -- Michael Talbot
Vivaldi's Four Seasons come round as reliably as spring, summer, autumn and winter, so reliably you might think there's nothing more to say about them. Wrong. Hannah French's fascinating, seasonally-structured exploration restores their freshness, their glow, their mellowness, their chill, so effectively it is like discovering them for the first time. -- Reverend Richard Coles
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"Engaging and meticulous...provides a vivid picture of the changing public taste as well as a chronicle of Wood's passion for a composer whom he brought into the mainstream...what a heroic tale this splendidly detailed book tells. Both in its story of Henry Wood's enthusiasm to build a public for great music, and its story of the changing reception of Bach, it is a fascinating contribution to the emerging history of the early music revival." GRAMOPHONE
"Utterly absorbing...should be read by anyone with an interest in British music of the 19th and 20th centuries." SPIRITED
"[R]eaders of this book will gain a deep appreciation for the ground-breaking achievements of Sir Henry Wood. With the rich detail of his performance methodology now documented and readily available, he can be remembered not only as a promoter of Bach, but also as a conductor who helped raise the musicianship of England's orchestral performances to the high level enjoyed by 20th- and 21st-century audiences. EARLY MUSIC AMERICA [Valerie Walden]"
"Meticulously researched...Wood's vital role in the English Bach revival is revealed for the first time in all its considerable glory." FIVE STARS. BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE
The timely publication of Hannah French's well documented, researched and carefully compiled account removes all doubts as to Wood's commitment...Here in this excellent and very readable book, due credit is given generously to Sir Henry Wood and his championing of Bach's music pre-WW1 to 1944. LONDON BACH SOCIETY
