4 (ATOM Study Guide)

This study guide to accompany 4 has been written for middle and senior secondary students. It provides information and suggestions for learning activities in Music and English. Geography teachers may find 4 relevant to a discussion of climate.

In four corners of the globe, in each of the four seasons, four outstanding violinists guide us on a journey through their homelands. 4 takes us to the springtime blossoms of Japan, the blistering heat and building thunderstorms of an Australian summer, a joyful autumn in New York and to the unforgiving cold and human warmth of a Finnish winter. 4 not only celebrates the seasons but examines their significance in different countries and how they shape who we are on a profound level.

The resonant and much-loved music of Antonio Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' and the timeless stories told by the four concertos 'Spring', 'Summer', 'Autumn' and 'Winter' weaves its way through each narrative. 4 consists of four linked sections, each one building on the last. In each section we see and hear the central personality perform and use their 'season' to tell their story.