What can do a hailstorm?
It can cancel music festivals (know from a friend), it can cool down a hot summer day, it can unfortunately damage crops, fruits and vegetables, it can harm people, cars, and houses... But also, you can take the frozen drops of rain and use them as ice cubes for drinks. Or treat fever and bruises, play with these pieces of ice, or observe how beautiful they are. When these pallets of frozen water were falling yesterday in a destructive way it was not fun though. The hailstorm lasted for several minutes. It came quickly, from a cloud that was accompanied by threatening thunder.
A storm during the summer is not an uncommon meteorological phenomenon, I know. This kind of a storm was happening in the past, and will probably still happen in the future, but watching the power of nature makes us feel small and weak. I could just stand there, being somehow excited (but not very happy because of the possible destructive consequences) and observe the show that the sky provided.
I also run to the garden once to pick up some hailstones. Look at the size of them:
My hand was already a bit frozen from the cold ice but I still went to the garage and at the entrance found more hailstones. A lot of them. I don't know if other people also do this or is it just me who imagined it would be cool to touch ice? Even imagine it is snow which I like.
Neither I am sure that the baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi was losing his time playing with ice. He had a better idea.
Let's try to imagine him. A hot, summer day and a storm was approaching. He heard the thunder and saw the dark, threatening clouds... Took his pen and a piece of paper and wrote down the sketch for the following music. Worked on the composition for some time, finished it and included it as a movement in one of the violin concerts, one of the four ones that make The Four Seasons.
Maybe this was the scenario of how it happened.
Maybe a completely different story is behind it, but I think this "Presto" is matching nicely the storm I witnessed yesterday.
This was a live performance, from a concert by a Baroque Ensemble. My son heard it right now from the other room and complained a bit as he thinks this is an overplayed composition for violinists. Anyway, that is his opinion... I will even play now another version of the same composition, played on two cellos. You guess, the artists - 2CELLOS!
We are warned at the beginning of this video that it contains flashlights!
Super. The storm yesterday also had visual lightening effects 😆
I feel a bit sorry for the cellists, and the instruments, as seems they had to play in the rain for the performance. All good - at least there were no hailstones!
The hailstorm came back three times during the evening and last night. Some of the fruits fell (apricots and plums) but no bigger damage was noticed until now. Let's enjoy this stormy music with the hope that the clouds will stay away today from our gardens! I can try my magic trick from yesterday's post 😂
