"Spring" by Antonio Vivaldi

My assignment was to listen to a piece of classical music and write about how it made me feel.  We had to bring in the piece with the essay, and since we didn't own any classical music at my house, I got out a cassette tape and put it in my new boom box and went to the only place I knew to find classical music: WFPL.  I dialed in the station on my boom box, which had both a radio and cassette player, and had my fingers ready to push "play" and "record" at the same time.  One song was ending, and I figured I'd better listen to a whole song before writing anything down, so I waited for the next one to start. 

"Da DA da na na da DA da! Da DA da na na da DA da!" began the violins. I knew this song!  Well, at least I had heard it before, but I couldn't think of where.  In a movie maybe?  I closed my eyes, listening intently.  It sounded joyful, playful even.  It made me happy, and I composed my response in my head while I listened.  As the piece ended, I pushed "stop," careful not to get the announcer's voice on the recording, but when I did so, I missed out on the name and composer of the song.  I tried to call the radio station to see what was just played, but I couldn't get an answer.  What to do? What to do?

Call a record store!  There was a record store in the Highlands that I was sure would know the name of this song, so I looked up the number in the phone book and called.

"Um, hi.  I'm trying to find the name of a song for a project," I stammered.

"Uh, okay," came the response.  "Do you know who it's by?"

"No," I replied.

"Do you know the lyrics?" he asked.

"No, it's classical," I said.

"Okaaay," came the answer.  "Can you hum it for me?"

"I taped it," I said.  "Can I play it for you?"

"Sure," he said.

So I held the phone up to the speaker and hit "play" on the boom box.  Out came the familiar, "Da DA da na na da DA da! Da DA da na na da DA da..." I let it play for a few more seconds.

"Yeaaah," he said.  "That's 'Spring'."

"'Spring.' Like the season?  Got it." I said.  "Do you know who the composer is?" I asked.

The voice on the other end sounded a bit incredulous.  "Vivaldi," he replied curtly.

"Vi who?" I asked.

"Vi-val-di," came the response.

"Can you spell that for me, please?"

A sigh.  "V-I-V-A-L-D-I," he said.

I was writing furiously.  "Is there a first name?"

I could almost hear the guy on the other end of the phone smack his face with hand.  "Antonio.  Do you need me to spell that too?"

"No," I said, "you've been very helpful.  Thank you."

Later that week, I went to the record store and bought the cassette with 'Spring' on it. It was the first piece of classical music I owned.  I would learn that 'Spring' was one of the most well-known pieces of classical music and one of four violin concertos written as part of The Four Seasons by Vivaldi.  To this day, I can't hear 'Spring' without thinking of the conversation I had with the guy from the record store. I chuckle wondering what he thought of a teenage girl learning for the first time about a 175-year old piece of music written by one of the world's most famous composers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFWQgxXM_b8