What Is The Purpose Of Vivaldi's Four Part Concerto

Today I will be talking about Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, particularly focusing on the first movement of “La Primavera” (Spring). For the purpose of this presentation, I will be focusing on each area of the piece, in particular focusing on how Spring is depicted throughout them.
The Four Seasons is a four part concerto composed in 1723 and published in 1725 and the whole concerto, especially Spring, is considered to be one of the greatest works of the Baroque period. This work is also considered to be Vivaldi’s second last great concerto ever published, coming just two years before his last and five before the start of his decline in 1730 due to the introduction and growing popularity of Classical music. As is common in Baroque music, the piece
For example, the Ritornello, in which the piece begins is accompanied with the annotation of “giunt e la primavera” (spring has begun). This indicates that Vivaldi wanted to achieve a light, airy, joyous texture therefore using only six instruments playing in homophonic texture. Example (audio and image) The harmony, is played by the basso continuo using an organ and cello realising the figured bass. Example (picture). Examples of a figured bass include: the 6 5 representing that the 6th, 5th and 3rd note above the a sharp should be played creating a f sharp minor seventh chord in first inversion. The 5 3 similarly represents to the organ player that the 5th and 3rd notes above the E should be played, creating a diatonic chord. Vivaldi’s depiction of the arrival of spring can also be seen through the tempo marking of allegro (fast, brisk and lively) and the key of E major, one very fitting for the purpose of the piece. As found by Dr. Rita Steblin, E major is a key used to represent “full delight and laughing pleasure”, a mood often associated with Spring therefore very relevant to the ideas in the piece. Interestingly however, the key does not always stay in e major, (change slides) modulating twice throughout the piece into the dominant key and the relative minor, a key feature of the baroque period (change slides). Vivaldi typically uses
Much like the Ritornello, it has a thin texture, only scored for three violins with the absence of a bass line allowing for a lighter sound and is based entirely around the chord of e major. Example (picture) Unlike the Ritornello though, it has contrapuntal texture making high use of imitative qualities between the solo and first violin players, a typical baroque feature, allowing for countermelodies and layered entries as Vivaldi tries to imitate the birds signing back and forth to one another. Example (audio and picture). The sound of the birds is also imitated using the violinists playing high register trills and pedal notes as well as small fragments of descending Scalic runs. Example (picture). The trill (a rapid and repeated movement between two notes) is also an ornament highly used from the outset of this section, meant to give the impression of many birds singing short songs to each other while mordents are used here exclusively to imitate the chirp of a bird. Example (picture and audio) There is also evidence between bars 19 to 21 of one of Vivaldi’s favourite techniques in the second violin line. As you can see, the note lengths are gradually decreasing from dotted quavers to semi quavers and finally down to demisemiquavers, creating a point