Spring Serenade borrows the opening two themes of Antonio Vivaldi’s concerto called La Primavera, which means ‘spring’ in English. Vivaldi was an Italian composer of the Baroque period, and La Primavera is the first in a set of concertos known as The Four Seasons. The concertos were written around 1720, when Vivaldi was working in Mantua. They were meant to be played by a small string orchestra with solo violin and a harpsichord. Each movement was published with an accompanying poem that guides listeners to imagine a particular scene. Music like this, which deliberately sets out to paint a picture in sound, is known as ‘programme music’, and The Four Seasons are the first well-known example in Western classical music.