The most famous movement of all is the first movement from Spring (La Primavera). The poetry associated with this movement describes (in order) the singing birds and murmuring streams, a sudden thunderstorm silencing the birds, and their return after it clears; the relevant lines are translated in Listening Chart 4. With returns of the ritornello in between, Vivaldi depicts each of these moments, as the chart shows.

The ritornellos could hardly be simpler — or catchier. The opening ritornello consists of two phrases, bright and fanfare-like, heralding spring. Each phrase is stated, then immediately repeated more quietly: a (loud) a (soft) b (loud) b (soft). All of the ritornellos after the first are made up of one or two statements of the b phrase — all but one: The next-to-last ritornello introduces new melodies, related to the ritornello, for the full orchestra. The ritornello that comes after the thunderstorm sounds darker than the rest, almost ominous; it is in the minor mode, while the others are in the major.

The solo sections, because of the depiction involved, are slightly more complicated than we might expect. The first and third of them, portraying the birds singing, require three violins, not just the single soloist. In these moments the movement sounds more like a concerto grosso (a concerto with more than one soloist) than like a solo concerto. The sections depicting the murmuring breezes and streams and the thunderstorm are not really solo sections at all, but for the full orchestra. Nevertheless, the soloist gets to show off during the thunderstorm, with streaking (musical) bolts of lightning.