Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione

The first four, which date back to 1718–23, are called The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni).

The set was published in the Amsterdam workshop of Michel-Charles Le Cène and dedicated to Wenceslas, Count of Morzin,[1] an advisor to Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (not to be confused with Karl Joseph, Count Morzin, benefactor of Joseph Haydn).

[2] At first glance, the title seems to allegorically encapsulate the struggle between strict compositional technique and spontaneous creativity.

[2] However, if the term “il cimento” is taken to mean “the assay”, “the quality test”, then Vivaldi did not mean for the title to express “the battle between Harmony and Invention for the leading role in music”, but rather the “quality test on both harmony and invention”.

[2] It is, thus, probable that Vivaldi meant the title to act as an advertisement of his compositional adequacy in both fields.