Leaf Us with Composers

 

It’s the autumn season with leaves falling. When combining the idea of leaves and classical composers, two results are possible: piano pieces that have the word “leaves” in the title.

• Felix Mendelssohn  wrote "Album-leaf in E minor, Op. 117".
• Max Reger composed multiple pieces titled "Albumblatt," including one from his "Bunte Blätter for Piano".
• Camille Saint-Saëns wrote a "Feuillet d'album, Op. 169".
• Moritz Moszkowski wrote "Feuillet d'album No. 2" from his Op. 86.
• Modest Mussorgsky composed a piece titled "Méditation (feuillet d'album)"

 

And there is another possibility: composers who have arranged or been associated with the song “Autumn Leaves,” which is English lyrical adaption of the French song “Les Feuilles Mortes” (“Dead Leaves”) by Hungarian composer Joseph Kosma in 1945.

• Frédéric Chopin was mentioned as a composer whose style was used in arrangements of the song
• Franz Liszt was mentioned as a composer whose style was used in arrangements of the song.
• Sergei Rachmaninoff was mentioned as a composer whose style was used in arrangements of the song.
• Johann Strauss II was mentioned as a composer whose style was used in arrangements of the song. 
• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was mentioned as a composer whose style was used in arrangements of the song.

For fun, you can hear a jazz arrangement of “Autumn Leaves” that is transformed into a homage to Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Strauss, Chopin, Brahms, and Rachmaninov at https://youtu.be/0zARLbNo480