Musicians are often inspired by nature. For instance, Tomoko likes to garden, and she sees the garden as a metaphor for musicians; both take much work and much patience. “Labor is labor,” says Tomoko. Both require connections, and both offer ways for self-expression. The rewards can be immediate, as when planting or weeding – such as working through a particular section of a composition – and sometimes it takes years to see the results. Autumn is one example of inspiration for composers.
One of the most known compositions is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons’
“Autumn,” which has been arranged for piano.
Tchaikovsky’s composition The Seasons is comprised of
12 movements, one for each month. Autumn months paint musical scenes of a harvest
and a hunt, and his October movement “Autumn Song” reflects a mournful fall.
While Felix Mendelssohn is very famous, his sister Fanny is
not as celebrated. Indeed, some of her compositions were written under her
brother’s name. Her excursions into nature inspired her cycle of piano pieces titled
Das Jahr (The Year), which include autumn months.
Born soon after Fanny died, Cecile Chaminade was a French composer
and pianist – and the first female composer to be award the prestigious Legion
of Honor. Her most famous piano composition is Automne, Etudes de Concert,
Opus 35, which contrasts seasonal peace and melancholy with a dramatic
storm scene.
In his second book of preludes for piano, Debussy’s piece Brouillards
(Fog/Mist) leverages the black keys to create a hazy sound, more pronounced
than the faint left hand chords.
A more upbeat impression of fall is captured in Scott Joplin’s
“Maple Leaf Rag.“
An even more recent piece is American composer Joseph
Schwantner’s piano miniature “Veiled Autumn,” which mirrors the changeability
of fall weather.
So if autumn feels like the darkening end of the year, music lovers
can feel uplifted by this autumn-inspired piano works.
