AUTUMN SONGS
for Soprano and Piano (2021)
Joel Järventausta
AUTUMN SONGS
for Soprano and Piano (2021)
Duration: c. 12 min
Copyright © 2025 Edition Wilhelm Hansen A/S, Copenhagen Music engraving in Sibelius
www.wisemusicclassical.com
Commissioned by Duo Turunen-Madar, with the generous support of Sibelius Foundation Fund and Arts Promotion Centre Finland (FI)
Duration = ca. 12’
I Fall, leaves, fall
Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away; Lengthen night and shorten day;
Every leaf speaks bliss to me
Fluttering from the autumn tree.
I shall smile when wreaths of snow
Blossom where the rose should grow; I shall sing when night’s decay
Ushers in a drearier day.
- Emily Brontë (1818-1848)
III November Night
Listen. .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees
And fall.
- Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1914)
Programme notes
II An Autumn Sunset (I)
Leaguered in fire
The wild black promontories of the coast extend Their savage silhouettes; The sun in universal carnage sets, And, halting higher,
The motionless storm-clouds mass their sullen threats, Like an advancing mob in sword-points penned, That, balked, yet stands at bay.
Mid-zenith hangs the fascinated day
In wind-lustrated hollows crystalline, A wan valkyrie whose wide pinions shine
Across the ensanguined ruins of the fray, And in her hand swings high o'erhead, Above the waste of war,
The silver torch-light of the evening star
Wherewith to search the faces of the dead
- Edith Wharton (1885–1913)
Often slow and somber, the music of this song cycle reflects upon autumnal moods: the darkening, cooling days; the changing colours and falling leaves; and the feelings of melancholy brought about by these natural phenomena. The cycle consists of three poems by three poets: Emily Brontë (1818-1848), Edith Wharton (1885-1913) and Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1914). Each poem uses autumnal imagery to explore a deeper subject - mainly a sense of loss.
J.Järventausta
I.Fall, leaves, fall
Soprano Solo