The Seasons (1947)
(Ballet in 1 Act – Orchestral Version)

The Seasons is a ballet score that John Cage composed for a dance by Merce Cunningham that was commissioned by Lincoln Kirstein’s Ballet Society, the predecessor of the New York City Ballet. It premiered on May 17, 1947 at the Ziegfield Theatre in New York City. The costumes and scenery were designed by Isamo Noguchi. Merce Cunningham was one of the eight dancers.

The Seasons was composed at approximately the same time as two of Cage’s other masterpieces, Sonatas and Interludes and String Quartet in Four Parts, and all three works reflect the composer’s interest in Indian philosophy at that time.  In this work Cage uses the Indian concept of the seasons as inspiration: Winter as quiescence, Spring as creation, Summer as preservation and Fall as destruction. The work unfolds in nine movements with each season preceded by a Prelude and ending with a Finale. Gramophone has described the work as “Cage at his most poetic, evoking each of the four seasons in lovely changing colours.” It is fifteen minutes of sweet and lyric composition in which Cage endeavors to imitate the natural progression of a year.

This work is also available in a version for solo piano.