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

This work is also available in an orchestral version. The Seasons consists of nine movements: Prelude I – Winter – Prelude II – Spring – Prelude III – Summer – Prelude IV – Fall – Finale (Prelude I). It’s a sweet and lyric composition, and like Sonatas and Interludes and String Quartet in Four Parts, indicative of Cageʼs interest in Indian aesthetics. Here, Cage uses the Indian signification as deep inspiration: Winter as quiescence, Spring as creation, Summer as preservation, and Fall as destruction. It is one of the compositions in which Cage tries to “imitate nature in her manner of operation”, an idea he also drew from Indian philosophy. The workʼs overall rhythmic structure is 2-2-1-3-2-4-1-3-1, which also expresses the relative lengths of each of the work’s nine movements. Cage first composed the piano version, then an orchestral version, with assistance with its orchestration from Lou Harrison and Virgil Thomson.