The Seasons (Haydn) comparable to that of "The Creation". In the years that followed, Haydn continued to lead oratorio performances for charitable causes, but it was usually "The Creation" that he led, not "The Seasons". The aging Haydn lacked the energy needed to repeat the labor of self-publication that he had undertaken for "The Creation" and instead assigned the new oratorio to his regular publisher at that time, Breitkopf & Härtel, who published it in 1802. "The Seasons" is written for a fairly large late-Classical orchestra, a chorus singing mostly in four parts, and three vocal soloists, representing archetypal country folk: Simon (bass),
The Seasons (Cage) built on the Indian concept of seasons: winter is associated with quiescence, spring with creation, summer with preservation and fall with destruction. The Finale is a reprise of the first Prelude, symbolizing the cyclical nature of seasons. As in the majority of Cage's compositions from the 1940s, the music of "The Seasons" is based on a predefined proportion. In this case the proportion is 2, 2, 1, 3, 2, 4, 1, 3, 1, and it governs not only the construction of individual movements, but also the proportions of the entire work, roughly defining the relative lengths of the movements. The