The Seasons (Haydn) the words are essentially van Swieten's own or even imported from foreign sources." Like "The Creation", "The Seasons" was intended as a bilingual work. Since Haydn was very popular in England (particularly following his visits there in 1791–1792 and 1794–1795), he wished the work to be performable in English as well as German. Van Swieten therefore made a translation of his libretto back into English, fitting it to the rhythm of the music. Olleson notes that it is "fairly rare" that the translated version actually matches the Thomson original. Van Swieten's command of English was not perfect, and the English
The Seasons (Cage) compositional technique involves using "gamuts" of sounds, i.e. predefined sonorities (single notes, chords, aggregates); Cage started developing this approach in "The Seasons", and later perfected it in "String Quartet in Four Parts" and "Concerto for Prepared Piano". The Seasons (Cage) The Seasons is a ballet with music by John Cage and choreography by Merce Cunningham, first performed in 1947. It was Cage's first piece for orchestra and also the first to use what Cage later called the "gamut" technique, albeit in an early form. Cage composed the music in early 1947, in the midst of working on "Sonatas and Interludes".