Commissioned by the Smithsonian Institute, American living composer Valerie Capers's Song of the Seasons ( 1987) is a four-part song cycle (“Spring,” “Summer,” “Autumn,” “Winter”) inspired by Japanese Haiku (text created by the composer ). Written in a post-modern blend of classical, jazz, opera, African American traditions and European art song, this cycle explores nature's cycle of renewal, love and death. It captures the human condition through the seasons and challenges the concept of time, ultimately bringing the cycle back to the joy of spring's return, subtly suggesting rebirth.
LOVE IS HOPE.
The snow has left the mountainside
And cherry blossoms are in bloom!
The spring bird from its winter flight
Returns to sing its joyous song
Of splendid dreams and things to be.
So sweet this sound drifts down to me!
The trees reflect the silver moon
And dancing to a merry tune
The brook goes gaily gliding by.
The smiling sun awaits the dawn,
The dark and cold of winter gone!
My heart cries out, my soul doth sing,
“‘Tis spring!”
LOVE IS PASSION IN FULL BLOOM.
I gaze into your eyes and saw reflected there
The summer of my soul,
Two people but a single heart,
The season of our youth to start.
Forever young, forever new,
Forever love, forever you!
We walked together, you and I,
Beneath the vast hot summer sky.
The fields were green, the days were warm,
The breezes cool, your kisses strong.
And as the trembling trees looked on,
We loved in sweet fulfillment of our time.
Forever young, forever new,
Forever love, forever you!
But soon the summer days did fade
Into a golden autumn shade
That whispers of what used to be...
Forever - now just a memory.
LOVE IS LETTING GO.
The fields of green now brown and yellow,
A silvery white the moon.
The distant mountains clothed in mist,
And early bloom the frost has kissed.
From ancient trees their gold and crimson splendor rise
To mingle with the azure skies.
All labor’s now at rest, the harvest stored and set.
For autumn, gentle autumn is a promise kept.
LOVE IS TIMELESS.
Late at night, as I peer into the dark and endless winter sky,
I listen to the rain and I recall my youth.
A dream, a dream!
Was it merely a dream? This age of innocence,
This time of truth, of fleeting passions,
Of worlds anew?
And now, in the winter of my days
I sit and contemplate on things to come and things to be,
As seasons’ end draws near to me...
Heigh ho! The snow has almost gone,
No more I’ll sing my winter song!
The time has passed, my heart beats fast,
My soul takes wing!
Tomorrow’s Spring!