WABE Contributor Scott Stewart On Music Of The Fall Season
Autumn has long been the muse for musicians, and is often thought of as a time of deep reflection.
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Thursday is Thanksgiving and even though things may look different this year, we’re still reminded of the annual traditions of family, friends, food, and of course, festive music for this season.
Autumn has long been the muse for musicians, and is often thought of as a time of deep reflection. Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said of the fall “that Autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.”
WABE music contributor Dr. Scott Stewart joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes to give us his picks for good fall music.
Interview Highlights:
On the beauty of the fall season:
“It is a wonderful intersection of emotional states as we reflect on the bounty of the harvest, the withering of living things, and a time to turn in work. It’s really this stunning dichotomy isn’t it? It’s a kind of a paradox. If you think about the seasons, as a metaphor for life, we’re born in the spring we thrive and live in the summer we descend into old age in the autumn, and then we experience death in the winter. And so Autumn in that metaphor is this bittersweet embodiment of the end of a life’s journey. It’s a reminder that life is short and it’s impermanent.”
On “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi:
“Many of us know the two…even if we’re not sure what the titles are. The concertos, as you say were super virtuosic, bristling with energy and intended to kind of paint a tonal picture practice that really wouldn’t come to full fruition until about 100 years later in the Romantic era. So they were actually pretty hip and advanced for their time.”
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