SKU: A0.861927

The American Seasons (score – violin and string orchestra) MO148A

Score (parts available)

Music by Mark O’Connor

99 pages - 38:00 minutes in length

The American Seasons
(Seasons Of An American Life)

The American Seasons (Seasons Of An American Life) is a concerto for Violin And Chamber Orchestra. Composed in 1999, the music celebrates the various stages of an American life at the waking of the 21st century. Constructed in four movements and representing four stages of life, birth, adolescence, maturity and old age, the music also pays homage to Shakespeare's Seasons Of Man His acts being seven ages, incorporated throughout the work.

Spring introduces the ideas of birth and infancy. After the principal theme has been stated, there is a violin cadenza encountering all twelve major keys and a 13/8 time signature representing the ancient golden ratio. These elements recall birth with all the possibilities a new life offers. Ending the movement, the principal theme is repeated with more complexity... as if posing life's questions.

Summer represents the excitement and bravado of youthful adolescence and young adulthood. For the style of this movement I use a happy-go-lucky Blues voice which melds into Swing. I identify swing rhythm in all of 20th century American music culture as a common thread that runs through Ragtime through Rock and Roll on to Rap. Swing means testing the waters and pushing the envelope for lovers and soldiers.

Fall is the slow movement symbolizing the wisdom of maturity. It is a peaceful theme with nostalgic strokes. It is a time for sincere reflection and enjoying ones accomplishments in life.

Winter embodies the complexities and knowledge of an older person and that of a dying person. The movement begins with the principal them from Spring, but with a dissonance that emanates from a lifetime full of emotions and responsibilities. In the middle of the movement is a transition to an old world. I use my personal ancestry from Ireland as a foundation from which to rediscover one's lineage and explore the meaning and value of a cultural legacy.

The exploration evolves into a four- and five-part fugue with a reel, jig, air, countered bass and the motif from the principal theme. All these elements, dances and melodies appear simultaneously and converge to form a unique insight to life's consequences from a historical perspective. Following the fugue, the principal theme finds its way back in. It sounds much as it did at birth. In the end, the solo violin cadenza carries the last earthly breaths before the violin and orchestra once again join in harmony to focus on a new life being transformed somewhere else. Life's four seasons in perpetuity.

Original music printed from the composer’s manuscripts.

Music editing, copying and engraving by Mark O’Connor

using Finale on Apple Macintosh 1999

Composed by Mark O’Connor

Commissioned by the Troy Savings Bank Concert Hall for their 2000 Celebration

Can be heard on American Seasons Sony Classical and The Essential Mark O’Connor Sony Classical

Mark O’Connor - violin, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Scott Yoo

Catalogue Number MO148A

Copyright © 1999 by Mark O’Connor Music International

For more information on violinist and composer Mark O'Connor, O’Connor String Camps, Touring Ensembles, Discography, Bio, Repertoire and more, please visit

www.markoconnor.com

For information on the O’Connor Method – instructional book series for vi.

SKU: A0.861928

The American Seasons (guitar part – violin and string orchestra) MO148C

Guitar Part (score and parts available)

Music by Mark O’Connor

46 pages - 38:00 minutes in length

The American Seasons
(Seasons Of An American Life)

The American Seasons (Seasons Of An American Life) is a concerto for Violin And Chamber Orchestra. Composed in 1999, the music celebrates the various stages of an American life at the waking of the 21st century. Constructed in four movements and representing four stages of life, birth, adolescence, maturity and old age, the music also pays homage to Shakespeare's Seasons Of Man His acts being seven ages, incorporated throughout the work.

Spring introduces the ideas of birth and infancy. After the principal theme has been stated, there is a violin cadenza encountering all twelve major keys and a 13/8 time signature representing the ancient golden ratio. These elements recall birth with all the possibilities a new life offers. Ending the movement, the principal theme is repeated with more complexity... as if posing life's questions.

Summer represents the excitement and bravado of youthful adolescence and young adulthood. For the style of this movement I use a happy-go-lucky Blues voice which melds into Swing. I identify swing rhythm in all of 20th century American music culture as a common thread that runs through Ragtime through Rock and Roll on to Rap. Swing means testing the waters and pushing the envelope for lovers and soldiers.

Fall is the slow movement symbolizing the wisdom of maturity. It is a peaceful theme with nostalgic strokes. It is a time for sincere reflection and enjoying ones accomplishments in life.

Winter embodies the complexities and knowledge of an older person and that of a dying person. The movement begins with the principal them from Spring, but with a dissonance that emanates from a lifetime full of emotions and responsibilities. In the middle of the movement is a transition to an old world. I use my personal ancestry from Ireland as a foundation from which to rediscover one's lineage and explore the meaning and value of a cultural legacy.

The exploration evolves into a four- and five-part fugue with a reel, jig, air, countered bass and the motif from the principal theme. All these elements, dances and melodies appear simultaneously and converge to form a unique insight to life's consequences from a historical perspective. Following the fugue, the principal theme finds its way back in. It sounds much as it did at birth. In the end, the solo violin cadenza carries the last earthly breaths before the violin and orchestra once again join in harmony to focus on a new life being transformed somewhere else. Life's four seasons in perpetuity.

Original music printed from the composer’s manuscripts.

Music editing, copying and engraving by Mark O’Connor

using Finale on Apple Macintosh 1999

Composed by Mark O’Connor

Commissioned by the Troy Savings Bank Concert Hall for their 2000 Celebration

Can be heard on American Seasons Sony Classical and The Essential Mark O’Connor Sony Classical

Mark O’Connor - violin, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Scott Yoo

Catalogue Number MO148C

Copyright © 1999 by Mark O’Connor Music International

For more information on violinist and composer Mark O'Connor, O’Connor String Camps, Touring Ensembles, Discography, Bio, Repertoire and more, please visit

www.markoconnor.com

For information on the O’Connor Method – instructional.

SKU: A0.861933

The American Seasons (double basses part â€“ violin and string orchestra) MO148H

Double Basses Part (score and parts available)

Music by Mark O’Connor

40 pages - 38:00 minutes in length

The American Seasons
(Seasons Of An American Life)

The American Seasons (Seasons Of An American Life) is a concerto for Violin And Chamber Orchestra. Composed in 1999, the music celebrates the various stages of an American life at the waking of the 21st century. Constructed in four movements and representing four stages of life, birth, adolescence, maturity and old age, the music also pays homage to Shakespeare's Seasons Of Man His acts being seven ages, incorporated throughout the work.

Spring introduces the ideas of birth and infancy. After the principal theme has been stated, there is a violin cadenza encountering all twelve major keys and a 13/8 time signature representing the ancient golden ratio. These elements recall birth with all the possibilities a new life offers. Ending the movement, the principal theme is repeated with more complexity... as if posing life's questions.

Summer represents the excitement and bravado of youthful adolescence and young adulthood. For the style of this movement I use a happy-go-lucky Blues voice which melds into Swing. I identify swing rhythm in all of 20th century American music culture as a common thread that runs through Ragtime through Rock and Roll on to Rap. Swing means testing the waters and pushing the envelope for lovers and soldiers.

Fall is the slow movement symbolizing the wisdom of maturity. It is a peaceful theme with nostalgic strokes. It is a time for sincere reflection and enjoying ones accomplishments in life.

Winter embodies the complexities and knowledge of an older person and that of a dying person. The movement begins with the principal them from Spring, but with a dissonance that emanates from a lifetime full of emotions and responsibilities. In the middle of the movement is a transition to an old world. I use my personal ancestry from Ireland as a foundation from which to rediscover one's lineage and explore the meaning and value of a cultural legacy.

The exploration evolves into a four- and five-part fugue with a reel, jig, air, countered bass and the motif from the principal theme. All these elements, dances and melodies appear simultaneously and converge to form a unique insight to life's consequences from a historical perspective. Following the fugue, the principal theme finds its way back in. It sounds much as it did at birth. In the end, the solo violin cadenza carries the last earthly breaths before the violin and orchestra once again join in harmony to focus on a new life being transformed somewhere else. Life's four seasons in perpetuity.

Original music printed from the composer’s manuscripts.

Music editing, copying and engraving by Mark O’Connor

using Finale on Apple Macintosh 1999

Composed by Mark O’Connor

Commissioned by the Troy Savings Bank Concert Hall for their 2000 Celebration

Can be heard on American Seasons Sony Classical and The Essential Mark O’Connor Sony Classical

Mark O’Connor - violin, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Scott Yoo

Catalogue Number MO148H

Copyright © 1999 by Mark O’Connor Music International

For more information on violinist and composer Mark O'Connor, O’Connor String Camps, Touring Ensembles, Discography, Bio, Repertoire and more, please visit

www.markoconnor.com

For information on the O’Connor Me.

SKU: A0.861929

The American Seasons (1st violins part – violin and string orchestra) MO148D

1st Violins Part (score and parts available)

Music by Mark O’Connor

38 pages - 38:00 minutes in length

The American Seasons
(Seasons Of An American Life)

The American Seasons (Seasons Of An American Life) is a concerto for Violin And Chamber Orchestra. Composed in 1999, the music celebrates the various stages of an American life at the waking of the 21st century. Constructed in four movements and representing four stages of life, birth, adolescence, maturity and old age, the music also pays homage to Shakespeare's Seasons Of Man His acts being seven ages, incorporated throughout the work.

Spring introduces the ideas of birth and infancy. After the principal theme has been stated, there is a violin cadenza encountering all twelve major keys and a 13/8 time signature representing the ancient golden ratio. These elements recall birth with all the possibilities a new life offers. Ending the movement, the principal theme is repeated with more complexity... as if posing life's questions.

Summer represents the excitement and bravado of youthful adolescence and young adulthood. For the style of this movement I use a happy-go-lucky Blues voice which melds into Swing. I identify swing rhythm in all of 20th century American music culture as a common thread that runs through Ragtime through Rock and Roll on to Rap. Swing means testing the waters and pushing the envelope for lovers and soldiers.

Fall is the slow movement symbolizing the wisdom of maturity. It is a peaceful theme with nostalgic strokes. It is a time for sincere reflection and enjoying ones accomplishments in life.

Winter embodies the complexities and knowledge of an older person and that of a dying person. The movement begins with the principal them from Spring, but with a dissonance that emanates from a lifetime full of emotions and responsibilities. In the middle of the movement is a transition to an old world. I use my personal ancestry from Ireland as a foundation from which to rediscover one's lineage and explore the meaning and value of a cultural legacy.

The exploration evolves into a four- and five-part fugue with a reel, jig, air, countered bass and the motif from the principal theme. All these elements, dances and melodies appear simultaneously and converge to form a unique insight to life's consequences from a historical perspective. Following the fugue, the principal theme finds its way back in. It sounds much as it did at birth. In the end, the solo violin cadenza carries the last earthly breaths before the violin and orchestra once again join in harmony to focus on a new life being transformed somewhere else. Life's four seasons in perpetuity.

Original music printed from the composer’s manuscripts.

Music editing, copying and engraving by Mark O’Connor

using Finale on Apple Macintosh 1999

Composed by Mark O’Connor

Commissioned by the Troy Savings Bank Concert Hall for their 2000 Celebration

Can be heard on American Seasons Sony Classical and The Essential Mark O’Connor Sony Classical

Mark O’Connor - violin, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Scott Yoo

Catalogue Number MO148D

Copyright © 1999 by Mark O’Connor Music International

For more information on violinist and composer Mark O'Connor, O’Connor String Camps, Touring Ensembles, Discography, Bio, Repertoire and more, please visit

www.markoconnor.com

For information on the O’Connor M.

SKU: A0.861931

The American Seasons (violas part – violin and string orchestra) MO148F

Violas Part (score and parts available)

Music by Mark O’Connor

42 pages - 38:00 minutes in length

The American Seasons
(Seasons Of An American Life)

The American Seasons (Seasons Of An American Life) is a concerto for Violin And Chamber Orchestra. Composed in 1999, the music celebrates the various stages of an American life at the waking of the 21st century. Constructed in four movements and representing four stages of life, birth, adolescence, maturity and old age, the music also pays homage to Shakespeare's Seasons Of Man His acts being seven ages, incorporated throughout the work.

Spring introduces the ideas of birth and infancy. After the principal theme has been stated, there is a violin cadenza encountering all twelve major keys and a 13/8 time signature representing the ancient golden ratio. These elements recall birth with all the possibilities a new life offers. Ending the movement, the principal theme is repeated with more complexity... as if posing life's questions.

Summer represents the excitement and bravado of youthful adolescence and young adulthood. For the style of this movement I use a happy-go-lucky Blues voice which melds into Swing. I identify swing rhythm in all of 20th century American music culture as a common thread that runs through Ragtime through Rock and Roll on to Rap. Swing means testing the waters and pushing the envelope for lovers and soldiers.

Fall is the slow movement symbolizing the wisdom of maturity. It is a peaceful theme with nostalgic strokes. It is a time for sincere reflection and enjoying ones accomplishments in life.

Winter embodies the complexities and knowledge of an older person and that of a dying person. The movement begins with the principal them from Spring, but with a dissonance that emanates from a lifetime full of emotions and responsibilities. In the middle of the movement is a transition to an old world. I use my personal ancestry from Ireland as a foundation from which to rediscover one's lineage and explore the meaning and value of a cultural legacy.

The exploration evolves into a four- and five-part fugue with a reel, jig, air, countered bass and the motif from the principal theme. All these elements, dances and melodies appear simultaneously and converge to form a unique insight to life's consequences from a historical perspective. Following the fugue, the principal theme finds its way back in. It sounds much as it did at birth. In the end, the solo violin cadenza carries the last earthly breaths before the violin and orchestra once again join in harmony to focus on a new life being transformed somewhere else. Life's four seasons in perpetuity.

Original music printed from the composer’s manuscripts.

Music editing, copying and engraving by Mark O’Connor

using Finale on Apple Macintosh 1999

Composed by Mark O’Connor

Commissioned by the Troy Savings Bank Concert Hall for their 2000 Celebration

Can be heard on American Seasons Sony Classical and The Essential Mark O’Connor Sony Classical

Mark O’Connor - violin, Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, Scott Yoo

Catalogue Number MO148F

Copyright © 1999 by Mark O’Connor Music International

For more information on violinist and composer Mark O'Connor, O’Connor String Camps, Touring Ensembles, Discography, Bio, Repertoire and more, please visit

www.markoconnor.com

For information on the O’Connor Method – instructional book series for violin, viola, cello and school string orchestra programs:

SKU: A0.499621

Please contact me by email at jfries@ptd.net to make a special request or to find out all that I have to offer and to express your comments or concerns.  You can also type John Fries in the searchbar to see all I have to offer.  Stormy Weather is a 1933 torch song written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ethel Waters first sang it at The Cotton Club night club in Harlem in 1933 and recorded it that year. The original handwritten lyrics, along with a painting by Ted Koehler, were featured on the US version of Antiques Roadshow on January 24, 2011, where they were appraised for between $50,000 and $100,000. The lyrics show a number of crossings out and corrections.

SKU: A0.1198887

Please contact me by email at jfries@ptd.net to make a special request or to find out all that I have to offer and to express your comments or concerns.  You can also type John Fries in the searchbar to see all I have to offer. Stormy Weather is a 1933 torch song written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ethel Waters first sang it at The Cotton Club night club in Harlem in 1933 and recorded it that year. The original handwritten lyrics, along with a painting by Ted Koehler, were featured on the US version of Antiques Roadshow on January 24, 2011, where they were appraised for between $50,000 and $100,000. The lyrics show a number of crossings out and corrections.

SKU: A0.808689

     William Benton Overstreet did it all-played piano, wrote songs, led bands. Probably the accomplishment for which he’s most remembered today is his composing of There’ll Be Some Changes Made, published in 1921. Billy Higgins, popular stage comedian, wrote the lyrics, and Ethel Waters, then just 24, recorded the song on the Black Swan label. The disc quickly achieved hit status, and the song has remained popular across multiple musical platform styles ever since.
     This arrangement is a happy, fun piece and includes some of the great (and familiar) Vaudeville-style ornaments and phrases. It’s a real toe-tapper.
     For the most part this arrangement is up-tempo, about 140 bpm. It does slow to 92 at the first iteration of the verse and again for the final ¬6 measures of the piece. Time signature is 4/4 except for measure 89, which is 6/4. The key is B-flat throughout, and the melody weaves among all instruments.
     Trumpet 1 plays B5 (B-flat trumpet’s high C) briefly at measures 4 and 35 and for two measures at the very end of the piece. Tuba plays G3 briefly several times in measures 90-93. Other than that, there are no exceptionally out-of-normal-range notes. Trumpets 1 and 2 may wish to double-tongue at measure 64.
     This arrangement was completed in 2019, and performance time runs about 3 minutes, 30 seconds. The arranger, Les Smith, would be very interested in your comments; contact him at lessmith@ufl.edu. For more arrangements by Les, enter Sweetwater Brass Press (without the quotation marks) in the SheetMusicPlus search box.