''Comes Autumn Time'' is a

concert overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overt ...

Leo Sowerby Leo Salkeld Sowerby (1 May 1895 – 7 July 1968) was an American composer and church musician. He won the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1946 and was often called the “Dean of American church music” in the early to mid 20th century. Biography L ...

. Originally composed for organ in October 1916, it was orchestrated the following year. The organ version was both commissioned and premiered by

Eric DeLamarter Eric DeLamarter (February 18, 1880 in Lansing, Michigan – May 17, 1953 in Orlando, Florida) was an American composer and classical organist. He was the child of Dr. Louis and Mary B. DeLamarter, and went to Albion College., page 182, Septembe ...

Fourth Presbyterian Church The Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago is one of the largest congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), located in the Magnificent Mile neighborhood of Chicago, directly across Michigan Avenue from the John Hancock Center. History ...

in Chicago on October 20, 1916. Because the piece was so well received, DeLamarter then asked the composer for an orchestral version, which he led in an all-Sowerby concert in Chicago in January 1917. With the score's publication in 1919 by the Boston Music Company, writes Francis Crociata of the Leo Sowerby Foundation, ''Comes Autumn Time'' was soon performed "in Boston by

Pierre Monteux Pierre Benjamin Monteux (; 4 April 18751 July 1964) was a French (later American) conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in ...

, Philadelphia by

Stokowski Stokowski (feminine: Stokowska, plural: Stokowscy) is a Polish-language surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anne K. Stokowski (1925–2020), American politician * Eugene E. Stokowski (1921–1979), American politician * Ferdynand ...

, Minneapolis by

Ganz The Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz and Partner Iron Mill and Machine Factory'') was a group of companies operating between 1845 and 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. It was named after Ábrahám Ganz, the founder and the ...

, New York by

Damrosch Damrosch is a surname, and may refer to: * Barbara Damrosch (born 1942), horticulturist, writer, co-owner of the Four Season Farm * Clara Damrosch (married name Mannes, 1869–1948), German-born American musician, daughter of Leopold * David Damr ...

, London by

Harty Harty is a small hamlet on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent consisting of a few cottages, a church and a public house, the Ferry Inn (a ). It is part of the civil parish of Leysdown. History The earliest recorded evidence of human occupation co ...

and

Wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

, Berlin by Rosbaud, and Vienna by

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the Un ...

." The piece is one of Sowerby's most popular, and was inspired by a poem by

Bliss Carman William Bliss Carman (April 15, 1861 – June 8, 1929) was a Canadian poet who lived most of his life in the United States, where he achieved international fame. He was acclaimed as Canada's poet laureate during his later years. In Canada, Car ...

entitled "Autumn". (In tribute to Carman's contribution to the piece's origin, Sowerby directed that a copy of the poem be included with every printed copy of the score, a practice which is still carried on today.) The piece became a personal favorite of Frederick Stock, then Music Director of what is now the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure ...

; upon Stock's death in 1942, the piece was played at his funeral at Stock's request. The work opens with an exuberant and lively theme played on the

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

, and low strings. A transition in the woodwinds bring on the second main subject, iterated by

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

s and

celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...

against a

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

and

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

background. The first subject is then developed, the second returning only in the recapitulation, followed by the first. The piece finishes with a brilliant and lively

coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...

, developed from the second theme.Crociata, Francis. CD album essay for Freeman, Paul (conductor); Czech National Symphony Orchestra. ''Prairie: Tone Poems by Leo Sowerby''
"Symphonic Poems by Leo Sowerby (1895–1968)"
Cedille Records CDR 90000 033, 1997.

References

Further reading