''The Seven Ages'' is an
orchestral suite
A suite, in Western classical music and jazz, is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral/concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with ...
by
John Alden Carpenter. It premiered in New York City under the direction of
Artur Rodziński on December 2, 1945 to positive reception. The piece is in seven uninterrupted movements, each lasting roughly two or three minutes, with total runtime just under twenty minutes. It was inspired by the famous soliloquy "
All the world's a stage" from
William Shakespeare's ''
As You Like It
''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has b ...
''. Each movement is meant to depict one of the ages of man.
It was the composer's third attempt to create a work based on the soliloquy and his last fully original composition, as his later years in composition, from 1935 on, had been focused on the revision and arrangement of other works.
References
*David Ewen, ''Encyclopedia of Concert Music''. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959.
1945 compositions
Compositions by John Alden Carpenter
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