Summer has passed, autumn is here and winter is on the way.  The changing seasons are in the air, and today on the podcast, music that reflects those different seasons with an oratorio called “The Seasons” composed by John Christopher Smith.

John Christopher Smith

Born as Johann Christoph Schmidt in Ansbach in Germany, the composer anglicized his name to John Christopher Smith after immigrating to London in 1720. Smith had close ties to another Germany-to-London transplant, George Frederick Handel—a close family friend and associate. From the age of 13, Smith worked with Handel, eventually becoming Handel’s assistant and copyist. But Smith was a composer in his own right too, writing various keyboard works and several operas in addition to the oratorio featured today.

Live Recording

This 2014 Christophorus live recording features the orchestra La Banda, who we just heard featured in the Spring sinfonia. They appear together with the mightily numbered Musica Franconia Festival Choir—whose performances of the choruses suffer in places from shaky diction and pitch but nonetheless make some nice turns of shape and phrasing. A cast of soloists including Emma Kirkby, Tim Mead, Hans Jörg Mammel and Markus Simon round out the recording.

The Seasons in Literature

If you know and love Haydn’s oratorio “The Seasons,” you might be interested to know that the text Smith used came from the same source. In the 1720’s writer and poet James Thomson, penned over 4,000 lines of blank verse on the four divisions of the year. Thomson’s poem "The Seasons,” first published in individual sections, came out as a complete edition in 1730; it went on to become one of the most widely read books of English literature during the 18th century.

Thomson’s 1730 publication of the Seasons poem also included an additional concluding 121 line hymn on the seasons. It was this hymn portion of Thomson’s poem that Smith used for his 1740 musical setting. The hymn text is one of praise- not necessarily extolling the seasons and nature itself, but rather, a hymn through which all of creation cries out and in every season reflects adoration back to its God and creator. The babbling brook, the mighty ocean, the trees and forests and flowers, constellations in the universe, the shining moon of autumn, mountains, valleys, birds and animals…and even the thunder and clouds are invoked to offer praise.

Smith’s "Seasons" is an interesting piece. With the obvious comparisons the Handel’s oratorios, I find the music lacking some of the same drama as Handel always seems to muster. But all in all, it’s a generally enjoyable piece, a very nice discovery, and worth the listen.