''Comes Autumn Time'' is a

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

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. His many s ...

. 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 – May 17, 1953) was an American composer and classical organist. Biography Eric DeLamarter was born in Lansing, Michigan on February 18, 1880, the child of Dr. Louis and Mary B. DeLamarter., page 182, Septem ...

at Fourth Presbyterian Church 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 1 ...

, 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 * Ferdynan ...

, Minneapolis by

Ganz The Ganz Machinery Works Holding is a Hungarian holding company. Its products are related to rail transport, power generation, and water supply, among other industries. The original Ganz Works or Ganz ( or , ''Ganz companies'', formerly ''Ganz ...

, New York by Damrosch, London by

Harty Harty may refer to: * Harty (surname), a list of people * Harty baronets, an extinct title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom * Harty, Swale, Kent, England, a village * Harty, a community in the township of Val Rita-Harty, Ontario, Canada ...

and

Wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

, Berlin by Rosbaud, and Vienna by

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

." 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) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia F ...

; 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 clarinet, 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 no ...

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (anatomy) * 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), ''Horns'' (novel), a dar ...

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

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

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 ...

against a

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has 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 orchestras or ...

and

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

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, 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