This edition was prepared by David Anderson — free to download, print, rehearse and perform.
A song for the seasons
Staff Notation • Secular, Partsongs
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2 editions of this piece
Different typesettings and voicings of the same work. This page shows the main edition; the others are below.
SATB · James Gibb
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A song for the seasons by Henry Thomas Smart — Lyrics
When the merry lark doth gild
With his song the summer hours,
And their nests the swallows build
In the roofs and tops of towers;
And the golden gorseflower burns
All about the waste,
And the maiden May returns
With a pretty haste,
Sing, sing, sing, T
Then how merry are the times,
The summer times, the spring times.
Now from off his ashen stone,
The chilly midnight cricket crieth,
And all merry birds are gone,
And our dream of pleasure dieth.
Now the once blue laughing sky,
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About A song for the seasons
Henry Thomas Smart composed this SATB partsong for four-part mixed choir. The English text celebrates the changing seasons, from the height of summer with its merry larks and swallows, to the solemnity of winter with its chilly nights and frozen rivers. The composer captures the joy of spring and summer, contrasting it with the melancholy of winter, before offering a hopeful message of cyclical renewal. This secular piece would suit a spring or summer concert programme, reflecting the natural world's transitions and offering a moment of reflection on the passage of time.
