October (Original Composition) Songs For the Year (Song Cycle) Part 1

Hello everyone! I decided at the beginning of the summer that I would be trying to write one song a week (maybe more). I recently acquired a book of Robert Frost poetry, and decided to use poems from that book. My plans changed, however, when I discovered this poem by a young Frost entitled "October." I then decided that this would be the perfect theme for a song cycle, my first one, in fact. A song cycle is a collection of songs, with a common theme, that can be performed separately, or they can be used as one musical body. I figured that the months of the year would be a great theme for a song cycle. So, I am going to find public domain poetry about each of the months, and set these poems to music for a song cycle. This song actually came quite easy to me. I sat down, read the first stanza, and the theme came to me almost immediately. It took me about thirty minutes to write the melody, and 3 hours for the piano part.

This first month (October) happens to be one of my favorite months of the year. I love the beautiful colors, and the temperature (not too hot and not too cold). I love fall in general over the spring because I do not have flare ups with allergies in the fall. Not to mention, my birthday is in the fall. Here is the original poem:

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if the were all,
Whose elaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes' sake along the all.

However, I revised the poem when setting it because I didn't particularly care for the last stanza.

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.

Here is the song (: I probably spent more time editing the video than writing the song :)

[Image Source (Fall Woods): pixabay.com, License: CCO Public Domain]

Thanks for reading this! I hope to now go in the order of the months, so I hope to write January by next week (maybe sooner). Please remember that feedback is appreciated, and to check back later!

Also remember to check for: My weekly 7 post, As Well As My Composer Birthday Posts
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