# Short works for Summer/Spring ?



## Dulova Harps On (Nov 2, 2018)

Looking for some lighter works for Summer/Spring evening listening. Perhaps some vocal works similar to the Villanelle from Les nuits d'été ? That's the kind of thing i'm looking for. Shorter works please or can be shorter works as part of a larger piece. Any suggestions appreciated. What joyous music do you listen to on a Summer or Spring night? Prefer from classical or romantic period although baroque is also fine.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Good post. I would think mellifluous, tonal works would work best.






Mozart's tailored concert arias are perfect, too.


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## fbjim (Mar 8, 2021)

I've been going through the CPE Bach Hamburg Symphonies as the weather's been turning. The Naxos disc of them is wonderful, they're relatively short, and they reward both careful listening and being lovely soundtrack music for doing other things, like your spring cleaning.


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

Delius' "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring." Almost any Mozart would do the trick. Either of Ravel's piano concertos and the Rapsodie Espagnole. Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings...

I have to add Schubert's 1st Piano Trio. As sunny as it gets. If it's longer than what you had in mind, pick a movement, any movement - I think you'll be glad you did.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

These come to mind, though they may not exactly meet your criteria:


















For vocal music I would think Faure and Debussy's chansons and Ravel's Sheherazade would work very well. Oh, and Mozart's Exultate, Jubilate would seem to match what you are looking for.


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## 89Koechel (Nov 25, 2017)

Um, that's easy. Pastorale d'ete, by Honegger, probably in the Serge Baudo recording.


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## Vasks (Dec 9, 2013)




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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Vaughan Williams "Lark ascending"
Rimsky Korsakov May night (ouverture, but it doesn't sound very much like spring to me...)
Strauss: Frühlingsstimmen (Voices of spring) "Waldmeister"-Ouverture, "Dorfschwalben aus Österreich" (by Josef) in fact there must be dozens of waltzes and other dances of the Strausses and others fitting for summer/spring although the ball season is fall/winter...
There are also a bunch of Vivaldi (and other baroque) concerti using imitations of bird's voices, "Il gardellino"
Raff also has a symphony for spring (and another for summer and one for the forest). I also find Mendelssohn's "Italian" and Beethoven's Pastoral summerly (they are all not short, of course).

vocal: 
first section (after the first two choruses) of Carmina Burana Veris laeta facies (the happy face of spring). There are many traditional folk songs and late medieval songs about spring; probably because during the little ice age (1400s-1800s) spring literally meant life and winter was an "enemy".

"It was a lover and his lass", "Now is the month of maying" and similar stuff and of course plenty of romantic Lieder, Strauss' "Morgen" evokes summer, Schumann wrote "Liebesfrühling" (spring of love) for Clara, his first symphony is also titled Spring symphony. Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen refer to spring/summer in the 2nd and 4th song, there are a few similar ones in his early songs, also "Ich atmet einen linden Duft" from the Rückert settings. Mozart has a song and the tune was also used in the finale of the last piano concerto (Longing for spring) "Komm lieber Mai und mache".


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Zdeněk Fibich: Jarní romance (=spring romance)


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

Josef Suk : A Summer's Tale, Symphonic Poem in five movements Op. 29 (1908-09)





Josef Suk: Ripening, symphonic poem for large orchestra, Op. 34





maybe not what you wanted, maybe too long and orchestral, but I think it fits nicely, because they are symphonic poems about summer and ripening


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## Dulova Harps On (Nov 2, 2018)

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful suggestions. Tracked most down and really enjoyed them. The Honneger piece was a real surprise. I also found some inspiration in the Current Listening thread...Berlioz's Romeo And Juliet (Ozawa) which was first time listening for me (as were almost all of your suggestions) and was superb.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

John Foulds - April England
gorgeous and full of joy (see, the twentieth century isn't just doom and gloom)




basically all Alec Wilder's octects





Walking home in spring





She'll be seven in May





Footnote to a summer love

and actually a lot of his music


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## ThankYouKiwi (May 2, 2021)

I think this fits your description quite well


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## SearsPoncho (Sep 23, 2020)

Oh, I forgot an obvious one: Beethoven's "Spring" Violin Sonata. If you want to keep things "short," just listen to the 1st movement. It's perhaps the sunniest of Beethoven's masterworks.


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## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Charles Ives New England Holidays Symphony featuring one holiday at his time per season.

Decoration Day for Spring.






Fourth of July for Summer.






I have a soft spot for Raff's 9th (Summer) first movement titled "A Hot Day".


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

The middle movements from Das Lied von der Erde -- including the classic "Drunkard in Spring."


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I think I have read "Spring" as (rare and dubious) nickname for Mozart's quartet K 387 and Brahms' quintet op.111 (or one of his sextets???) None of them is short. There is Grieg's melancholy "Last spring" and probably a dozen or more spring/summer related of his lyric piano pieces...


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