After the overbearing heat of summer, it’s safe to say that Autumn has officially arrived. With the changing of seasons comes an updating of playlists — which means it’s time to put Vivaldi’s “Autumn” from The Four Seasons back in heavy rotation. While nothing is wrong with that piece, there’s no shortage of other composers that have paid musical homage to the foliage-draped months. Let’s show them some love.

Autumn Music (Jennifer Higdon)

The wind quartet that brings this piece to life sounds trills from the jump, musical undulations that return again and again to evoke the image of leaves rustling in the wind. While many of our favorite autumn tunes (classical and otherwise) carry with them an unmistakable tinge of melancholy, Higdon opts to first explore the vibrant colors of the season, waiting until the end to transition into a more pensive feeling. It’s also her homage to Samuel Barber and her response to his Summer Music.

“Cheers!” from Autumn (Haydn)

Haydn’s The Seasons doesn’t always get as much love as it’s baroque counterpart, but the “Autumn” section in the former sure knows how to turn up. While Vivaldi’s Autumn conveys a sense of rushed gaiety and ends with the image of wounded targets in the hunt, Haydn’s reflects the composer’s pursuits of pleasure. The final chorus of Autumn begins (in English): 

Joyful the liquor flows,

that by degrees refined,

high-sparkling cheers the soul!

Hurrah! Produce the mighty bowl!

Now let us merry be! 

For a season with Halloween and Thanksgiving, as well as many a gathering leading up to your winter holiday of choice, it would be incredibly disrespectful to leave Haydn’s party jam out of your rotation. “All hail to the wine” indeed. 

“Autumn” from The Seasons (Glazunov)

Alexander Glazunov also wrote some seasons-themed music — but his took the form of a ballet featuring all of the seasons and their respective accoutrements engaged in all sorts of weather-related antics. During the “Autumn” sequence, the seasons come together in a Bacchic dance-off, merrily frolicking beneath falling leaves. Apparently, when your sole job is to exist and to show up and just be for a few months out of the year, parties like this can happen at any time.

Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma, arr. Takemitsu)

We could have easily placed Takemitsu’s appropriately titled Autumn onto this list but are instead opting for his arrangement of this popular French song and eventual American standard. It’s a bonus if you’re familiar with the lyrics and cool melody because even though you’ll be able to pick them out here, you’ll still get that sense of amazement when you realize how much Takemitsu was able to make this pop song his own. 

Sounds of the Forest (Gubaidulina)

Spring and summer are prime hiking and outdoors seasons — for some of us. Others are a bit more “sun-averse” and prefer to do their out-of-doors ambulations when there’s minimal risk of soaking your favorite shirt with sweat. If you’re in the latter camp, we invite you to listen to Sofia Gubaidulina’s impressions of sounds you might hear, in the woods, on your crisp morning jaunt. 

Im Herbste (Fanny Mendelssohn)

A few times already we’ve hinted autumn being associated with stuff like “contemplation” and “loss” and “change.” While those might not be the qualities and themes your absolute best life is made of, they are the ones Fanny Mendelssohn decided to latch onto in “In Autumn,” a lied in which the narrator likens a lonely vine to the solitary memory of lost love. 

Herbstlied (Felix Mendelssohn)

Fanny wasn’t the only Mendelssohn to compose songs for autumn — a few years earlier, her brother Felix wrote “Herbstlied.” Now, given the title, this song should be about the magic of fall. But it’s instead written from the perspective of someone who is seriously bummed out that the green of spring is now behind them. Sounds like someone needs to be exposed to pumpkins, apples and all of their culinary applications.

Autumn in New York (Vernon Duke; Arr. Jeff Tyzik)

Vernon Duke’s standard has been covered by a number of jazz singers and instrumentalists, but just as worthy of inclusion is this arrangement by Jeff Tyzik, executed here by violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. Her seasonal offering keeps us guessing whether or not she’s slipping some improvised bars into the performance — what do you think? 

Piano Sketches (Pejacevic)

The doyennes of Czech romanticism certainly has something befitting the cooler months in her oeuvre, so may we suggest a pair of her piano sketches? The notes are weighty but still flow quite freely — not unlike those early nights that find you deep in your feelings but not, too over your head. The second of these sketches is not-so-subtle in its dreamlike qualities — chords collapse and are stacked back up in harp-like fashion, a perfect compliment to your foliage-filled daydreams.

Ogives (Satie)

During Summer, gross and sticky air weighs heavy on us; among the snow and ice of long Winters we’re committed to practicing our street ballet skills, and it the Spring everyone is making moves for a day party or post-work hang because “it’s just been so long since we’ve had good weather, you know?” But then there’s Autumn, that most glorious season that gives us a sense of space — the air is crisp and open, navigating sidewalks of leaf-strewn sidewalks doesn’t require an MFA from NYU and your friends seem more than willing to give you alone time after the prime party months.

And that’s why Erik Satie’s Ogives are a prime piece of Fall music. Nothing is explicitly autumnal about the music or the images it evokes — “ogives” here refers to the pointed arches found on cathedrals. But the composer wrote these short pieces without barlines, which allows the pianist to take everything at their own pace. The bold chords are also reminiscent of church bells — coupled with the absence of temporal constraints, the music rings out purely and freely. 

“Autumn” from Folk Songs of the Four Seasons (Vaughan Williams)

As the name suggests, Vaughan Williams’ Folk Songs of the Four Seasons contains arrangements of English folk songs for… each of the four seasons. “Autumn” begins with hi-ho-iest work song vibes you can think of, until you listen to the lyrics and realize the song is about John Barleycorn, (that is, “barley”) who must die (that is, “be made into beer and whiskey”). The jocular music and harvest themes of the first song is offset by the next, “The Unquiet Grave,” about a maiden longing for her dead lover. It concludes, fittingly, with another song of harvest, “An Acre of Land,” during which a farmer sings of harvesting the acre of land his father left him. Could these song titles get any more straightforward? 

Autumn Moon Over the Calm Lake (Lu Wencheng)

When you come across a stunning scene of nature these days, your initial reaction might be to reach for your phone and put the view on Instagram. But it was a lot harder to show off like that in the 1930s, so when Lu Wencheng visit the West Lake in Hangzhou, China, he did what’s probably the next best thing — write a short piece for piano to capture the beauty and serene calm of the picturesque body of water.

Via