Les Ayres for the Seasons

Composer, publisher and virtuoso of the violin and the flute, James Oswald (1710-1769) holds a singular place in 18th-century British music. A figure at once rooted in the Scottish tradition and fully open to the European tastes of his time, he created a language in which baroque elegance meets the melodic freshness of popular airs. His Ayres for the Seasons, published in London in the 1750s, are among its most refined examples.

This vast instrumental cycle originally gathers 96 short pieces, each bearing the name of a flower, a fruit or a plant associated with one of the four seasons. Behind this apparent botanical simplicity lies a true musical herbarium, in which each miniature explores a character, a colour or a mood. James Oswald deploys here a subtle art of the vignette: chiselled melodies, dancing rhythms, limpid harmonies and a sense of detail that evokes nature as much as the art of the portrait.

The Ayres are not mere salon pieces. They bear witness to an age in which instrumental music sought to render sensations, atmospheres and the cycles of living things. One senses in them the influence of Corelli or Geminiani, but also the unmistakable imprint of the Scottish tradition, with its delicate ornaments and modal turns. Each piece seems to invite the listener on a walk: now through an ordered garden, now across a wind-swept moor.

Today's programme offers a selection of these miniatures, chosen for their expressive diversity and their ability to conjure up, in a few bars, a landscape or an emotion. Together they form a sensitive journey through the seasons, where nature becomes music and where music, in turn, becomes a space for contemplation.

As a mirror, the concert is accompanied by the projection of Carmontelle's Four Seasons.

Louis Carrogis, known as Carmontelle (1717-1806), was an 18th-century painter and draughtsman, a master of the profile portraits that finely captured the spirit of Enlightenment Paris. A lively and inventive mind, he also created the famous transparents, painted landscapes that unrolled like a theatre of light, delighting the aristocratic salons. Landscape designer of the Parc Monceau, playwright and delicate observer of his time, Carmontelle embodies the art of capturing life in motion.

Setting these two works side by side invites a broader, almost contemplative listening. Oswald's music seems to accompany the movement of Carmontelle's picture, while the images suggest a mental space in which the Ayres find a new depth. Together they offer a sensitive vision of the world, in which humankind is intimately bound to the cycles of nature, attentive to their nuances and their poetry.

Our concert thus aims to be an immersive experience: a journey through the seasons, not as a mere succession of tableaux, but as a continuous flow of emotions, colours and sounds. An invitation to slow down, to observe and to listen to the passing of time, as the artists of the Enlightenment imagined it.

Programme

Golden Rod (Solidago)

The golden rod stands like a gentle flame in the heart of summer. Its yellow clusters sway in the light, like a discreet choir celebrating the warmth of the day.

In Oswald's air, one hears this golden clarity: a melody that rises unhurried, self-assured, like a stem reaching for the sun.

Pastorale · Musette · Tempo di minuetto

Snowdrop (Galanthus)

First messenger of the waning winter, the snowdrop breaks the cold earth with a fragile grace. Its pure white seems to hold a breath, a promise.

The matching air murmurs this timid birth: a few light notes, almost suspended, like a hesitant step towards the light.

Affettuosissimo · Gavotta

Cyclamen (Cyclamen europaeum)

The cyclamen hides beneath the trees, offering its turned-back flowers like secrets confided to the wind. Its petals seem to dance in reverse, defying gravity.

Oswald makes of it a miniature full of mystery: a melodic line that folds in, unfurls, then vanishes like a fleeting thought.

Grazioso · Adagio · Tempo di minuetto

Heart's-ease (Viola tricolor)

A little flower of the wayside, the wild pansy carries in its three colours a melancholy sweetness. It soothes, it consoles, it listens.

The air dedicated to it breathes this tenderness: a simple, almost childlike music, yet run through with deep emotion, like a memory that returns unbidden.

Siciliana · Allegretto amoroso

Ranunculus (Ranunculus asiaticus)

The ranunculus bursts into perfect circles, petal after petal, like a small earthly moon. Its beauty is full, generous, almost too rich for its size.

Oswald renders this abundance in a luminous dance, where each motif seems to open a new corolla.

Aria · Allegro andante · Tempo di minuetto

Crocus (Crocus vernus)

The crocus springs from soil still cold, blazing violet or yellow like a spark in the grey. It announces spring with a restrained joy.

The matching air advances in small touches, as if the music itself were emerging from the earth, still fragile yet already vibrant.

Aria · Allegro assai

Primrose (Primula vulgaris)

The primrose is the first to dare colour. Its tender yellow lights the damp undergrowth, humble but indispensable.

Oswald gives it a luminous page, a clear and direct song in which one feels the promise of a still-timid renewal.

Air affettuoso

Heliotrope (Heliotropium)

The heliotrope turns its face towards the sun, faithful and patient. Its discreet scent floats like a whisper of summer.

The associated air seems to follow this luminous course: a gentle line that bows, rises again, and finally finds its full clarity.

Siciliana · Allegro · Largo

Lily (Lilium)

The lily stands upright, motionless, almost solemn. Its whiteness is not cold: it is an inner light.

Oswald makes of it an elegant meditation, an air in which each note seems weighed, offered, like a gesture of purity.

Aria · Allegro · Adagio · Amoroso

Stock Gilliflower (Matthiola incana)

The stock, with its fragrant clusters, colours the gardens a tender pink. It has the sweetness of simple flowers, those one picks without a thought.

The matching air breathes this spontaneity: a melody that opens naturally, without artifice, like a smile.

Amoroso · Allegro