Thomas L. Read

Flute and Piano

Commissioned by Vermont Virtuosi, for flutist Laurel Ann Maurer

Composer's note:

If Winter Comes, a fantasy for flute and piano, was commissioned and premiered by Vermont Virtuosi on March 1, 2014. For me, the mood and feeling of the music invokes Shelley's lines:

                                           “The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,

                                      If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”

As an additional, imaginative backdrop to the episodic form of my music, I offer the following Native American Assiniboine legend, although the ordering of episodes in the legend is not  is not reproduced in the music:

Some birds lay eggs early in the season, some later, but the crane is the last to hatch. When the young ducks and geese were flying away to a warmer country, the young crane was still too weak to fly. Winter was approaching. The mother-bird asked Otter to keep the the young one for her during the winter; in return she would reward her in the spring. Otter kept her ward in a warm hole. Once Osni' (the cold) came to the camp, killed Otter, and carried off the young crane to his home where he made him stir and maintain the fire for him.

Young crane was never allowed to go anywhere else. He was starving and became ugly; the fire burnt his back, so that now the crane's skin is of a reddish-brown color. In the spring, when the south side of the hills was warm while the northern side was still frozen, the young crane knew his mother would return soon. He went into the sunshine and called her. Osni' cried, “Come in here, stop that noise!” The crane called all the louder. Osni' pursued him and nearly caught him, when suddenly a clap of thunder was heard and the lightning struck Osni' and tore him to pieces. Crane was there and asked her young one how he had been treated during the winter. He told her that Otter had treated him well, while Osni' has abused him.

The old bird looked for another otter and said to him, “Henceforth the cold (Osni') will never kill you.” Thus she paid for Otter's service, and this is why Otter can live in the water throughout winter without freezing.”