Fand Catalogue

  

Soft Smiling Time

Songs for Three Seasons

for voice and piano

John Mitchell

The writer A. E. Coppard (1878–1957) is best known for his many volumes of short stories, produced regularly from 1921 almost up to the year of his death. Most often set in rural England, some of the tales were dramatised in the 1972 TV series Country Matters.

Less well known is Coppard’s poetry, and a volume of his Collected Verse was published in 1928. It was from this that the three poems set in the present publication were selected, and each has a link to one of the four seasons. The group begins with a somewhat dramatic song, reflected in the line ‘Gusty-galing Autumn comes’, and this is followed by a slower tempo one depicting an old man trudging across a field, ‘…ploughing through the frosty morn’. The final upbeat song alludes to the joys of a fine April day, where the narrator beseeches ‘Soft smiling time’ to ‘…hold back the showers…’.

Soft Smiling Time is dedicated, with gratitude, to Richard G. Hallas, who has been so supportive to me during my many years of association with the Fand Music Press. His expertise in music typography and cover artwork has been greatly appreciated.

—John Mitchell, September 2022

Sample pages

(Click to enlarge)

		Composer	Title	Vocal range	Forces	Total duration
		John Mitchell	Soft Smiling Time Songs for Three Seasons for voice and piano	C to E'	Voice, Piano	4½ mins
	#	Composer	Movement		Forces	Duration
	1	John Mitchell Words: A. E. Coppard	1. Autumn Song		Voice, Piano	1¾ mins
	2		2. Winter Field			1½ mins
	3		3. April Fool			1¼ mins

Catalogue code: FM256 • Published: 24th February 2023
Entry last updated: 8th September 2022