Seasons of Love
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| "Seasons of Love" | |
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| Song |
"Seasons of Love" is the most celebrated song from the Broadway musical Rent, written and composed by Jonathan Larson. The song starts with an ostinato piano motif, which provides the harmonic framework for the cast to sing "Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes" (the number of minutes in a common - non-leap - calendar year). The main instruments used throughout the song are piano, vocals, guitar and drums.
Both in the musical and in the 2005 film, the song is performed by the entire cast. The main question asked is, "How do you measure a year?" Various answers are suggested, from points of the day ("Daylights," "Sunsets," "Midnights,") to units of measure ("inches", "miles"), to everyday events ("cups of coffee") to more symbolic concepts ("laughter", "strife"). In the chorus, the song reaches the conclusion that love is the only proper measure of a year in a human life.
In the stage production, the song is sung at the opening of the second act, to indicate the passage of time. The cast stands downstage in front of a closed curtain in a straight line, holding hands and making eye contact with the theatre patrons. Characters that are love interests (for example, Roger and Mimi) are not coupled during this number, which, given the eye contact, lends to a feeling of being out of character, which in turn contributes to a sense of connecting with the audience. It's as if the cast were asking the audience, as castmembers, not as the various characters, "How do you measure a year?"
Songwriter
Jonathan Larson actually intended for Seasons of Love to be performed symbolically as a song at Angel's funeral.[citation needed] Its occurrence in the musical is at the beginning of the second act and references recent past events or the events to come, see below. The song is heard twice throughout the second act (once as the opener and once after Take Me Or Leave Me) before hearing it in its last incarnation as background to I'll Cover You: Reprise and Angel's eulogy.
Alternate versions
As well as the 1996 Original Cast Recording a number of different versions are on record. Along with the OCR soundtrack is an alternate versions of Seasons of Love featuring Stevie Wonder who sings (and improvises upon) the part usually sung by "Soloist #1".
The version of the song on the film soundtrack also slightly differs. There is a slightly sharper timbre to the instruments and the solo parts are ever so slightly altered melodically, including different vocal embellishments.
To avoid confusion, in the musical, "Seasons of Love" is performed in two parts, the first at the beginning of Act II with the reprise following a few numbers later, following "Take Me Or Leave Me". In the film version Seasons of Love is still performed in two parts, but features at the start of the film with the cast performing it on a theater stage. In the reprise the song plays as a backdrop to a documentary style film about New York life made by the character Mark. Selections from "Seasons of Love" were also used in several of the film's trailers and other promotional material.
Many musical theater groups and performance groups often cover this song however the only major artist who recorded a cover (not including the Stevie Wonder version) was Donny Osmond.
The Philippine Idol Top 6 performed the song as the opening number to the show's movie/musical themed performance night on November 19, 2006.
On April 9, 2008, the song was performed by the contestants of American Idol for their Idol Gives Back special.
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (April 2008) |
- The song is often associated with World AIDS Day and AIDS awareness because four of the lead characters of Rent have HIV or AIDS.
- The song was sung (terribly) by the 8 American Idol finalists (Season 7) during the Idol Gives Back special. The show is the second season aimed to gather donations for the victims of Malaria and HIV/AIDS in Africa and of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It was aired April 9, 2008.
- Notably, 2008 is a leap year, so February 29 would add another 1,440 minutes, for a new total of 527,040 minutes. However, this change was not addressed in the performance and the song lyrics remained unchanged.
- "Seasons of Love" is a popular song during high/public school graduations.
- The song is traditionally performed at the end of the annual Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival