◄ Gamelan Serenade

► Carillon


17. Alle Jahre wieder
(Lyrics: Johann Wilh. Hey, 1837,
melody: Ernst Anschütz, 1837)

Here the circle of fifths (i.e. the ordering of the 12 musical keys in their closest harmonic relation) serves as a musical metaphor for the calendar year.

Thus the interval of a fifth (or a fourth, as its complement) is the defining interval for the song's accompaniment and counterpoint.

The melody itself – as a reference to the four seasons – appears in the 4 modes original, retrograde, inversion and retrograde-inversion.