Autumn Landscape with Rainbow

A typically Dutch landscape: stormy weather, driving rain, lashing waves, a lock, and water flooding over the dike into the polder below. In apparent desperation, the man on the lock has joined his hands in prayer, and elsewhere cattle are being driven up onto the dike. This autumn landscape is one of a series depicting the four seasons, together with the four quarters of the day and the four elements - in this case, afternoon and water. Not long after Cats’ death, this series was already acknowledged to be his masterpiece.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 25 minutes):

Joseph Haydn: The Seasons, Part 3 Autumn, excerpts