- Instruments: Flute, ‘cello (both can be replaced by keyboard, and are optional in small performances)
- Duration: 3:00 minutes
- Difficulty: Low
- Mabon PDF
Selected performances
For past and scheduled performances, see the “Wheel of the Year” page here.
Mabon: Original Lyrics
Wind, fire, sea, stone
Breath, flame, wave, bone
Long light has lingered here, Earth still is warm,
Deepening shadows lost by the dawn.
Long darkness rising here, though heat lingers on,
Twist of the Equinox – Mabon has come.
Dead leaves fall silently, drift on the air,
Trees standing, slumbering – dry, cracked and bare.
Time passes quietly, echoing past:
Earth calls the winter in. Mabon at last!
Shadows through the mist I see:
Time passing silently.
Starlight, as the Spiral bends.
Moonlight, as the daylight ends.
General information
Mabon is the ninth movement of the Wheel of the Year song cycle. It was originally published as part of the full cycle in 2004, and subsequently released as an individual work, after several requests, in 2010.
The work has been performed in numerous countries around the world. Significant performances include the premiere by RMIT Occasional Choral Society in 2004 as part of the Young Melbourne Composers concert, and the recording and subsequent release onto CD by Brazilian group Talliesin in 2011.
Mabon has since become part of the regular repertoire of the Talliesin performance group, and is performed regularly by them.
Mabon remains one of the most popular movements of the Wheel of the Year song cycle, and continues to be performed regularly.
Leanne Daharja Veitch's works have been described as "magical", delving into the "very essence of that which makes music great".
