The Revelation of Nature is an epic tone poem for orchestra with overture and four movements representing a protagonist trekking through the wilderness during the four seasons from summer through spring for the purpose of understanding Nature. An unseen guide directs the path and assists in the quest of learning and understanding. The significance of all of Nature is revealed to the protagonist and even the guide is revealed at the end - thus the title for the work. With the knowledge and understanding gained from the odyssey, the protagonist resolves to teach humankind how to work with Nature rather than against it. The work concludes as all of Nature rejoices.

Much of the inspiration for this work came from drives through Rocky Mountain National Park and other parts of Colorado in the summers of 1969 and 1979. Inspiration was also provided by many walks through the woods (all destroyed by the sprawl of civilization) near where I grew up in western Bessemer, Alabama. Although a fictional character, a number of experiences of the protagonist are based on those of my own. Hence, some parts of the music are autobiographical as I too, have walked the woods alone during all seasons of the year and have learned much from the observation of Nature.

I felt compelled to write this music - my thoughts were influenced by the unseen guide. The work represents my very best - nothing else I have ever written or may write will compare to this, my favorite work.

The composition was begun in early 1969 and evolved to this form around 1974. The story line evolved with the music but always involved a protagonist character. I knew in 1969 that this was going to be a significant work and that it would take a long time to complete.

The first music composed was Part 5 of the fourth movement in 1969. At that time, only the Gaia and Hymn to Nature themes existed. The original concept in early 1969 was for a twenty-to-thirty-minute work concerning old American Railroads as I had an interest in trains and had the privilege of riding steam locomotive powered passenger excursion trains. The Part 5 music and some other music were developed for that. But a family trip to Colorado in late May of 1969 to see my cousin graduate from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs changed the whole concept after I saw the Rocky Mountains and we drove through the awe-inspiring Rocky Mountain National Park. I knew then that the work would be about Nature and the early story line related to someone touring Nature similar to my walks through the woods where I lived - but now the scenery was more spectacular. Soon, the concept that there would be movements for each season developed and the story line also evolved. I do not remember why but an early concept was for seven movements of perhaps fifteen minutes each. That soon evolved into just four movements beginning with summer. The story line evolved to an individual going on a year-long scenic walk through Nature.

Various concepts for the second movement existed from the early 1970s. During the fall of 1974 I did a lot of work on the movement in my mind as I drove each week between Athens (where I had a college co-op job) and my home in Bessemer. A long hill on I-65 in Cullman had a spectacular view of autumn colors that was highly inspirational. I continued the development during the spring term of 1975 when I was back at the co-op job. By the fall of 1975 I felt the movement was as complete as I could make it and made a piano recording on September 28, 1975, with the music only in my head as there was no practical way to write it. This recording would serve to jog my memory when such a time came that it could be written.

The first piano version of the fourth movement was developed during the period between about 1979 and 1982. Until that time, only the concluding Part 5 existed in my mind from 1969. It is interesting that the Part 5 orchestration of today is measure for measure exactly the original 1969 version I would play on the piano.

The overture was composed between about 1983 and 1985 to set the mood for listening to the work as I felt that the very contemplative opening music of the first movement was a bit difficult for listeners. It would be better if listeners were armed with an overview of where the music is headed. The overture is based on woodland melodies from the first, second, and fourth movements. The main overture theme was composed just for the overture but was later also used near the conclusion of the first movement.

Numerous efforts to complete the work after 1983 were challenging as I had great difficulty with Parts 2 and 4 of the first movement and Parts 1, 3, and 4 of the third movement although I had fragments of each. Part 2, the Of Contemplation section of the third movement dates from 1969. The Frolic in the Snow opening dates from the early 1970s and efforts to complete that went nowhere over the years but finally in 2003 I found the needed inspiration.

It took a long time to arrive at the title for this work. In the early years the working title was, The Infinite Creation, but that title just did not fit. Around 1995 I set out to determine what the real title should be. I put a lot of applicable adjectives on a piece of paper and then tried numerous combinations. One almost title was, A Trek Through Nature. What seemed to be working was the phrase, The _____ of Nature. Some candidate words for the blank were: story, voice, seasons, grandeur, inspiration, and path. In thinking about the climax of the work, it became apparent that the missing word had to be revelation. I kept experimenting with other titles, but nothing approached this one.

I began a major effort to complete the work in the winter of 2003. The inspiration and drive to complete the work were at an all-time high. The work was essentially finished on September 6, 2003, after completing revisions to the second movement. During the next several weeks I made final revisions to all of the movements and the overture. The Quest begins portion of the first movement needed extensive revisions and held up the completion of this work for about a month. The revisions were completed on October 25 and that is my official date of completion. These were all Cakewalk files for sending MIDI to my Korg 01/Wpro synthesizer programmed to be a simple orchestra based statistical mapping of note position and amplitude to several available instrument sounds. The statistical orchestra I developed does a very credible job and enables me to hear the work generally as intended. If one is listening to the music rather than judging orchestration, then it is easy to ignore some orchestration flaws (too much brass) in the recordings I have made of this work.

Although I have heard each movement countless times in my mind and while refining the composition, I had long wanted to be able to listen to the entire work as it was meant to be heard - as pure music and without having to think about fine details that need more refinement. Finally, after nearly 35 years, I first listened to the entire work on October 26, 2003. It was a memorable experience. I have listened to those files many times over the years. They were the inspiration to work on the complete orchestration starting around 2014 using Finale. Various work was done over the years, but a major effort began in 2023 and by 2026 it is mostly complete except for a few needed adjustments/improvements at various places.

This work is about the ultimate religion of Nature - i.e. God and Nature are one in the same. The two main themes of the work, Gaia and Hymn to Nature, which simplistically would seem to be incompatible from a theological perspective, converge to a complete interpretation of the Creator. Although officially a myth, Gaia represents the concept that there was a grand creator who is also within all of Nature. Nature has many things to teach. The wildlife already knows and lives by these teachings, but humankind is still ignorant. Humankind seems determined to conquest Nature -- a futile endeavor. The laws of Nature are violated and much suffering results for all. Humankind must learn how to work with Nature and not against it. Doing this requires a major change in thinking. The protagonist in this story accepts his ignorance and approaches Nature with a clear mind and is greatly rewarded for doing so. The purpose of the trek was the suspicion that something was missing from manmade religion and that the truth could only be discovered by personal experience.

I was always an independent thinker and never just accepted what I was told without challenging it in my mind to see if it passed plausibility. At an early age, a lot of what I was told concerning religion was failing plausibility tests. This led to a slow evolution over many years of rather than an individual just on a scenic tour in this work to the concept that the individual was seeking truth. This was very consistent with my own philosophy as I was always a person of science who loved Nature, and from science realized that all of Nature is too vastly complicated and intricate to have just randomly happened. There had to be a Creator. Deity based religions typically consider the Creator to be at some distant unknown location. My thought was why wouldn't the Creator be everywhere. This leads to a spiritual concept of what makes something alive? It seems that assembling matter exactly as it exists in a living organism does not result in that entity being alive. There has to be something else - commonly referred to as a spirit that interacts with the matter.

I had no idea that the title I chose as well as the story line would be so troubling for certain religious types. It is interesting that I had never heard the phrase, the revelation of nature, prior to choosing that for the title of this work. In doing research on that phrase in the spring of 2003, I discovered that it is prevalent in theological writings where its use correlates with the theme of this work but as an incomplete and immature comprehension of mankind about religion. It is written that only manmade scriptures that are purported inspired by God reveal the complete relationship. It is required to be impossible for humankind, i.e. the protagonist, to understand God via observation and study of the world He created - thus, revelation of Nature is prohibited by the religion of man. I argue that the two previous sentences are inconsistent. How is it that Nature inspires only certain self-appointed zealots and not anyone in general? It appears to me that humankind created religion in order to dictate to God how the world should be according to the fancy of men. I do not believe that a manmade religion can ever reveal the true place that humankind was intended to occupy in the grand Creation. Manmade religions serve mankind, not God. The fundamental of manmade religion is that the individual is automatically condemned unless that individual follows the procedure established by the manmade religious hierarchy for salvation. Man's purpose seems to be the condemnation of everything. Contrast this with the fundamental of Nature - the individual is automatically accepted into paradise unless that individual rejects Nature. God did not create life for the purpose of condemning it.

Because of the title and what I have written here, this work will probably be rejected those people who are self-appointed zealots dedicated to condemning what they see as the mistakes of God - of which I must certainly be one. Observe that in this story, the protagonist left manmade religion behind and approached Nature with the intent to understand rather than to dominate. It is only with that type of open and clear mind that one can develop a true relationship with Nature, i.e. God. In an epilogue to this story the protagonist returns to humankind to teach that each person must individually discover Nature in a direct sense rather than blindly accept the postulates of manmade religion. For writing this I will be called a heathen - just as the protagonist is clearly a heathen. By definition, a heathen is one who does not subscribe to popular religious doctrine. It is interesting that this work concludes with a heathen being welcomed into God's presence. In retrospect, I could not have chosen a better title for this work.

The work is based on two main themes although the number of different melodies heard throughout the work is almost countless. The opening main theme played by solo trumpet is referred to as the Gaia (from Greek mythology) theme and is based on a sequence of major and minor thirds representing the vastness of Nature in both time and space. The second main theme is referred to as the Hymn to Nature and represents unspoken dialogue (i.e. direct communication to and from the mind) between Nature and the protagonist. Each main theme is heard completely only a few times during the work although the opening phrases of the two seemingly unrelated themes interact constantly throughout the work and have a related rhythm that ties them together. Each movement is divided into a number of sections representing a particular scene from the overall story.

Although the melodies are completely different, one of two slightly different forms of a common rhythmic pattern from the opening phrase of the Hymn to Nature theme in my work is identical to several other works concerning Nature. One is the opening phrase of the main theme of Sequoia (by Homer C. LaGassey) and another is the main theme of An Alpine Symphony. (by Richard Strauss) There are two links of this theme to Beethoven's sixth symphony (Pastoral). The first occurs in a repeating phrase of a prominent fast paced fragment of the opening theme in the latter half of the first movement. The second is the opening phrase of the main theme in the fifth movement. Although I am not sure what to make of it, I find it interesting that this pattern appears in four works concerning Nature. Perhaps this is just a common pattern that occurs in a lot of music. There is also a partial thematic link in a theme in The Blossoms of Spring (and used in the overture) to one of the themes in the Sunset movement of The Grand Canyon Suite (by Ferde Grofe). I discovered this in the early 1980s and considered making a revision but decided that the link was pure coincidence as the path I took with the theme was very different from the path Grofe took. There is a thematic similarity of the Gaia theme to the opening theme of Dedicatory Overture (by Clifton Williams). This is really not so unusual as both themes are based on the same common sequence of major and minor thirds (every other white note on the piano) and so should sound similar. I was in the process of forming the Gaia theme when I first heard Dedicatory Overture which immediately became one of my favorite works for band so my thoughts may have been influenced by that.

In January 2026 I asked Google's AI to tell me about the revelation of nature, and this link is the short very interesting report it generated. AI Overview of The Revelation of Nature