The winter aconite is a species of flowering bulb (Eranthis hyemalis). Its small, yellow, buttercup-like flowers are among the very first to appear each year; in the northeast, it can bloom as early as February, while there is still snow on the ground. Like so many of the little early bulbs, winter aconites will naturalize -they will propagate themselves and form large colonies.

The piece 'Winter Aconites' (for clarinet, vibraphone, electric guitar, piano, cello, double bass, and tape; duration: 15 minutes) was commissioned by The ASCAP Foundation and the Bang On A Can Festival in memory of John Cage.
Shortly after I began work on it (and before it had a title), I had a dream in which I brought a pot of winter aconites to Cage. He was delighted - he loved flowers and plants - and later during my visit, we made sandwiches with some of the blooms (I have no idea whether winter aconites are actually edible or not). Like the flowers in my dream, this piece is a gift for John Cage.
The tape part of 'Winter Aconites' was created at the Winham Laboratory at Princeton University on a NeXT workstation, using Cmix and Csound software. (Frances White)