Dooryard Bloom – Jennifer Higdon

James SchminckeUncategorized

2005

from NPR | Link to Source


Jennifer Higdon’s Dooryard Bloom derives its title from Walt Whitman’s poem (also set for soloists, chorus and orchestra in the 1940s by Paul Hindemith). Her work was commissioned by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, which gave the premiere with Nmon Ford last year.

The composer has published her thoughts on the piece:

“A near impossible task, to write about this piece of music which sets Walt Whitman’s ‘When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d.’ Normally, for a composer, the explanation of a piece is a much more straightforward affair. In this particular case, it is extremely difficult, maybe not even possible, for the text discusses and explores so many aspects of grief and loss. As a composer, I am hesitant to tread in this area with words (because Whitman did it so masterfully); I feel that only the musical notes that I write can do so in an appropriate manner. I can tell you, however, that I was moved by all of the stages of grief that Whitman examines in this poem, and that I was struck by the fact that he captures the extreme range of emotions that we all must face at some point.

My title, Dooryard Bloom, is a play of words on Whitman’s title. A dooryard is defined as the yard next to the door of a house… which in this poem could mean many things… Is the yard the hereafter? Or is it a place leading to a passage? What is the bloom? The growth of a flower or a view of light? The lilacs blooming… are they representative of death or of life? Or of growth? Or of time passing… lilacs last. The beauty of music is the power to suggest things that even words might not convey. Therefore, take your own meaning from this piece, literally or emotionally or metaphorically… let it be your own dooryard.”

All text courtesy program notes for ‘A King Celebration’ from the Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta, Ga.

Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra – Geroge Walker

James SchminckeUncategorized

GEORGE WALKER: “Movements” for Cello and Orchestra (2012) – Finale

Download Mp3 | Link to Source


Walker set the 1865 poem, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, by poet Walt Whitman. Whitman wrote the poem as an elegy to President Abraham Lincoln after his death on 15 April 1865. The composition was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on February 1, 1996. “The unanimous choice of the Music Jury, this passionate, and very American, musical composition…has a beautiful and evocative lyrical quality using words of Walt Whitman.”

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d – Roger Sessions

James SchminckeUncategorized

from TheWelleszCompany | Link to Source
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Roger Sessions (1896-1985): When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d, cantata per soli, coro e orchestra su testo di Walt Whitman (1971).

Part I
Part II (start at 5.46)
Part III (start at 21.54)

Esther Hinds, soprano
Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano
Dominic Cossa, baritone
Tanglewood Festival Chorus diretto da John Oliver.
Boston Symphony Orchestra diretta da Sejij Ozawa.

Look Down Fair Moon – Ned Rorem

James SchminckeUncategorized

Song of America Project

from the Library of Congress | Link to Source


“Look Down, Fair Moon” is Ned Rorem’s musical portrait of Walt Whitman’s poem, which was included in a collection entitled Drum-Taps, a sequence of 43 poems about the Civil War. It is the second song in Rorem’s song cycle Five Poems of Walt Whitman, published by Boosey and Hawkes in 1970.


Whitman’s haunting poem describes moonlight illuminating horrific scenes, a graphic imagery of death and eternal peace. The song opens in the key of E minor, with the voice and piano entering almost simultaneously. The text is comprised of only four phrases, but Rorem’s use of text painting throughout the song enhances Whitman’s message in miniature form. For instance, Rorem uses a descending melodic line in conjunction with the phrase “Look down, fair moon” as representation of the moon shining downward; likewise, in the phrase “Pour softly down night’s nimbus floods, on faces ghastly, swollen, purple,” Rorem uses syncopation and accents on the words “faces ghastly,” “swollen,” and “purple” to emphasize the gruesomeness of the scenario. The apex of the song is marked by the highest pitches sung by the vocalist as well as by an accompaniment that intensifies chromatically.

The song was dedicated to bass-baritone Donald Gramm.

–Stephanie Poxon, Ph.D.

LISTEN NOW
Look Down, Fair Moon (1957)
Music by Ned Rorem
Text by Walt Whitman


Walt Whitman Cycle — Kurt Weill [Audio]

James SchminckeUncategorized

from: TheWelleszCompany
download the MP3


Kurt Weill (1900-1950): Four Walt Whitman Songs,
per baritono e orchestra (1942,
le prime tre orchestrate dall’Autore insieme a Irving Schlein nel 1947,
la quarta da Carlos Surinach nel 1956)
— Wolfgang Holzmair, baritono
— diretti da Marc-Andreas Schlingensiepen

I. “Oh Captain ! My Captain!”
II. “Beat! Beat! Drums!”
III. Dirge for Two Veterans
IV. “Come up from the fields, father”

Charles Naginsky — Look Down Fair Moon [Audio]

James SchminckeUncategorized

Song of America Project

from the Library of Congress | Link to Source


“Look Down, Fair Moon” is from Walt Whitman’s collection of Civil War poetry, Drum-Taps, published in 1865.


The audio recording, provided in the audio player to the right, features Thomas Hampson, baritone, and Craig Rutenberg, piano. This song was recorded for Instant Encore as part of American Public Media’s Performance Today series, presented by Classical Minnesota Public Radio. To listen, please click on the track name itself. You can download a recording of this entire recital for free through the Instant Encore website with the download code: THSOA2009.


Walt Whitman volunteered in the hospitals of Washington, D.C. during much of the Civil War, and he was profoundly moved by the experience. In Naginski’s setting of “Look Down, Fair Moon,” piano and voice reflect as stunned comrades upon the tragic essence of the poet’s words.

Look Down, Fair Moon
by Walt Whitman

Look down, fair moon and bathe this scene,
Pour softly down night’s nimbus floods, on faces ghastly, swollen, purple;
On the dead, on their backs, with arms toss’d wide,
Pour down your unstinted nimbus, sacred moon.

LISTEN NOW
Look Down, Fair Moon (1940)
Music by Charles Naginski
Text by Walt Whitman


Ralph Vaughan Williams — Dona nobis pacem [Audio]

James SchminckeUncategorized

Audio from YouTube | Link to Source


Text excepted from here.

Vaughan Williams was born on the 12th October, 1872 in the Cotswold village of Down Ampney. He was educated at Charterhouse School, then Trinity College, Cambridge. Later he was a pupil of Stanford and Parry at the Royal College of Music, after which he studied with Max Bruch in Berlin and Maurice Ravel in Paris.

At the turn of the century he was among the very first to travel into the countryside to collect folk-songs and carols from singers, notating them for future generations to enjoy. As musical editor of The English Hymnal he composed several hymns that are now world-wide favourites (For all the Saints, Come down O love Divine). Later he also helped to editThe Oxford Book of Carols, with similar success. Before the war he had met and then sustained a long and deep friendship with the composer Gustav Holst. Vaughan Williams volunteered to serve in the Field Ambulance Service in Flanders for the 1914-1918 war, during which he was deeply affected by the carnage and the loss of close friends such as the composer George Butterworth. | Read more at the RVW Society

LISTEN NOW
Dona nobis pacem (1936)
Beat! Beat! Drums!; Reconciliation;
Dirge for Two Veterans
Music by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Text by Walt Whitman


William H. Neidlinger — Memories of Lincoln [Audio]

James SchminckeUncategorized

Song of America Project

from the Library of Congress | Link to Source


While most of William Harold Neidlinger’s solo songs hearken from a time gone by for modern concert audiences, his “Memories of Lincoln,” a setting of selections from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, is still a stirring tribute to a slain hero.


The audio recording, provided in the audio player to the right, features Thomas Hampson, baritone, and Craig Rutenberg, piano. This song was recorded for Instant Encore as part of American Public Media’s Performance Today series, presented by Classical Minnesota Public Radio. To listen, please click on the track name itself. You can download a recording of this entire recital for free through the Instant Encore website with the download code: THSOA2009.

LISTEN NOW
Memories of Lincoln (1920)
Music by William Harold Neidlinger
Text by Walt Whitman