This overture, composed in 1903, is prefaced in the score with these lines from Milton's "L'Allegro":
"But come thou goddess fair and free,In Heaven ycleped Euphrosyne,And by men, heart-easing Mirth."
It has no other programme.
This work was composed in 1903-04. The poem by Whitman which has served the composer as his poetic point of departure is contained in the section ofLeaves of Grasscalled "From Noon to Starry Night." The music is intended as an expression of the emotional and poetic substance of the poem. "I wished," the composer has said, "to use the elemental phases of the poem: mystery and peace; love; war or struggle; humiliation; and finallyjoy. So I divided the poem into five parts, and my music follows this division. Each section is introduced, or, rather, tied to the preceding one, by characteristic phrases for trumpet."
For each of these five connected divisions into which the music naturally falls, some dominant thought of the poet may be held to suggest the keynote. As in Whitman's strange phantasmagoria, there is set before us the spectacle of the human soul undergoing some of its universal and most vital experiences. After an introduction in which the Trumpeter's "liquid prelude" persuades one to turn from "the fretting world," and whose song "expands the numb'd, embonded spirit," we witness our typical human experiencing the transports of love, the perils and vicissitudes of war, the cankering perplexities and despairs that afflict the spirit in its moments of reaction; and, finally, the assured and confident joy that comes with the attainment of an ultimate poise and self-mastery.
For the five connected sections into which the music, upon the authority of the composer, may be divided, analogies are to be found in Whitman's poem. Those portions of the poem which correspond with the successive mood-pictures in the music may be indicated as follows (only the opening lines of each section are quoted):
[I."MYSTERY AND PEACE"]
"Hark! some wild trumpeter, some strange musician,Hovering unseen in air, vibrates capricious tunes to-night.I hear thee, trumpeter—listening, alert, I catch thy notes,Now pouring, whirling like a tempest round me,Now low, subdued—now in the distance lost."
"Hark! some wild trumpeter, some strange musician,
Hovering unseen in air, vibrates capricious tunes to-night.
I hear thee, trumpeter—listening, alert, I catch thy notes,
Now pouring, whirling like a tempest round me,
Now low, subdued—now in the distance lost."
[II."LOVE"]
"Blow again, trumpeter! and for thy themeTake now the enclosing theme of all—the solvent and the setting;Love, that is pulse of all—the sustenance and the pang;"
"Blow again, trumpeter! and for thy theme
Take now the enclosing theme of all—the solvent and the setting;
Love, that is pulse of all—the sustenance and the pang;"
[III."WAR OR STRUGGLE"]
"Blow again, trumpeter—conjure war's wild alarums."Swift to thy spell, a shuddering hum like distant thunder rolls;Lo! where the arm'd men hasten—Lo! 'mid the clouds of dust,the glint of bayonets;"
"Blow again, trumpeter—conjure war's wild alarums.
"Swift to thy spell, a shuddering hum like distant thunder rolls;
Lo! where the arm'd men hasten—Lo! 'mid the clouds of dust,
the glint of bayonets;"
[IV."HUMILIATION"]
"O trumpeter! methinks I am myself the instrument thou playest!Thou melt'st my heart, my brain—thou movest, drawest,changest them, at will:And now thy sullen notes send darkness through me;Thou takest away all cheering light—all hope:I see the enslaved, the overthrown, the hurt, the opprest of thewhole earth;"
"O trumpeter! methinks I am myself the instrument thou playest!
Thou melt'st my heart, my brain—thou movest, drawest,
changest them, at will:
And now thy sullen notes send darkness through me;
Thou takest away all cheering light—all hope:
I see the enslaved, the overthrown, the hurt, the opprest of the
whole earth;"
[V."JOY"]
"Now, trumpeter, for thy close,Vouchsafe a higher strain than any yet;Sing to my soul—renew its languishing faith and hope;Rouse up my slow belief—give me some vision of the future;Give me, for once, its prophecy and joy."O glad, exulting, culminating song!A vigor more than earth's is in thy notes!"
"Now, trumpeter, for thy close,
Vouchsafe a higher strain than any yet;
Sing to my soul—renew its languishing faith and hope;
Rouse up my slow belief—give me some vision of the future;
Give me, for once, its prophecy and joy.
"O glad, exulting, culminating song!
A vigor more than earth's is in thy notes!"
FOOTNOTES:[31]On the highway from Rennes to Brest. The forest is now known as Paimpont.[32]The scene which served Mr. Converse, too long for quotation here, occurs in Book I of Keats's poem, beginning:"... Yet hourly had he strivenTo hide the cankering venom, that had rivenHis fainting recollections."and continuing to the end of Book I.[33]The piano is here, as the composer has pointed out, treated not as a solo instrument, but "as an integral although very important part of the orchestral scheme, and whatever technically important moments it may have grow naturally out of the emotional contents, and not from the desire for a display of virtuosity."[34]January 20, 1905.[35]From "Youth, Day, Old Age, and Night," in the section entitled "Calamus."[36]"Euphrosyne" (from a Greek word signifying the personification of joy): one of the three Graces of Hellenic mythology. The Graces were originally regarded as goddesses of heavenly light, and were supposed to bring fertility to the fields and delight to men. Later they were conceived as goddesses of joy and beauty, and were associated with Hera, goddess of marriage, and with Aphrodite. Their parentage was attributed to Zeus and Eurynome.
FOOTNOTES:
FOOTNOTES:
[31]On the highway from Rennes to Brest. The forest is now known as Paimpont.
[31]On the highway from Rennes to Brest. The forest is now known as Paimpont.
[32]The scene which served Mr. Converse, too long for quotation here, occurs in Book I of Keats's poem, beginning:"... Yet hourly had he strivenTo hide the cankering venom, that had rivenHis fainting recollections."and continuing to the end of Book I.
[32]The scene which served Mr. Converse, too long for quotation here, occurs in Book I of Keats's poem, beginning:
"... Yet hourly had he strivenTo hide the cankering venom, that had rivenHis fainting recollections."
and continuing to the end of Book I.
[33]The piano is here, as the composer has pointed out, treated not as a solo instrument, but "as an integral although very important part of the orchestral scheme, and whatever technically important moments it may have grow naturally out of the emotional contents, and not from the desire for a display of virtuosity."
[33]The piano is here, as the composer has pointed out, treated not as a solo instrument, but "as an integral although very important part of the orchestral scheme, and whatever technically important moments it may have grow naturally out of the emotional contents, and not from the desire for a display of virtuosity."
[34]January 20, 1905.
[34]January 20, 1905.
[35]From "Youth, Day, Old Age, and Night," in the section entitled "Calamus."
[35]From "Youth, Day, Old Age, and Night," in the section entitled "Calamus."
[36]"Euphrosyne" (from a Greek word signifying the personification of joy): one of the three Graces of Hellenic mythology. The Graces were originally regarded as goddesses of heavenly light, and were supposed to bring fertility to the fields and delight to men. Later they were conceived as goddesses of joy and beauty, and were associated with Hera, goddess of marriage, and with Aphrodite. Their parentage was attributed to Zeus and Eurynome.
[36]"Euphrosyne" (from a Greek word signifying the personification of joy): one of the three Graces of Hellenic mythology. The Graces were originally regarded as goddesses of heavenly light, and were supposed to bring fertility to the fields and delight to men. Later they were conceived as goddesses of joy and beauty, and were associated with Hera, goddess of marriage, and with Aphrodite. Their parentage was attributed to Zeus and Eurynome.