soprano and piano
ca. 9 minutes
performed here by Celine Mogielnicki and Stephen Gorbos
Listen:
About:
The texts for Whitman Fragments were originally part of a larger selection of Whitman’s writings, intended to be used in a site-specific outdoor work at the National Arboretum. This piece was meant to be a meditation on knowing oneself and one’s relationship to the natural world (I started work on it just after getting tenure at CUA). It was unfortunately scrapped due to cuts to the Arboretum’s budget. Over the years, I’ve spun the bits of this evening-length work into various other pieces, which brings us to these songs.
The protracted genesis of these songs was compounded by the pandemic: I started work on these just before the pandemic, and like most of my creative progeny, when the pandemic hit they were put on a shelf in favor of attending to my actual children (who were 4, 2, and an infant at the time). The songs remained untouched until 2022, and have since been performed by Celine Mogielnicki as a set of 5, with 5 additional songs being composed for performance in 2025 as a set of 10. I think these songs reflect both a stoicism in living through our present moment, and the awe at discovering and understanding a bit more about who these people really are that we spent so much time with over the past few years. The title comes from the idea of assembling the text for each song from shorter segments of Whitman’s writings, or lines and sections from different poems that seem to talk to each other.
Texts:
Whitman Fragments, I: As the water follows the moon.
Leaves of Grass, Autumn Rivulets, Vocalism (2)
As the water follows the moon, silently, with fluid steps,
anywhere around the globe.
Whitman Fragments, II: How Strong
Specimen Days, The Lesson of a Tree
How strong, vital, enduring!
…
…so innocent and harmless, yet so savage.
It is, yet says nothing
Leaves of Grass, Calamus, Whoever You Are Holding Me Now in Hand
Whoever you are holding me now in hand,
Without one thing all will be useless,
I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,
I am not what you supposed, but far different.
…
Therefore release me and depart on your way
