''Sea Drift'' is a

tone poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

for

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

composed by

John Alden Carpenter John Alden Carpenter (February 28, 1876 – April 26, 1951) was an American composer. Carpenter's compositional style was considered to be mainly "mildly modernistic and impressionistic"; many of his works strive to encompass the spirit of America ...

in 1933; it was premiered by the Chicago Symphony under

Frederick Stock Frederick Stock (born Friedrich August Stock; November 11, 1872 – October 20, 1942) was a German conductor and composer, most famous for his 37-year tenure as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Early life and education Born ...

on November 30, 1933. Impressionist music inspired by the

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...

poems '' Sea-Drift'', it is in two sections. Much of the material in the first part is assigned to the

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

; in the second, the main theme is stated by the English horn before being repeated by strings.

References

http://archives.nyphil.org/index.php/artifact/78b1daf8-98c4-4a8e-af55-7cd55a70e654/fullview#page/4/mode/2up *David Ewen, ''Encyclopedia of Concert Music''. New York; Hill and Wang, 1959. Compositions by John Alden Carpenter 1933 compositions Symphonic poems Musical settings of poems by Walt Whitman {{classical-composition-stub

See also

References