Astronomia
Year: 2021
Duration: 10’
Instrumentation: SATB choir a cappella
I. When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
II. The Mississippi at Midnight
III. Kosmos
Program Note: Astronomia is a set of three a cappella choral works. Each movement uses poetry by Walt Whitman, and all three poems center around the theme of astronomy. The first movement, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”, expresses a preference for a personal connection with nature over intellectual analysis. The second movement, “The Mississippi at Midnight”, is a prime example of Whitman’s fascination with the spirituality found in nature, a transcendentalist ideology that is crucial to what makes his poetry truly and unabashedly American. Finally, the third movement, “Kosmos”, examines the concept of the universe and its connection to humanity.
PURCHASE SCORE
