Tenor and piano. 3 mins.
A selection from Sauntering Songs: a concert-length cantata on the theme of walking, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble.
Text by Walt Whitman.
Perusal Score
Score available for purchase. Please direct inquiries to Nell Shaw Cohen at nell@nellshawcohen.com.
Program Note
“The Open Road” is a selection from Sauntering Songs: a concert-length cantata on the theme of walking, commissioned by Skylark Vocal Ensemble. This selection, which forms the opening number of the work, sets excerpts from Walt Whitman’s invigorating “Poem of The Road.” Originally scored for SATB choir with an instrumental quartet of flute, piano, electric guitar, and cello, the song is presented here in a reduced arrangement for solo tenor and piano.
Text
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road!
Healthy, free, the world before me!
The long brown path before me, leading wherever
I choose!
The earth expanding right hand and left hand, the picture alive, every part in its best light, the music falling in where it is wanted, and
stopping where it is not wanted,
The cheerful voice of the public road—the gay
fresh sentiment of the road.
From this hour, I ordain myself loosed of limits and imaginary lines!
Going where I list—my own master, total and absolute,
Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road!
Healthy, free, the world before me!
The long brown path before me, leading wherever
I choose!
The cheerful voice of the public road—the gay fresh sentiment of the road.
The open road!
Excerpt from “Poem of The Road” by Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass (1856 edition).
Performance History
Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo Opera Unlimited (Joe Dan Harper, tenor and Matthew Marco, piano), Buffalo, NY, 8/4/24.