A Wanderer's Song

Description

Tenor 1, Tenor 2, Bass, Piano — With its opening line “A wind’s in the heart of me, a fire’s in my heels,” A Wanderer’s Song captures the energy of an individual longing to leave their home and explore the world. This enthusiasm for exploration is represented musically by the pulsating, mixed-meter piano accompaniment, the syncopated rhythms of the vocal lines, and the chromatic but accessible harmonic progressions.The poem by John Masefield uses numerous references to sea-faring and the ships commonly used in the 19th-century. The line “To where a lifting foresail-foot is yanking at the sheet” refers to the sail at the front mast of a large sailing vessel propelled by the wind. An anchorage is a place where sailing vessels anchor, such as a harbor or bay, while yawls and ketches are two different types of small, two-mast sailboats.In m. 40, the vocal parts become more lyrical and legato and the driving left-hand of the piano part gives way to a flowing arpeggio pattern, depicting the “windy, tossing anchorage.” The piece ends with a return to the hurried excitement of the beginning as the voices reiterate their desire to leave the noisy streets (“the roaring of the wheels”) and venture out to sea. This adventurous tune for Tenor-Bass Choir captures the energy of an individual longing to leave their home and explore the world. This enthusiasm for exploration is represented musically by the pulsating, mixed-meter piano accompaniment, the syncopated rhythms of the vocal lines, and the chromatic but accessible harmonic progressions.

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