F. S. Converse - The Mystic Trumpeter: Orchestral Fantasy after Walt Whitman (1904)

The Mystic Trumpeter: Orchestral Fantasy after the Poem by Walt Whitman (1904) [NOTE: To read the score, watch FULL SCREEN in HIGH RESOLUTION] A late Romantic tone poem by American composer Frederick Shepherd Converse (1871-1940). Like many of his contemporaries from New England, Converse studied in Boston with George Whitefield Chadwick and in Munich with Josef Rheinberger. However, his own musical idiom is derived more from Wagner, Strauss and Tchaikovsky - in fact, his music is quite reminiscent of Granville Bantock. His 1904 tone poem “The Mystic Trumpeter“ is based on the poem from Book XXXII (“From Noon to Starry Night“) of the poetry collection “Leaves of Grass“ by Walt Whitman (1819-1892). There are five distinct, but continuous sections, each based on a section of Whitman’s poem: 1) Mystery and Peace (Moderato molto e tranquillo) Hark, some wild trumpeter, some strange musician, Hovering unseen in air, vibrates capricious tunes