Jeffrey Van’s
A Procession Winding Around Me
Four Civil War Poems
A Wedding of Text and Music
John Warren
John Warren is director of choral activities at Syracuse University. His research
interests include twentieth-century American settings of Walt Whitman poetry.
<[email protected]>
n December of 1862, Walt
Whitman journeyed to Washington, D.C., in search of his
brother George who had been reported in the New York Times as a Civil
War casualty. He found him at a field
hospital in Falmouth,Virginia, only slightly wounded. Whitman stayed in Washington for 10 years visiting thousands of
wounded veterans in the Washington,
D.C., area hospitals. He also spent two
weeks at a field hospital near the front
lines in Culpepper, Virginia.1 In 1865,
this “historian of the common soldier”2
published a collection of forty-three
poems under the title, Drum Taps.3
In 1989, guitarist and composer
I
Choral Journal • April 2010
Jeffrey Van likewise had a meaningful
visit to a Civil War battlefield, when he
visited Gettysburg. Van states that “the
richness and depth of that experience
can only be hinted at in words.”4 When
the Lancaster (Ohio) Chorale commissioned Van in 1990 to compose a
work for the Lancaster Festival,Van was
drawn to Whitman’s war poetry and
set four poems from Drum Taps, for
mixed chorus and guitar.5 The poems
set are “By the Bivouac’s Filtful Flame,”
“Beat! Beat! Drums!,” “Look Down,
Fair Moon,” and “Reconciliation.” The
subject of this article is the remarkable
cohesion of text, guitar, and voices in
Van’s composition. The form of the
7
Jeffrey Van’s A Procession Winding Around Me
phrases, reflecting drums and bugles (Figure
2). The first, concerning drums, emphasizes
the half-step dissonances B to C and E to F
simultaneously, creating a percussive clash
of sound using the two most dissonant
intervals (mm. 51–54). The second, about
bugles, is reminiscent of the opening phrase
of the first refrain, beginning with the choir
in parallel octaves with F resolving to E, then
ascending by leaps of a fourth to a quintal
sonority—A to E to B.The closing refrain of
the second stanza (mm. 131–37) repeats
the notes of the first stanza with a different
Structure
rhythm allowing for the slightly different text.
The overall form of Van’s work is a large
The only other difference is the chord on
arch, beginning with the pensive night be“drums” in measures 133–34, which extends
fore the battle, progressing to the intense
five beats, whereas it is given only four beats
action of the battle, slowing to view the cost
in the first refrain. Perhaps the added length
of the battle and finally, serenely reconciling
suggests the drums of war steadily disrupting
war, life, and death. The form of individual
normal life. In the final refrain (mm. 179– 88),
movements is directly related to the form
in which the rhythm is changed again to
fit the text, “drums” is
sustained six beats (mm.
182– 83), symbolizing the
further reach of the war.
The final phrase remains
Beat! Beat! Drums!
in octaves with all voices
ending on E (men on E4
Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
and women on E5) for
Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force,
strength and is sustained
Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,
through the four-measure
Into the school where the scholar is studying;
guitar postlude, which ends
Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride,
dramatically with no ritard
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain,
and three pizzicato snaps—
So fierce you whirr and pound you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.
“Beat! beat! drums!”
“By the Bivouac’s Fitful
Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
Flame” is a better example
Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets;
of Whitman’s usual free
Are beds prepared for sleepers at night in the houses? no sleepers must sleep in
verse. It has a circular form,
those beds,
created by repetition of the
No bargainers’ bargains by day—no brokers or speculators—would they continue?
first line as the last line, and
Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing?
repetition of words from
Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case before the judge?
the second line in the next
Then rattle quicker, heavier drums—you bugles wilder blow.
to last line (“procession,”
“solemn,” “slow,” and “I”).6
Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
Van, therefore, repeats
Make no parley—stop for no expostulation,
the
opening choral phrase
Mind not the timid—mind not the weeper or prayer,
at the end (Figure 3).
Mind not the old man beseeching the young man,
Otherwise, the music is
Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties,
composed in three secMake even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses,
tions. Lines 1– 4 are set as
So strong you thump O terrible drums—so loud you bugles blow.
the first section, lines 5– 8
as the second and the last
two lines as a coda. Unify—Walt Whitman
ing the movement is the
opening motive (Figure 3).
music is taken
from the structure of the poems.
Unique percussive and tonal effects written for the guitar, as well as the
texture, direction of line, dissonance and
consonance, rhythm, and chord spacing of
the vocal parts further depict the mood of
the poetry and specific words and phrases.
8
of each poem. Points of musical structure
tend to occur in places where the poem
begins a new strophe, new line, or new image. Music material recurs usually at points
where text recurs as in the refrain-like first
and last lines of each stanza of “Beat! Beat!
Drums!” This poem has the most conservative form of the four with three seven-line
stanzas, each with a refrain-like repetition in
the first and last lines.
Van uses this to structure the strophes
of his music, which begin with the same
guitar introduction each time, followed by
the same first line for the choir (matching
the same line of text: “Beat! beat! drums!—
blow! bugles! blow!”) and followed by
phrases that use the same chord pattern in
each strophe, but with different rhythm to fit
the different second lines of text (Figure 1).
The closing refrain (first appears in mm.
51–58) is comprised of two contrasting
Choral Journal • April 2010
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Ch
Chorall JJournall • A
Aprilil 2010
9
Jeffrey Van’s A Procession Winding Around Me
B the
By
he B
Bivouac’s
ivvou
uac’s
ac’s FFitful
itfu
it
f l Flame
B the
th
he b
biv
ivou
ouac
a ’’ss fittfu
ac
full flam
ffu
ame,
e,
By
bivouac’s
tful
proc
pr
occesssi
sion
on
n winding
win
indi
d ng
di
n around
aro
roun
und
un
d me,
m , solemn
me
sole
so
lemn
mn and
and sweet
sswe
weet
et and
and slow—but
sslo
low—
w—
—bu
b t fi
firs
rstt I no
ote,
te,
A procession
note,
The tents
tent
te
nts of the
nt
the sleeping
ssleep
epin
ep
ing
ng army,
army
ar
my,, the
my
the fiel
elds
d ’ and
ds
and woods’
wood
wo
ds’ dim
dim
m outline,
out
o
utli
line
ne,,
The
elds’
The darkness
dark
da
rkne
rk
ness
ne
ss lit
lit by
by spots
spot
sp
ots of kindled
ot
kin
i dl
dled
ed firre,
e,, the
the
h silence,
sil
ilen
e ce
en
ce,,
The
Like a phantom
pha
haant
ntom
om far
far or
or near
near an
an occasional
o ca
oc
casi
sion
o al figgur
uree moving,
ur
m vi
mo
ving
n ,
ng
Like
gure
T e shrubs
Th
shru
sh
rubs
bs and
nd
d trees,
ttre
rees
es,, (as
es
(as I lift
lift my
my eyes
eyes they
the
heyy seem
seem to
to be stealthily
ste
t al
alth
thil
i y watching
watcching
wa
ng me,)
me,
e,))
The
Whil
Wh
i e wind
w nd in
wi
n procession
prroc
oces
essi
sion
on thoughts,
thoug
tho
ught
hts,
ht
s, O tender
ten
ende
d r and
de
an
nd wondrous
wo
ond
ndro
rous
ro
us thoughts,
ttho
houghts,
While
lif
i e and
and death,
deat
ath,
h, of
of home
home and
and the
the past
pas
p
ast and
a d loved,
an
lo
ove
ved,
d, and
and of
of those
th
a are
are far
farr away;
awa
w y;
Of life
that
s le
so
lemn
m and
mn
an slow
slo
low
w procession
proc
pr
oces
oc
essi
sion
on there
the
here
re as
as I sit
sit on
n the
the ground,
ggro
rou
ro
und,
und,
A solemn
tth
he bivouac’s
biv
ivou
o ac
ac’s
’s fittful
full flam
fu
me.
Byy the
ame.
—
—Wa
Walt
Wa
lt W
Whi
hitm
tman
an
—Walt
Whitman
The choir begins in octaves
on E, moves to the neighboring tone F, returns to E, then
ascends, opening to a threepart chord (F3 in the men,
B4 in the alto, and C5 in the
soprano) on “flame” built on
dissonances established in the
guitar introduction.The choir’s
second phrase also begins
with a version of motive “a,”
leading to the same cadential
chord on “slow” in measure
17. A more exact version of
motive “a” occurs in measure
18, opening to four parts for
the first time.The second section (mm. 35– 61), which presents the next four lines of text,
begins with motive “a” sung in
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Choral Journal • April 2010
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Figure 3. Jeffrey Van, A Procession Winding Around Me, “By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame,” mm. 9–11.
© Walton Music Corp. Used by permission.
octaves by alto and bass. And, of course, the
movement closes with an exact repetition
of the choir’s and the poem’s first phrase.
“Look Down Fair Moon” is the shortest
poem in Drum Taps, with only four lines.
Like “By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame” it has
circular form. In this case, the first line is not
repeated but there are enough repeated
words (“Pour down,” “moon,” “nimbus”) to
give a sense of recapitulation.
Van’s musical setting has four sections
following a nineteen-bar guitar and whistling
introduction: mm. 20-35, in which the sopranos and altos sing their opening phrase
twice – the first time Van repeats any text in
the entire work; mm. 36-48, a four-part homophonic section on the second line of text;
mm. 49-59, another four-part homophonic
section on the third poetic line; and mm.
60-77, a phrase for sopranos and altos which
ends with a sustained major 7th as their first
phrase did (Figure 4). Reinforcing the feel-
ing of return, the interlude mm. 60 –70 uses
motives and techniques of the introduction.
Although “Beat! Beat! Drums!” is a recruiting poem written in 1861 before Whitman had seen the horrors of war first-hand,
“Reconciliation” clearly expresses Whitman’s
desire for peace and brotherhood toward
the end of the war.
Similar to “Look Down Fair Moon,” this
poem presents two contrasting images, one
metaphoric and one concrete. Here, however, the images are separated into the first
and second half of the single strophe. The
first half symbolically describes death and
war as a necessary process to rid the world
of evil, while the second half relates a specific,
intimate act of brotherhood.
The form of “Reconciliation” is ABA with
a coda, the simplest form of the four settings,
confirming the notion of resolution and expectation. The opening A section is a setting
of the first three lines of the poem, which
Look Down Fair Moon
Look down fair moon and bathe this scene,
Pour softly down night’s nimbus floods on faces ghastly,swollen, purple,
On the dead on their backs with arms toss’d wide,
Pour down your unstinted nimbus sacred moon.
—Walt Whitman
Choral Journal • April 2010
11
Jeffrey Van’s A Procession Winding Around Me
strings, pinch together halfway up
fingerboard, strum strings so they
vibrate against each other producing
a snare-like sound;
• Golpe—(x notes on third staff line) hitting
the wood around the bridge, making a
heavier thump;
• Ponticello—(pont.) playing near the bridge,
producing a bright, metallic tone;
• roll—( 𝆝 𝆝 𝆝 𝆝 ) drum roll-like, rotating
hand to strike wood with thumb and
fingers;
• above the nut—(x notes with or
)
strum strings between nut and first
machine head, producing very highpitched brittle sound;
Guitar Effects
• string slap—(x notes on top staff line) hit
strings with open fingers just before
sound hole, over the neck, making a
hard, bright tap;
• snap pizzicato—( ol ) pull string up with
thumb and index finger and release,
allowing the string to snap on the
fingerboard;
• snare drum—( ▼ notes, “snare drum”
notated in score) cross two lowest
• glissando—(gliss. above slanted line)
The percussive qualities of the guitar are
prominent features of this set, representing
the drums of war. The listener hears the roll
of field drums, the rattle of the snare, and the
ominous, solemn pulse of the bass drum.7
These effects include the following:
→
• tambura—(+) hitting the strings near the
bridge, while a chord is held with the
left hand, sounding like a distant boom
with the chord ringing lightly;
→
make general, romantic comments about
war as the cleanser of “this soil’d world.” The
B section is a setting of the second three
lines of the poem which tell of the intimate,
personal, real encounter with the dead
enemy. Van repeats the A section of poem
and music, although Whitman’s poem ends
with “the white face in the coffin.” Certainly
Van’s decision to repeat materials creates a
greater sense of resolution by restating the
first three lines.
• harmonics—(◆ notes)
Reconciliation
Word over all, beautiful as the sky!
Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly softly wash again, and ever again, this soil’d world:
… For my enemy is dead—a man divine as myself is dead;
I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin—I draw near;
I bend down, and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.
—Walt Whitman
12
Choral Journal • April 2010
• rasguedo—(rasg.) strum downward with
right thumb or back of fingernails,
or sweep upward with thumb or
fingertips.
The opening guitar introduction of the
first movement creates an eerie atmosphere
with the echoes of chords (tambura), the
thumps of distant bass drums (golpe), and
rolls. Moreover, the unpredictable rhythmic
pattern suggests a mood of uncertainty not
usually associated with processions. (Figure
5) Clearly, this fits the unsettled mood of the
poem expressed in images such as: “fitful
flame,” “the fields’ and woods’ dim outline,”
“like a phantom,” and “stealthily watching
me.”
Percussive effects for the guitar abound
in “Beat! Beat! Drums!” Tambura, golpe, and
rolls are used as they are in the first movement, along with string slaps, snap pizzicato,
rasguedo, ponticello, and the effective snare
drum sound. This snare drum effect occurs
in measures 86-115, in contrast to the chorus singing, “Are beds prepared for sleepers
at night in the houses?”
Driving rhythm is the most dominant
feature of “Beat! Beat! Drums!” constantly
mixing simple (2/4, 3/4, 4/4) and compound
meters (3/8, 6/8) with consistent eighth
notes. The tempo is marked Allegro ( 𝅘𝅥𝅮 =
160). The music, therefore, lacks a steady
quarter note pulse, disrupting a regular
pulsation, perhaps in the way war disrupts
daily life as presented in Whitman’s poem.
Unique tone color produced by guitar
creates a haunting, transparent mood for
Van’s setting of “Look Down Fair Moon.”
The instrumental introduction sets the
mood with harmonics, high tessitura, and
“above the nut” playing, which makes a
very high-pitched brittle sound. The uneven
rhythm of the guitar part has no steadying
pulse, and frequent rests and fermatas produce the effect of timelessness.
The guitar introduction of “Reconciliation” is much simpler, using traditional strumming with chords falling on almost every
downbeat in simple 3/4 time. However, in
the B section, as the male voices sing of the
strange encounter with the dead enemy,
effects such as harmonics, high tessitura, and
ponticello, as well as freely changing meter,
recreate the eerier moods of movements
1 and 3. Although the recapitulation brings
release to this tension, as the choir sustains a
♯
final, thickly scored F major chord, the guitar
Choral Journal • April 2010
uses tambura to recall the drums of war
from the opening movement with three final
sounds. It is as if the world will never escape
the “incessant washing” of death and night.
Text-Painting
Van uses dissonance, direction of line,
spacing of chords, rhythm and tone color to
musically depict the general mood of each
poem as well as specific words or phrases.
In “By the Bivouac’s Fitful Flame,” Van
uses rhythm, melismas, consonance and dis-
sonance to amplify the meaning of words
and phrases. Uneven, unpredictable rhythms
reflect the meaning of “fitful” in measures 10
(Figure 3) and 68, and the “phantom”-like
movement of shadowy figures in measures
36–37 (Figure 6). Conversely, the steady
half-note pulse of the guitar in measures
63–66, describes the pace of “a solemn and
slow procession.” A melisma with stepwise
motion depicts the word “winding” in measure 13. Also, the consonant parallel thirds in
the treble voices on the phrase “solemn and
sweet,” in measures 15–16, contrast with the
13
Jeffrey Van’s A Procession Winding Around Me
dissonant seconds and tri-tones of
“flame” and “slow.” Of course, two
beats rest following the word “silence” is simple, but effective textpainting. The guitar does not play
mm. 46–60, the longest a cappella
section in the set. Interestingly, this
passage of text describes memories
of home, the past, and loved ones,
thoughts seemingly removed from
Whitman’s present viewing of the
army procession. Van’s removal of
the guitar’s drum-like sounds focuses the listener’s attention on these thoughts
and not on war. This is the most consonant
section of the first movement, reaching a
climax with a forte, authentic cadence (F
major to B♭ major), in five-part vocal texture
on the words “and loved.” Appropriately, the
music diminishes as the choir sings “and of
those who are far away.”
Figures of text-painting in “Beat! Beat!
Drums!” include measures 52–54 at which
14
point the men alternately repeat with the
women, the words “pound you drums,” on
four consecutive beats, producing a symbolic
steady pounding. Another example would be
the soft, closely-spaced chords on “Let not
the child’s voice be heard,” (mm. 166–68),
followed by the forte, higher sonorities on
“nor the mother’s entreaties” (mm. 169–70).
Perhaps the most literal text-painting occurs
in measure 172 on the text “make even the
trestles,” at which point the soprano and
alto sing parallel fourths and steady quarter note triplets, representing the parallel
railroad tracks.
Dissonance serves as an important tool
for text-painting in the third setting. The
soprano and alto phrases cadencing on a
sustained major seventh (mm. 22–23, 32–33,
and 75–77) suggest the contrast between a
high heavenly moonlight and a lowly earth
piled with corpses. Van also uses dissonance
on the stark words “ghastly, swollen, purple,”
particularly “purple,” which is built of two
half-step dissonances (minor ninth B2 to C4
in the bass and alto, and major seventh G3
♯
to F 4 in the tenor and soprano). The choir’s
last four-part chord on “moon” consists of
two juxtaposed seconds, one minor, the
♯
other major, B3 to C4 and E4 to F 4. The final
cadence brings no harmonic resolution, with
sopranos and altos sustaining the major
♯
seventh (G4 to F 5 over an E minor seventh
chord with added A in the guitar, inflecting
the agony of the poem.
Other text-painting ideas involve color,
tessitura, and chord spacing. The eerie,
ethereal mood created by guitar effects,
tessitura and whistling may be considered
text-painting since it reflects the mood of
the poem. The text “pour softly down” is
described musically in measures 36–37, at
which point all four voice parts descend
(notably the soprano which descends a full
octave—Figure 7). Finally, the open chord
spacing on the word “wide” in measure 53
(bass and tenor are a minor ninth apart, and
alto and soprano are a minor seventh apart)
Choral Journal • April 2010
reflects the word’s meaning.
“Reconciliation” uses the least
amount of over t text-painting.
There is an increased use of much
simpler triadic harmony in the
fourth movement, for example:
the choir’s first cadence (A major)
♯
in measures 24–25; C minor in
measure 27; D major in 31; D major
with nine-eight and four-three suspensions in measure 60, resolving
♯
in 61; D major in 64; and F major
in 68, dissonant chords occur at
important phrases such as “deeds
of carnage” (mm. 32–33) where
the last chord of “carnage” consists
of two half-steps (minor ninth bass
♯
to alto—C 3 to D4, and major
♯
seventh tenor to soprano—A4 to G 5), and
“dead” in measure 68, which is comprised
♯
of two seconds, one minor (C 3 to D3)
♯
♯
and one major (F 3 to G 3). The proximity
of these notes to each other enhances the
text-painting effect. In measures 101 to 103,
the music moves to an unexpected
♯
G major chord, distant from the C
minor tonality, but lending a surprising
lightness to the words “touch lightly
with my lips.” The rhythm here is not
as steady as in the A sections, especially with the use of 5/4 time mixed
with 4/4 and 3/4 meters. This creates
a mood of uncertainty appropriate for
the intimate, eerie encounter related
by the text.The four-part male texture
not only contrasts with the A sections,
but also with the rest of the work.
It stands out as unique, adding even
more individuality to the incident.
Finally, the canonic writing in mm.
46–58 and mm. 164 –74 suggests the
constant washing of the world by the
“sisters Death and Night” (Figure 8).
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Choral Journal • April 2010
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15
Jeffrey Van’s A Procession Winding Around Me
Conclusion
Not only is Jeffrey Van’s A Procession Winding
Around Me a well
constructed, expressive setting of
powerful Walt Whitman poems, it is quite
manageable for good choirs. The vocal
writing is consistent with good range and
tessitura for each voice part; the texture is
predominantly homophonic with brief moments of imitation; and the voicing is largely
four-part mixed, although the texture does
vary from unison lines, to four-part men, to
double choir. The text is set comfortably,
with stressed syllables on strong beats, using
freely mixed meter. Although dissonance is
frequently used, most of it is diatonic and
approached in step-wise motion, making
16
the parts easy to sing. The guitar part is
challenging, but is quite interesting for the
guitarist with all its special effects. Choirs
and audiences enjoy the work, especially the
cohesion of music and text, and the work’s
powerful depiction of various aspects of war
and the need for reconciliation.
3
4
5
The author thanks Chris Cresswell for creating the figures.
6
**********
NOTES
1
David S. Reynolds, Walt Whitman’s America (New
York: Vintage Books, 1966), 423
2
Daniel Aaron, The Unwritten War: American Writers
and the Civil War (New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
7
1973), 63.
Louis P. Masur, “The real war will never get in the
books:” Selections from Writers During the
Civil War (New York and Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1993), 255.
Jeffrey Van, Letter accompanying performance
notes of A Procession Winding Around Me.
Brian Newhouse, Program notes for Jeffrey Van,
Four Civil War Songs, in Love, Death and Taxes,
Dale Warland Singers concert, February 23
and 24, 1996.
John E. Schwiebert, The Frailest Leaves: Whitman’s
Poetic Technique and Style in the Short Poem
(New York: Peter Lang, 1992), 59–61.
Jeffrey Van, Letter accompanying performance
notes of A Procession Winding Around Me.
Choral Journal • April 2010