A Whitman Triptych: II. What Is the Grass?

The second movement in "A Whitman Triptych," What Is the Grass? is an adaptation of a much longer poem - one of Whitman's deepest and most mysterious. The musical setting follows Whitman's exploration: first taking a child's point of view, expressed with lilting melodies set in a lively compound meter. Then, the entry of the tenor soloist indicates a change of mood to the serious. Finally, the first mood returns, leading to a climax on the words "And led forward life," set in nine-part harmony. The mood turns reverent, as the tenor soloist intones the words, "All goes onward and outward; nothing collapses."