Song picture
A Noiseless Patient Spider
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A Whitman poem, set to music.
Contemporary art music composer, mostly vocal and chamber ensemble music.
I'm a composer at Oberlin College. I write contemporary art music, mostly vocal pieces, and works for chamber ensemble. My vocal works tend toward virtuosity in their ranges, and all my music is very conscious of the counterpoint and blend of melodies into harmonic movement.
Song Info
Charts
Peak #212
Peak in subgenre #32
Author
C. Dunn-Rankin
Rights
2006 C. Dunn-Rankin
Uploaded
December 04, 2006
Track Files
MP3
MP3 2.4 MB 128 kbps 2:37
Story behind the song
Part of a six-movement song cycle of Whitman poetry. This will be part 5.
Lyrics
A noiseless patient spider, I marked where on a promontory it stood isolated, Marked how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launched forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. And you O my soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need be formed, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somwhere, O my soul.
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