Update Title: 7EF12661-8CE0-45CA-80DD-342FE9786AD7

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BY WALDEN POND, subtitled “a celebration of the writings of Henry David Thoreau, for
Orchestra and Narrator,” brings Thoreau’s words to the concert stage, through readings and
musical expression. As the Narrator presents Thoreau’s observations on Nature, the orchestra
provides a musical commentary to the “expedition.”
The texts are taken from Thoreau’s Walden and the Journals, dating from the 1850s. These
writings chronicle the writer's sojourns in the woods of Massachusetts. But, Thoreau's
exploration is beyond a geographic location. He is seeking the depths of life's meaning, the
truth that comes when one chooses to “live deliberately, to live deep and suck out all the
marrow of life.” He wishes to know “an entire heaven and an entire earth!”
His writings are sincere, and often ecstatic – a reverence for the beauty of the woods; a delight
in the small berries and cobwebs; the fresh energy of “mornings of creation.” Seeking eternity,
he writes: “I would drink deeper; fish in the sky, whose bottom is pebbly with stars.”
BY WALDEN POND comprises ten short movements, framed by a Prologue and Epilogue.
These outer sections portray the young writer heading off into the woods, and later returning
home. Marked “at a jaunty tempo, as if setting out on a walk into the woods,” the Prologue
introduces the “setting forth” theme in the Clarinet, a theme that will later return when
Thoreau prepares to head home (right before the Epilogue).
The central movements are brief observations on Nature. The listener might choose to hear
these as “journal entries,” rather than complete movements. The readings and music focus on
a few images or perceptions:
“Remember Thy Creator” – let the thunder rumble
“I Seek Acquaintance With Nature” – I wish to know and entire heaven, and an entire earth
“I Perceive the Spring in the Softened Air” – the softened air of Spring
“Mornings” – a coffee percolator (!)
“Interlude” – more morning joy, and the percolator
“Dry, Hazy June Weather” – heaviness, exhaustion from summer heat
“Dew on the Cobwebs” – dropped from the fairy shoulders that danced on the grass last
night!
“The First Star is Lit” – evening sky, a single star
This is the world of Henry David Thoreau – a world of beauty and imagination for those who
sojourn BY WALDEN POND.
-notes by the composer

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