"Sea-Drift" is the title of a section of
Walt Whitman's great poetic work Leaves of Grass, first published in 1855. It is a compilation of poems referring to the sea or the sea-shore.[1]
Sea-Drift follows the section titled A Broadway Pageant, and precedes the section By The Roadside.
Various works of 20th-century classical music have been inspired by the poems.
Sea Drift.
Frederick Delius set part of Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking for baritone solo, chorus and orchestra.[2] It received its first performance in Germany (
Essen, Tonkünstler-verein, Josef Loritz (baritone), cond. Georg Witte) in 1906, and its first British performance, sung by
Frederic Austin and conducted by
Henry J. Wood, in autumn 1908 at the
Sheffield Festival.[3]
A Sea Symphony by
Ralph Vaughan Williams. After an introduction ('Behold, the Sea Itself!' etc.), the text of A Song for All Seas, All Ships is taken up ('Today a rude brief recitative..'). The second movement takes as its text On the Beach at Night Alone. The poems of the last two movements are taken from elsewhere in Leaves of Grass. The Symphony was completed and published in 1909: the composer conducted the first performance at the
Leeds Festival on 12 October 1910.[4]