Songs of the Open Road – Five Inspirations from Walt Whitman
Composed by Daniel Dorff
for Solo Flute
Published by Theodore Presser Company
Duration: 11:00
Commissioned by Flute Pro Shop
1. Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road
2. However calm these waters we must not anchor here
3. Strong and content I travel the open road
4. I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines
5. Will you travel with me?
Whitman’s epic “Song of the Open Road” is an inspiring metaphor encouraging us to find and explore our own paths, free of anchors or artificial boundaries. Dorff uses 5 brief passages from the poem as movement titles, setting the stage for a suite of sometimes-edgy soliloquies in which the music (and the flutist) explores these open roads.
