Anthony Iannaccone

Sea Drift
for Symphonic Band or Wind
Ensemble
Study Date:
(W.E.L.)
Publisher:

Spring 2016

Ludwig Music
Publishing Co.
Date of Composition/Arrangement: 1992-93
Duration:
~18-19:00
Difficulty Level:
GIA Publications: V
Wind Rep. Project:
VI

Dedication/Commission:
Delta Iota Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha and the
Sinfonia Foundation in celebration of Western
Michigan Universitys 25th Annual Spring Conference
of Wind and Percussion Music, April 2, 1993.
Composers Nationality:
American
Composers Dates:

(b. 1943)

Instrumentation:
Sea Drift may be performed by a symphonic
band or by a wind ensemble. The wind ensemble will
require three B-flat clarinets per part and two flutes
per part to comply with the divisi orchestration in

these parts. In a symphonic band performance, the

designations one player per part and tutti should
be carefully observed.
1 C Piccolo
2 Flute 1/Solo Flute
2 Flute 2
1 Oboe 1
1 Oboe 2
1 Solo Bb Clarinet
1 Eb Clarinet
3 Bb Clarinet 1
3 Bb Clarinet 2
3 Bb Clarinet 3
1 Bb Bass Clarinet
1Bb Contrabass Clarinet
1 Bassoon 1
1 Bassoon 2
1 Eb Alto Saxophone 1
1 Eb Alto Saxophone 2
1 Bb Tenor Saxophone
1 Eb Baritone Saxophone

2
2
1
1
1

2
3
1

2 Bb Trumpet 1
2 Bb Trumpet 2
Bb Trumpet 3
Bb Trumpet 4
F Horn 1
F Horn 2
F Horn 3
1 F Horn 4
2 Trombone 1
2 Trombone 2
Trombone 3
2 Baritone B.C.
Tuba
Piano*
1 Celesta

*Piano and celesta should be positioned at the front of

the ensemble, aligned roughly with 3rd, 4th, and 5th rows
of players on conductors left. The piano lid must be
completely removed.

Percussion:
1. Percussion 1: one player
a. Timpani, crotales
2. Percussion 2: one player
a. Vibraphone, 6-drum set
3. Percussion 3: one player

a. Xylophone, marimba, Tam-tam, Triangle

4. Percussion 4: one player
a. Marimba, Bells, Large and small suspended
cymbals, 3-drum sets, Tom-toms, Bass drum
Composers Information:
Anthony Iannaccone (born in New York City, 1943),
studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the
Eastman School of Music. His principal teachers were
Vittorio Giannini, Aaron Copland, and David Diamond.
During the 1960s, he supported himself as a part-time
teacher (Manhattan School) and orchestral violinist. His
catalogue of approximately 50 published works includes
three symphonies, as well as smaller works for
orchestra, several large works for chorus and orchestra,
numerous chamber pieces, a variety of works for wind
ensemble, and several extended a capella choral
compositions. His music is performed be major ochestras
and professional chamber ensembles in the U.S. and
abroad.
The composer has received awards, commissions
and grants from many organizations including the 1995
American Bandmasters Association/Osteald Composition
Competition for his work entitled Sea Drift. He is a
frequent guest conductor of both instrumental and
choral ensembles, particularly at college and university
campuses throughout the country. He teaches
composition, orchestration, and arranging, and directs
the Collegium Musicum at Eastern Michigan University.
Iannaccones works have won many first prizes in
national and international competitions, including the
Ravel Prize for RITUALS FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO, the
Dutka Foundation Prize for STRING QUARTET NO. 3, the

Ostwald Award for SEA DRIFT, and the SAI/C.F.Peters

Award for TWO-PIANO INVENTIONS. His WAITING FOR
SUNRISE ON THE SOUND was chosen as one of five
finalists in the 2001 London Symphony Orchestra
Masterprize competition from a field of 1151 orchestral
works submitted. Several of Iannaccones works for
chamber and large ensembles have entered the
standard repertory. Describing his music, The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians states, "organic
growth inspires music of great strength and formal
clarity, as opening bars generate the textural and
thematic contours that forge contrasting sections of
reflection and cross-rhythmic dynamism." Iannaccone
has received grants, awards, and commissions from
numerous institutions, orchestras, foundations, and
organizations, such as the Aaron Copland Fund for Music,
the National Endowment for the Arts, ASCAP, Cornell
University, the Eastman School of Music, the Prague
Philharmonic, the Richmond Symphony, the Kalamazoo
Symphony, the Michigan Council for the Arts, East and
West Artists of New York, the Tucson Chamber Music
Festival, and Continental Harmony, among many others.
Recent commissions include a quintet for clarinet and
strings for Richard Stoltzman, a choral work for the
Ithaca College School of Music, and an orchestral work
for the Dearborn Symphony.

Dr. Jeffrey H. Renshaw on Iannaccone:

Though heavily influenced by his teachers
Copland and Giannini, his compositional techniques
have eclectic international roots which can be
grouped in to three areas:
1. French Restatement

a. Recasts musical ideas in varied settings

rather than developing them (Debussy).
2. German Metamorphosis (creative
distortion)
a. (Also described as development
technique), structurally altering
melodic-harmonic-textural building
blocks, expanding, contracting,
fragmenting and transforming basic
thematic material, yet retaining a
shadow of the original intervallic
content (Brahms and Berg).
3. American Repetition
a. Insistent restatement of relatively short,
energetic, often syncopated or
asymmetric rhythmic units (Copland).
Most all of Iannaccones music has programmatic
origins. Sound-metaphors.Heavy interest in poetry
and vocal music.
Iannaccones music relies on the importance of
articulation, and of dynamic and rhythmic
relationships. These relationships combing to create
a feeling of spatial freedom[Thus, to make his
music most effective,] these contrasts must be
exaggerated in order for the listener to perceive the
results.
Max Plank on Iannaccones Musical Language, 1989:
Iannaccone, schooled in the American
mainstream,has evolved from an early

neoclassicism through more or less strict serialism

[to develop] a highly distinctive and personal
language, accessible in his large audience music,
esoteric in his music for small audiences. His music
for wind bandranges the gamut of his musical
expression and shows his development into a mature
composer. Important musical elements in his
compositions include the assertion or dissolution of
tonality as a structural device, the manipulation of
timbral elements to evidence musical motion or
progression, distinctive composite sounds, and a
textural layering influenced, in part, by his interest in
medieval music.
a polyphony of musical ideas which are defined
more by shape, gesture, and color than by melody
[and] might be termed a layered texture.

Background of piece: Three movements (titles)

First Prize, 1995 American Bandmasters
Association/Ostwald Composition Competition.
Commissioned by Delta Iota Chapter of Phi Mu Alha and
the Sinfonia Foundation in celebration of Western
Michigan Universitys 25th Annual Spring Conference of
Wind and Percussion Music, 4/2/1993.

Translations, unfamiliar terms/symbols:

Flessibile:
Doppio valore:

Flexible
Twice value (twice as slow)

Doppio movimento:
Twice as fast
Gli altri:
The others
Sognando:
Dreaming
Brusco:
Abrupt
Ma distino:
But are separated***
Ruvido:
rough
Lontano:
distant, echo
Ballabile:
music suitable for dancing
Rilevato:
picking up again
***Piano part, mvmt. III m.17. con pedal, ma distino.

Meters: Deceptively Conventional

I.

Movement I
a. 4/4 (2/2)
b. 3/4 (at meno mosso, m.59)
II. Movement II
a. 2/4 (Sognando)
b. 3/4
III. Movement III
a. 4/4
b. 2/2 (Quarter=Quarter)
Use of ritardandos and ritenutos (mvmt. III for
ritenutos)
Recurring use of subito ritardandos in movements II &
III

Movements:
I.

Out of the Cradle, endlessly rocking (941)

a. Cantabile (flessibile) (100 bpm, 50 bpm cut time)
b. Doppio valore, flessibile (quarter=eighth, 50 bpm;
m.20)
c. Doppio movimento, giusto (eighth=quarter, 100
bpm, m.30)
d. Meno mosso, flessibile (60 bpm, m.59)
e. Meno mosso (50 bpm, m.80)
f. Doppio moviemento (100 bpm, m.88)

g. Piu mosso (108 bpm, m.93)

h. Piu mosso (126 bpm, m.145)
i. Adagio subito (50 bpm, m.155)

II.

On the Beach at Night

(437)

a.
b.
c.
d.

Sognando (50 bpm)

Tempo Giusto (50 bpm, m.31)
Piu mosso (60 bpm, m.56)
Temporally-fluid section (m.72-95)
i. 72: ritardando
ii. 73-74: tempo rubato
iii. 75: accelerando
iv. 76-77: ritardando
v. 78-79: Meno mosso
(50 bpm)
vi. 80-81: poco accelerando
vii. 82: Piu Mosso
(60 bpm)
viii. 83-85: accelerando
ix. 86: Subito ritardando
x. 87-90: a tempo poco a poco, accel.
xi. 91: Subito ritardando ***Poco fermatas
xii. 92-94: Piu ritardando
e. 95-End: Largo (40 bpm)

III.

Song for All Seas

(356)

a. Like Wind over Waves (120 bpm)

b. Meno mosso (108 bpm, m.52)
c. Piu mosso (alla breve, 184 bpm, m.79)

Overall Attitude:
Most of this work is free melodically: an intervalcentered approach by the composer gave relatively
little importance to achieving conventional cadences
in order to release tension. Rather, much of the
tension is built over long periods of time (without
cadences), and is augmented/diminished by the

subsequent melodic mutations of the initial melodic

set presented by the solo clarinet.

1. Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking, is a

poem that blends extended metaphor with a
variety of techniques to deal with a tripartite
core: birth, life (love), and death. The poem is
in the form of a childhood reminiscence, told by
the poet, about an experience involving a
mockingbird (who loses his mate), the sea, and
the poets (boys) self-discovery of his own
poetic voice.
Much of movement one, and the
corresponding poem Out of the Cradle
Endlessly Rocking, implies an undulating
rocking quality, with music that rises and falls
or swells and ebbs. Peaks of happiness plunge
to troughs of despair, all against the
background of the endlessly rocking cradle of
life and death the Sea. The music of the first
movement is filled with both the longing and
the wavelike qualities suggested by Whitmans
poem. The sad song of the mockingbird is
fused with the song (poem) of the poet and the
whispers of the sea to form a unity and a
reconciliation out of diversity and conflict. The
poetic quartet of bird-boy-man-sea is
symbolized in the music by the timbres of fluteclarinet-oboe-horn. The complete cycle of birth
life (love) death (rebirth) is suggested by an
overall trajectory of cumulative and
disintegrating textures, unfolding in the music

which is, by turn, lyrical-static, angulardynamic-conflicting, and finally, song-like and

static again.
2. The second movement, On the Beach at
Night, evokes a reflective scene in which a
father and child are contemplating a sky of
shimmering stars, some of which appear to be
devoured by ravenous dark cloud masses. Out
of this symbolic celestial conflict, several stars,
some delicate, some radiant, emerge
victoriously, intimating the poets mystical
intuition of the immortality of cosmic spirit. The
music, marked sognando (dreaming) is built on
an interplay of resonant, ringing sonorities.
These range from delicate and gentle treble
sounds to lustrous and richer full ensemble
chords with sharp attacks and overlapping
decays. The top notes of these chords outline
song-like material heard earlier in the first
movement.

3. The third movement, Song for All Seas, is

marked Like wind over waves. This music,
like that of movements one and two, is largely
derived from the pitch materials first heard in
the clarinet solo at the beginning of movement
one. Here, however, these pitches are
transformed into rhythmic and textural shapes
that suggest the mercurial energy of the sea.
Tranquil waves are quickly altered into
suggestive surges of water and energy. The
movement ends in climactic swells of colliding

rhythmic figures which culminate in a final

burst on B-flat.
Harmonic/Tonal Analysis:
All of the material in Sea Drift is derived from two
musical lines:
Set 1

8
1a

1b

______________________________________

Set 2 divided into an antecedent phrase (2a) and a

consequent phrase (2b)

2a

2b

Formal and Melodic Content:

The form of Movement I is based mainly on a large
ABA1. The opening A section introduces and develops
the orchestrational motives. The B section is derived
mostly from the rising and falling sea shapes, while
the A1 section returns to the :song-like and static
opening sounds transformed, Throughout the
movement the main motive (motive I) is transformed
differently each time it is presented to parallel
Whitmans poem as a boy becomes a man.

A:
I
a

Song-like and static

Boy
Bird,
Bird (Duet),
(waves)

b
Sea

II
c

Bird/Boy

Duet

(a)
Sea

(Sea)

b/a

Boyish

Waves

Sea

||--6--||--7--||--6--||--10--||---11---||--9--||---11---||---27----||
m.1 m.7
m.14 m.20
m.61 LACKS m.88
Cantabile
mate lost

m.30

m.41
a tempo

m.50
Meno
Mosso

B: Angular, dynamic, conflciting

I
II
Trans.
a
b

TRUE

CADENCE

Sea

Aug.

Frag.,
Layering

Pervasive waves

Heavy polyphony,
extreme contrast of dynamic, range

||--5--||----23----||---11---||-----29-----||
m.88 m.93
Doppio
mov.

m.116

m.127
m.156
intesno e
tenuto,
3/4

A1: Song-like and static again

||--6--||---16---||
m.156 m.162

4/4

END

a tempo

Movement II is based mostly on the second

motivic set, and consists of two large sections and a
brief codetta. The movement opens with the flute (bird)
and celeste presenting a shimmer motive that
continues throughout the movement.

I
a

d1

||--6--||--6--||--10--||--8--||--4--||--4--||---10---||--7--||
m.1
m.56

II
a

m.7

m.13

link

Opening Motive
Developed

m.23

m.31

m.35

m.39

Codetta

b motive Bell
in dev.
Tones

||----19----||--3--||---15---||--5--||
m.56

m.75

m.78

m.93

END

m.49

Movement III is set in an ABAtrans.-Coda. The first

A section is in the style of an Accumulative Tableaux,
much like the music of Debussy and Stravinsky. The
pitch material is drawn from the main set broken into
smaller fragments. The B section is again based on the
acoustic scale drawn from motive I. The A section
returns at m. 59. The transition at m. 73 is based on the
[0, 4, 6] set from the ostinato of the opening measures.
The coda at m. 88 is the terminal development of the
main themes.

A:

Accumaltive Tableaux (no true cadences; textural

development)

a1

a2

Like wind
over waves

m.25: link
material

||---17---||---12---||
m.1

m.18

m.30

Layers of
distinct new
motive dev texture

B:
Dev. #1 Restatement, Metamorphosis,
Repetition

||--8--||---11---||---10---||
m.30

A:

m.38

m.49

m.59

Return of A, truncated

||---14---||
m.59

m.73

Transition:
||--2--||---13---||
m.73 m.75
m.88
m.79:
piu mosso

Coda:

Terminal Development

||--5--||--5--||---16---||--6--||
m.88

m.93

m.98

m.114

END

Harmonic Content:
Deployment of the acoustic scale.
The #4-b7 which both Debussy and Stravinsky
used is one of Iannaccones favorite sonorities. It
balances a partly octatonic set with consecutive
whole steps and yields much more varied set
derivations.
The main source set of Sea Drift is this acoustic
scale. (Lydian mixolydian)

#4

b7

Texture/Timbre:
Very specific about desired balances: Balance with
flute written in to Oboe part at m. 23.
o M. 28 between vibraphone and clarinet.
o Mvmt. III, m.18: instructions for marimba to
match each other.
Soft, medium and hard mallets for keyboard
percussion.
o Brass mallets for bells (m.72)
Wooden mallets on timpani (m.104)
Bowed crotales and vibraphone (mvmt II,
beginning)
Tenuto e risonante mvmt III, m.38
In the first movement, the three voices of the bird,
the boy (man/poet), and the sea are symbolized by
the timbres of the flute, clarinet (oboe), and horn,
respectively.

Dynamics:
Specific as to when decay is appropriate and when it
isnt for phrasing purposes. m.155
Simultaneous phased de crescendos, crescendos and
de crescendos simultaneously, etc.
Articulations:
Very specific in notating the desired articulation for
passages throughout, sometimes even providing a
marking and also supplying text to facilitate
interpretation.
o Poco accento m.106
o Poco staccato mvmt II, m.23
Performance Considerations/Special
Instructions:
Special instructions: play grace notes before the
beat, m. 25.
Specific dampening instructions for timpani, m.40.
4-mallet technique in vibraphone part m.175; Motor
on.
Critical celesta part.
Though score indicates pause at end of the first 2
movements, performance is benefitted by only a slight
break between them.

Errata:

E-flat clarinetI: m.116 add quarter note rest to end of measure

E-flat clarinetI: m.128 add simile
Clarinet I
I: m.128 add simile
Clarinet II
I: m.128 add simile
Clarinet III
I: m.128 add simile
Alto Sax I
I: m.128 add simile
Alto Sax II
I: m.128 add simile
Tenor Sax
I: m.128 add simile
Horn I:
I: m. 124add (fff) mf cresc.
III: m. 21 add accent to first note of triplet
Horn II:
I: m. 116 change half note to read whole
note

III: m. 124
add (fff) mf cresc.
III: m. 67 change last half note to read G
Horn III:

natural

I: m. 124add (fff) mf cresc.

III: m. 21 add accent to first note of triplet
III: m. 67 change last half note to read G

natural

Horn IV:
Trumpet I

I: m. 124add (fff) mf cresc.

III: m. 21 add accent to first note of triplet

I: m. 128 add simile

III: m. 20 add accent to first 16th of bar
III: m. 21 add accent to first 16th of bar
Trumpet II
I: m. 128 add simile
III: m. 20 add accent to first 16th of bar
III: m. 21 add accent to first 16th of bar
Trumpet III
I: m. 128 add simile
Trumpet IV
I: m. 128 add simile
Percussion III I: m. 128 add simile to xylohphone
Piano
II: m. 13 bottom note of LH should be an E
Score
I: m. 124 add (fff) mf cresc.
I: m. 128 add in similes
III: m. 20 add accnt to first 16th of bar of tpts

tpts

III: m. 21 add accent to first 16th of bar of

III: m. 21 add accent to first 16th of bar of hns
III m. 67 change last half note to read G in
1st/2nd horn

Score and all parts

II: m. 30 add fermata to last eighth note
of bar

II: m. 31 add a tempo

III: m. 48add fermata to beat two
Notes/Questions:
Program Notes
The three movements of Sea Drift derive their titles and
inspiration from three poems in the Walt Whitman collection
entitled Sea Drift. Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking is a
poem that blends extended metaphor with a variety of
techniques to deal with a tripartition core: birth, life (love),
and death (rebirth). The poem is in the form of a childhood
reminiscence, told by the poet about an experience involving
a mockingbird that loses his mate, the sea, and the poets
self-discovery of his poetic voice.
Much of this poem and the first movement of Sea
Drift implies an undulating, rocking quality with music that
rises and falls or swells and ebbs. Peaks of happiness plunge
to troughs of despair, all against the background of the
endlessly rocking cradle of life and death the sea. The
music of the first movement is filled with both the longing
and the wave-like qualities suggested by Whitmans poem.
The sad song of the mockingbird is fused with the song of
the poet and the whispers of the sea to form a unity and a
reconciliation out of diversity and conflict. The poetic trio of
bird-boy-sea is symbolized in the music by the timbres of

flute/clarinet (oboe)/horn. The complete cycle of birth-lifedeath is suggested by an overall trajectory of cumulative
and disintegrating textures, unfolding in music which is, by
turn, lyrical/static, angular/dynamic/conflicting, and finally,
song-like and static again.
The second movement, On the Beach at Night, evokes a
reflective scene in which a father and child are
contemplating a sky of shimmering stars, some of which
appear to be devoured by ravenous dark cloud masses. Out
of this symbolic celestial conflict, several stars, some
delicate, some radiant, emerge victoriously, intimating the
poets mystical intuition of the immortality of cosmic spirit.
The music, marked sognando (dreaming), is built on an
interplay of resonant, ringing sonorities. These sonorities
range from delicate and gentle treble sounds to lustrous and
richer full ensemble chords with sharp attacks and
overlapping decays. The top notes of these chords outline
song-like material heard earlier in the first movement.
The third movement, Song for All Seas, is marked Like
wind over waves. This music, like that of movements one
and two, is largely derived from the pitch materials first
heard in the clarinet solo at the beginning of movement one.
Here, however, these pitches are transformed into rhythmic
and textural shapes that suggest the mercurial energy of the
sea. Tranquil waves are quickly altered into aggressive
surges of water and energy. The movement ends in climactic
swells of colliding rhythmic figures which culminate in a final
burst on B-flat.
Sea Drift was commissioned by the Delta Iota Chapter of Phi
Mu Alha and the Sinfonia Foundation in celebration of
Western Michigan Universitys 25th Annual Spring
Conference of Wind and Percussion Music, April 2, 1993.
Program Note by Anthony Iannaccone.

Iannaccones composition is based on the Sea Drift

section of Walt Whitmans great poetic work, Leaves
of Grass.

Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by

the American poet Walt Whitman (18191892).
Though the first edition was published in 1855,
Whitman spent most of his professional life writing
and re-writing Leaves of Grass, revising it multiple
times until his death. This resulted in vastly different
editions over four decadesthe first a small book of
twelve poems and the last a compilation of over 400
poems.
The poems of Leaves of Grass are loosely
connected and each represents Whitman's
celebration of his philosophy of life and humanity.
This book is notable for its discussion of delight in
sensual pleasures during a time when such candid
displays were considered immoral. Where much
previous poetry, especially English, relied
on symbolism, allegory, and meditation on the
religious and spiritual, Leaves of Grass (particularly
the first edition) exalted the body and
the material world. Influenced by Ralph Waldo
Emerson and the Transcendentalist movement, itself
an offshoot of Romanticism, Whitman's poetry
praises nature and the individual human's role in it.
However, much like Emerson, Whitman does not
diminish the role of the mind or the spirit; rather, he
elevates the human form and the human mind,
deeming both worthy of poetic praise.
With one exception, the poems do not rhyme or
follow standard rules for meter and line length.
Among the poems in the collection are "Song of

Myself", "I Sing the Body Electric", "Out of the Cradle

Endlessly Rocking". Later editions included
Whitman's elegy to the assassinated
President Abraham Lincoln, "When Lilacs Last in the
Dooryard Bloom'd".

SEA-DRIFT
Walt Whitman

OUT OF THE CRADLE ENDLESSLY ROCKING.

OUT of the cradle endlessly rocking,
Out of the mocking-bird's throat, the musical shuttle,
Out of the Ninth-month midnight,
Over the sterile sands and the fields beyond, where the child
leaving his bed wander'd alone, bareheaded, barefoot,
Down from the shower'd halo,
Up from the mystic play of shadows twining and twisting as if
they were alive,
Out from the patches of briers and blackberries,
From the memories of the bird that chanted to me,
From your memories sad brother, from the fitful risings and fallings I heard,
From under that yellow half-moon late-risen and swollen as if
with
tears,
From those beginning notes of yearning and love there in the
mist,
From the thousand responses of my heart never to cease,
From the myriad thence-arous'd words,
From the word stronger and more delicious than any,
From such as now they start the scene revisiting,
As a flock, twittering, rising, or overhead passing,

Borne hither, ere all eludes me, hurriedly,

A man, yet by these tears a little boy again,
Throwing myself on the sand, confronting the waves,
I, chanter of pains and joys, uniter of here and hereafter,
Taking all hints to use them, but swiftly leaping beyond them,
A reminiscence sing.
Once Paumanok,
When the lilac-scent was in the air and Fifth-month grass was
growing,
Up this seashore in some briers,
Two feather'd guests from Alabama, two together,
And their nest, and four light-green eggs spotted with brown,
And every day the he-bird to and fro near at hand,
And every day the she-bird crouch'd on her nest, silent, with
bright eyes,
And every day I, a curious boy, never too close, never
disturbing
them,
Cautiously peering, absorbing, translating.
Shine! shine! shine!
Pour down your warmth, great sun!
While we bask, we two together.
Two together!
Winds blow south, or winds blow north,
Day come white, or night come black,
Home, or rivers and mountains from home,
Singing all time, minding no time,
While we two keep together.
Till of a sudden,
May-be kill'd, unknown to her mate,
One forenoon the she-bird crouch'd not on the nest,
Nor return'd that afternoon, nor the next,
Nor ever appear'd again.
And thenceforward all summer in the sound of the sea,

And at night under the full of the moon in calmer weather,

Over the hoarse surging of the sea,
Or flitting from brier to brier by day,
I saw, I heard at intervals the remaining one, the he-bird,
The solitary guest from Alabama.
Blow! blow! blow!
Blow up sea-winds along Paumanok's shore;
I wait and I wait till you blow my mate to me.
Yes, when the stars glisten'd,
All night long on the prong of a moss-scallop'd stake,
Down almost amid the slapping waves,
Sat the lone singer wonderful causing tears.
He call'd on his mate,
He pour'd forth the meanings which I of all men know.
Yes my brother I know,
The rest might not, but I have treasur'd every note,
For more than once dimly down to the beach gliding,
Silent, avoiding the moonbeams, blending myself with the
shadows,
Recalling now the obscure shapes, the echoes, the sounds and
sights after their sorts,
The white arms out in the breakers tirelessly tossing,
I, with bare feet, a child, the wind wafting my hair,
Listen'd long and long.
Listen'd to keep, to sing, now translating the notes,
Following you my brother.
Soothe! soothe! soothe!
Close on its wave soothes the wave behind,
And again another behind embracing and lapping, every one
close,
But my love soothes not me, not me.

Low hangs the moon, it rose late,

It is laggingO I think it is heavy with love, with love.
O madly the sea pushes upon the land,
With love, with love.
O night! do I not see my love fluttering out among the
breakers?
What is that little black thing I see there in the white?
Loud! loud! loud!
Loud I call to you, my love!
High and clear I shoot my voice over the waves,
Surely you must know who is here, is here,
You must know who I am, my love.
Low-hanging moon!
What is that dusky spot in your brown yellow?
O it is the shape, the shape of my mate!
O moon do not keep her from me any longer.
Land! land! O land!
Whichever way I turn, O I think you could give me my mate
back again if you only would,
For I am almost sure I see her dimly whichever way I look.
O rising stars!
Perhaps the one I want so much will rise, will rise with some
of you.
O throat! O trembling throat!
Sound clearer through the atmosphere!
Pierce the woods, the earth,
Somewhere listening to catch you must be the one I want.
Shake out carols!
Solitary here, the night's carols!
Carols of lonesome love! death's carols!

Carols under that lagging, yellow, waning moon!

O under that moon where she droops almost down into the
sea!
O reckless despairing carols.
But soft! sink low!
Soft! let me just murmur,
And do you wait a moment you husky-nois'd sea,
For somewhere I believe I heard my mate responding to me,
So faint, I must be still, be still to listen,
But not altogether still, for then she might not come
immediately
to me.
Hither my love!
Here I am! here!
With this just-sustain'd note I announce myself to you,
This gentle call is for you my love, for you.
Do not be decoy'd elsewhere,
That is the whistle of the wind, it is not my voice,
That is the fluttering, the fluttering of the spray,
Those are the shadows of leaves.
O darkness! O in vain!
O I am very sick and sorrowful.
O brown halo in the sky near the moon, drooping upon the sea!
O troubled reflection in the sea!
O throat! O throbbing heart!
And I singing uselessly, uselessly all the night.
O past! O happy life! O songs of joy!
In the air, in the woods, over fields,
Loved! loved! loved! loved! loved!
But my mate no more, no more with me!
We two together no more.

The aria sinking,

All else continuing, the stars shining,
The winds blowing, the notes of the bird continuous echoing,
With angry moans the fierce old mother incessantly moaning,
On the sands of Paumanok's shore gray and rustling,
The yellow half-moon enlarged, sagging down, drooping, the
face
of the sea almost touching,
The boy ecstatic, with his bare feet the waves, with his hair the
atmosphere dallying,
The love in the heart long pent, now loose, now at last tumultuously bursting,
The aria's meaning, the ears, the soul, swiftly depositing,
The strange tears down the cheeks coursing,
The colloquy there, the trio, each uttering,
The undertone, the savage old mother incessantly crying,
To the boy's soul's questions sullenly timing, some drown'd
secret
hissing,
To the outsetting bard.
Demon or bird! (said the boy's soul,)
Is it indeed toward your mate you sing? or is it really to me?
For I, that was a child, my tongue's use sleeping, now I have
heard you,
Now in a moment I know what I am for, I awake,
And already a thousand singers, a thousand songs, clearer,
louder
and more sorrowful than yours,
A thousand warbling echoes have started to life within me,
never
to die.
O you singer solitary, singing by yourself, projecting me,
O solitary me listening, never more shall I cease perpetuating
you,
Never more shall I escape, never more the reverberations,
Never more the cries of unsatisfied love be absent from me,

Never again leave me to be the peaceful child I was before

what
there in the night,
By the sea under the yellow and sagging moon,
The messenger there arous'd, the fire, the sweet hell within,
The unknown want, the destiny of me.
O give me the clew! (it lurks in the night here somewhere,)
O if I am to have so much, let me have more!
A word then, (for I will conquer it,)
The word final, superior to all,
Subtle, sent upwhat is it?I listen;
Are you whispering it, and have been all the time, you seawaves?
Is that it from your liquid rims and wet sands?
Whereto answering, the sea,
Delaying not, hurrying not,
Whisper'd me through the night, and very plainly before daybreak,
Lisp'd to me the low and delicious word death,
And again death, death, death, death,
Hissing melodious, neither like the bird nor like my arous'd
child's
heart,
But edging near as privately for me rustling at my feet,
Creeping thence steadily up to my ears and laving me softly all
over,
Death, death, death, death, death.
Which I do not forget,
But fuse the song of my dusky demon and brother,
That he sang to me in the moonlight on Paumanok's gray
beach,
With the thousand responsive songs at random,
My own songs awaked from that hour,
And with them the key, the word up from the waves,
The word of the sweetest song and all songs,

That strong and delicious word which, creeping to my feet,

(Or like some old crone rocking the cradle, swathed in sweet
garments, bending aside,)
The sea whisper'd me.

ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT.

ON the beach at night,
Stands a child with her father,
Watching the east, the autumn sky.
Up through the darkness,
While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses
spreading,
Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky,
Amid a transparent clear belt of ether yet left in the east,
Ascends large and calm the lord-star Jupiter,
And nigh at hand, only a very little above,
Swim the delicate sisters the Pleiades.
From the beach the child holding the hand of her father,
Those burial-clouds that lower victorious soon to devour all,
Watching, silently weeps.
Weep not, child,
Weep not, my darling,
With these kisses let me remove your tears,
The ravening clouds shall not long be victorious,
They shall not long possess the sky, they devour the stars only
in
apparition,
Jupiter shall emerge, be patient, watch again another night,
the
Pleiades shall emerge,
They are immortal, all those stars both silvery and golden shall
shine out again,

The great stars and the little ones shall shine out again, they
endure,
The vast immortal suns and the long-enduring pensive moons
shall again shine.
Then dearest child mournest thou only for Jupiter?
Considerest thou alone the burial of the stars?
Something there is,
(With my lips soothing thee, adding I whisper,
I give thee the first suggestion, the problem and indirection,)
Something there is more immortal even than the stars,
(Many the burials, many the days and night, passing away,)
Something that shall endure longer even than lustrous Jupiter,
Longer than sun or any revolving satellite,
Or the radiant sisters the Pleiades.

SONG FOR ALL SEAS, ALL SHIPS.

1
TO-DAY a rude brief recitative,
Of ships sailing the seas, each with its special flag or shipsignal,
Of unnamed heroes in the shipsof waves spreading and
spreading far as the eye can reach,
Of dashing spray, and the winds piping and blowing,

And out of these a chant for the sailors of all nations,

Fitful, like a surge.
Of sea-captains young or old, and the mates, and of all intrepid
sailors,
Of the few, very choice, taciturn, whom fate can never surprise
nor death dismay,
Pick'd sparingly without noise by thee old ocean, chosen by
thee,
Thou sea that pickest and cullest the race in time, and unitest
nations,
Suckled by thee, old husky nurse, embodying thee,
Indomitable, untamed as thee.
(Ever the heroes on water or on land, by ones or twos
appearing,
Ever the stock preserv'd and never lost, though rare, enough
for
seed preserv'd.)

2
Flaunt out O sea your separate flags of nations!
Flaunt out visible as ever the various ship-signals!
But do you reserve especially for yourself and for the soul of
man
one flag above all the rest,
A spiritual woven signal for all nations, emblem of man elate
above
death,
Token of all brave captains and all intrepid sailors and mates,
And all that went down doing their duty,
Reminiscent of them, twined from all intrepid captains young or
old,
A pennant universal, subtly waving all time, o'er all brave
sailors,
All seas, all ships.
Critical Acclaim:

"The scoring [of Sea Drift] is imaginative, the melodic

content immediately arresting, and the shape of each work
so skillfully constructed that you are left in that state of
musical appetite that asks for more... Even if the
performances had been half as good, I would still have
welcomed such interesting music to the catalog.
-Fanfare
"Iannaccone writes in an insistently eclectic language that
comprehends diatonic, chromatic, and serial elements in a
single work.... [He] seems to prefer writing strongly
programmatic music, and the pieces on this album indicate a
strong proclivity toward the poetry of Walt Whitman.... The
first movement ofSea Drift takes as its program one of
Whitman's best-known poems, Out of the Cradle, Endlessly
Rocking... Listeners will appreciate Iannaccone's full-bodied,
well-rounded style. These compositions are obviously the
work of a composer who has a deep appreciation of wind
ensembles, and who understands their unique textures and
sonorities. He eschews the heavy percussion that so often
dominates military-band type wind groups, and he creates
colorful, deep, and diverse textures, weaving simple melodic
elements into complex but powerful forms."
-The Alabama Harbinger
"The second CD in the set [Eastman Wind Ensemble at 50]
starts with Sea Drift by Anthony Iannaccone.... Three poems
by Walt Whitman inspired this work, and Hunsberger
beautifully brings out moments of drama. The first
movement, Out of the Cradle, Endlessly Rocking, has a
pulsating quality that suggets the sea. The performance of
this movement is excellent, including the solos by various
section leaders, especially the flute. The second
movement, On the Beach at Night, is
marked sognando(dreaming) and the ensemble created a
variety of lush sonorities that portray the night skies. The
third movement, Song for All Seas, is full of shimmering tone
clusters used in the previous movements. The intense
rhythmic energy is beautifully executed by the winds and

resembles the ebb and flow of the sea. This is a glistening

performance of a resplendent work."
-The Instrumentalist

Bibliography:
https://www.giamusic.com/search_details.cfm?
title_id=21555
http://www.iannacconeworks.com/reviews.html
http://www.iannacconeworks.com/bio.html
http://www.windrep.org/Sea_Drift
http://www.whitmanarchive.org/published/LG/1891/p
oems/106
Dr. Renshaws article, featuring analysis of all
movements.