Old Ironsides
(1998) 9:35
Wind band and chorus
Commissioned by the Massachusetts Instrumental Conductors Association, 1998.
Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon roar;-The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more!
Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee;-
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!
0, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbate sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!
Oliver Wendall Holmes-1830.
Once a mighty warship, the USS Constitution had been allowed to rot in Boston harbor. Oliver Wendall Holmes penned the poem, "Old Ironsides," in 1830 to comment on the sorry state of the naval vessel.
This setting here depicts both the glory of the intact ship and the nostalgic mourning for a time gone by; it is both an apotheosis and an elegy. One can hear the action in the rhythms of "wind," "sweep," "dancing," "waves, and "burst." The careful listener will hear in the final verse a whiff of the Navy Hymn (Eternal Father Strong to Save) and the Navy anthem (Anchors Aweigh). In the. final verse one hears the measured tread of the funeral cadence, the progression of time that makes past events great and historical.
The entire piece is based on the pitches provided by the first line of the Navy hymn, Anchors Aweigh – all of the pitches of the pentatonic scale. The piece begins with the muted and ghostly-blurred six pitches of Anchors Aweigh. That motive appears with various shades in diffusion throughout the piece.
