CASTELNUOVO TEDESCO M.-I Saw in Louisiana, Leaves of Grass, Ocean Op. 89 para Voz y Piano

The genre of the lyrical song for voice and piano holds a central place in the work of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco: roughly a quarter of his catalog of numbered compositions is devoted to this format. It was only in 1936, with I Saw in Louisiana, Leaves of Grass, and Ocean, that Castelnuovo-Tedesco first approached American poetry. The poetic texts that form the basis of these three works, in particular, were drawn from one of the books that did the most to shape the cultural identity of the United States: Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (1819?1892).

This new edition brings together, for the first time in a single volume, the twelve Whitman lyrics by Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Although the cycle was held in high esteem by its author, during his lifetime he was only able to publish the first of the three parts into which Op. 89 is divided. This is a volume, then, that could have met with Castelnuovo-Tedesco?s approval.