The last invocation

At the last, tenderly,
From the walls of the powerful, fortress'd house,
From the clasp of the knitted locks,
From the keep of the well closed doors,
Let me be wafted.

Let me glide noiselessly forth;
With the key of softness unlock the locks, with a whisper,
Set ope the doors, O Soul!

Tenderly! be not impatient!
(Strong is your hold, O mortal flesh!
Strong is your hold, O Love.)

by Walt Whitman (1819-1892) , "The last invocation"

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by Samuel Hans Adler (1928-) , "The last invocation", published 1977, from Sixth String Quartet (A Whitman Serenade).
by Ernst Bacon (1898-1990) , "At the last"
by Arthur Bergh (1882-1962) , "The imprisoned soul", op. 31 no. 1, published 1939.
by (Edward) Maurice Besly (1888-1945) , "At the last", op. 21 no. 4, published 1922.
by Gordon Ware Binkerd (1916-2003) , "The last invocation", published 1956.
by Eugene MacDonald Bonner (1889-1983) , "The last invocation", published 1925, from Whispers of Heavenly Death.
by Jack Arthur Boyd (1932-) , "The last invocation", published 1963.
by Frank Bridge (1879-1941) , "The last invocation"
by Louis Campbell-Tipton (1877-1921) , "Invocation", op. 32 no. 2, published 1915.
by John Wallace Carter (1929-) , "The last invocation", published 1975.
by Roland Diggle (1885-1954) , "The last invocation", published 1946.
by Percival Garratt (1877-1953) , "The last invocation", op. 36, published 1920.
by Philip Glass (1937-) , "The last invocation", published 1967.
by Elizabeth Henderson , "The last invocation", published 1946.
by Wells Hively (1902-1969) , "The last invocation", published 1945.
by Leonard Kastle (1929-) , "The last invocation", published 1956.
by Otto Luening (1900-1996) , "At the last", published 1936.
by Thomas Pasatieri (1945-) , "The last invocation" [voice and piano]
by Ada Weigel Powers (1863-1947) , "The last invocation", published 1927.
by James Hotchkiss Rogers (1857-1940) , "The last invocation", published 1919, from In Memoriam.
by Albert Daniel Schmutz (1887-?) , "The last invocation", published 1939.
by William Howard Schuman (1910-1992) , "The last invocation", published 1959, from Carols of Death, no. 1.
by Eva Ruth Spalding , "The last invocation", published 1923, note: also set in French as "L'invocation suprême", translated by Léon Bazalgette (text unavailable)
by Warren Storey-Smith (1855-1971) , "The last invocation", published 1934.
by Randall Thompson (1899-1984) , "The last invocation", 1922. [SSATTB]
by Emerson Whithorne (1884-1958) , "Invocation", op. 29 no. 1, published 1921.
by Thomas Carl Whitmer (1873-1959) , "The last invocation", published 1928 [quartet of solo voices, chorus, and piano or orchestra], from Choral Rhapsody, no. ?

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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