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The Wild Horse Travels - (2005)
Gordon Bachlund
originally for tenor and piano
Down through the gulleys, over the rivers so wide,
The wild horse travels, with no one astride.
Alone in the mountains, alone with no friends,
Crossing the river as it slowly bends,
The picturesque beauty surrounding him there,
As he meets up with valleys so lonesome and bare,
The country he lives in is lovely and warm,
Like a beautiful valley, old and forlorn.
Copyright © 1945 Gordon Bachlund Used by permission
[ 5 pages, circa 2' 30" ]
Gordon Bachlund
My eldest brother wrote this short poem for a school assignment in January of 1945, and was rewarded with a school commendation. The copy lay hidden in piles of old papers only until this year, as I helped to order his home office. For the simple pleasure of it, I set it to music on a warm August morning in Los Angeles as a little surprise for him. In his youth, he was an avid equestrian which explains this youthful poem.
Written for tenor, the vocal range rises to A-flat. We three brothers all served in a men's and boys' choir, and Gordon and I have sung both baritone but then making the change to tenor over time. Therefore his song is intended only for that voice, though I will eventually publish it for other voice ranges as well. The accompaniment is expansive, rhapsodic and flowing.
The score for The Wild Horse Travels is available as a free PDF download, though any major commercial performance or recording of the work is prohibited without prior arrangement with the composer. Click on the graphic below for this piano-vocal score.
