Project

Walt Whitman in Song

About Walt Whitman in Song

Walt Whitman in Song is an ongoing collaboration between American Opera Projects' Composers & the Voice series and The Walt Whitman Project, a Brooklyn-based community arts organization, devoted to exploring the life and influence of this great American writer through readings of his poetry and prose and performances of musical compositions based on his works. Whitman spent much of his life living and working around New York City, including in Fort Greene, Brooklyn - the home of American Opera Projects. By encouraging composers to set the writings of Whitman to music, American Opera Projects has amassed a collection of songs that it performs in various settings often with historical background provided by Greg Trupiano, Artistic Director of The Walt Whitman Project.

Music from Walt Whitman in Song

"Oh You Whom I Often and Silently Come" - Clint Borzoni

"O Me! O Life!" - Clint Borzoni

"Sorrow" - Kristin Kuster

"The Silvery Round Moon" - Ray Lustig

"The Wallabout Martyrs" - Gilda Lyons

"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed" - Jack Perla

"The Dead Tenor" - Greg Spears

"Blue" - Andrew Staniland

About Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman was a 19th century writer whose life's work, Leaves of Grass, made him one of the first American poets to gain international attention. Whitman spent most of his young life in Brooklyn, where he worked as a printer and newspaper journalist through the 1850s. The first edition of Leaves of Grass was privately printed in 1855 and consisted of 12 untitled poems, one of which was to later become famous as "Song of Myself." His literary style was experimental, a free-verse avalanche in celebration of nature and self that has since been described as the first expression of a distinctly American voice. Although Leaves of Grass did not sell well at first, it became popular in literary circles in Europe and, later, the United States, and Whitman published a total of eight editions during his lifetime. During the Civil War Whitman moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as a civil servant and volunteer nurse. There he published the poetry collections Drum Taps and Sequel to Drum Taps (1865-66), the latter containing his famous elegies for Abraham Lincoln, "Where Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" and "O Captain! My Captain!" In 1873 he was paralyzed after a stroke and moved to Camden, New Jersey. By the time of his death he was an international literary celebrity, and he is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature.

AOP Presentations

October 7, 2008
The Fall Pocantico Forum
The Coach Barn at Kykuit - 200 Lake Road, Pocantic Hills, NY
Performed by Donna Smith, Adrienne Danrich, and Matthew Curran; Music Direction by Kelly Horsted
The goal of the Pocantico Forum is to provide information on a wide range of issues and topics that reflect the broad program objectives of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

August 27, 2008
Prison Ship Martyrs Memorial Centennial Celebration
The Myrtle Meadow, Northeast corner of Fort Greene Park, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Performed by Caroline Worra; Music Direction by Jennifer Peterson
Part of Fort Greene Park Conservancy's "Prison Ship Martyrs Memorial Centennial Celebration." Walt Whitman's demands for a memorial to the local POW's of the American Revolution resulted in Fort Greene Park's Prison Ship Martyrs Monument. Followed by an outdoor screening of the film 1776.