03.
Whitman, the “Bard of Democracy,” was the founder of a new American language. With music built deep into his poetry, it’s no surprise that Whitman has been a beacon for American composers.
Additional recordings:
Ange si pur
from La Favorita
Gaetano Donizetti / Alphonse Royer and Gustav Vaez after Baculard d’Arnaud
Ramon Vargas, tenor; Munich Radio Orchestra conducted by Marcello Viotti
RCA/BMG 74321 66229 2
Song listings with composer / poet, performers, CD label, and CD number:
The Commonplace
Ernst Bacon
Walt Whitman
Record#: CRI 890 (William Sharp, baritone; John Musto, piano)
Walt Whitman
Charles Ives
Walt Whitman
Record#: EMI Classics 0094635823929 (Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano)
Behold This Swarthy Face
Gerald Busby
Walt Whitman
Record#: EMI Classics 0094635823929 (Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano)
We Two
Elinor Remick Warren
Walt Whitman
Record#: Angel/EMI09463 416452 (Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano)
Prayer of Columbus
Robert Strassburg
Walt Whitman
Record#: EMI Classics 0094635823929 (Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano)
O You Whom I Often and Silently Come
Ned Rorem
Walt Whitman
Record#: EMI 54621; track 6 (Susan Graham, mezzo-soprano; Malcolm Martineau, piano)
As I Watch'd the Ploughman Ploughing
Philip Dalmas
Walt Whitman
Record#: EMI Classics 0094635823929 (Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano)
Dirge For Two Veterans
Kurt Weill
Walt Whitman
Record#: Angel/EMI09463 416452 (Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano)
Song Collection: Four Walt Whitman Songs
Look Down, Fair Moon
Charles Naginski
Walt Whitman
Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano
Record#: EMI Classics 0094635823929
Memories of Lincoln
William Harold Neidlinger
Walt Whitman
Thomas Hampson, baritone; Craig Rutenberg, piano
Record#: EMI Classics 0094635823929
To What You Said
Leonard Bernstein
Walt Whitman
Thomas Hampson, baritone; Wolfram Rieger, piano
Record#: Orfeo d'Or C707062
Song Collection: Songfest
One Thought Ever at the Fore
Ernst Bacon
Walt Whitman
Record#: Orfeo d'Or C707062 (Thomas Hampson, baritone; Wolfram Rieger, piano)
Song Collection: Songs at Parting
“Stephen Foster’s music is the trunk of the tree of American song, sturdy with songs we love to sing,” says Thomas Hampson. In this program we explore Foster’s music, the varied artistic roots he drew from, and the musical branches that grew from his work.
Many Americans have had to raise their voices to be recognized or even heard in America. In this program, we hear songs of African Americans and Native Americans; women, immigrants, and war resisters; and voices from the labor movement and the gay rights movement.
