Walt Whitman feared that the true experience of the
American Civil War would not find its way into the many books written about it.
Whether or not that is the case, the poetry Walt Whitman wrote during and
concerning that painful chapter of American history is an emotionally charged
expression of his experience. Hopefully the musical settings contained herein
breathe additional life into the beautiful poems. Settings not included in the
following recording are: Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night, and
This Dust Was Once the Man
Whitman Settings (Total Duration
11:20)
i. Beat! Beat! Drums!
ii. Dirge for Two Veterans
iii. Cavalry Crossing a Ford
iv. O Captain! My Captain!
v. Hush'd Be the Camps Today
vi. Reconciliation
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2:27
5:27
6:33
8:06
9:19
i. Beat! Beat! Drums!
Beat! Beat! drums! - blow! bugles! blow! Through
the windows - through doors- burst like a ruthless force, Into the
solemn church, and scatter the congregation, Into the school where the
scholar is studying; Leave not the bridegroom quiet - no happiness
must he have now with his bride, Nor the peaceful farmer any peace,
ploughing his field or gathering his grain, So fierce you whirr and
pound you drums - so shrill you bugles blow.
Beat! beat! drums! - blow! bugles! blow! Over the
traffic of cities - over the rumble of wheels in the streets; Are beds
prepared for sleepers at in the houses? no sleepers must sleep in those
beds, No bargainers' bargain s by day - no brokers or speculators -
would they continue? Would the talkers be talking? would the singer
attempt to sing? Would the lawyer rise in the court to state his case
before the judge? Then rattle quicker, heavier drums - you bugles wilder
blow.
Beat! beat! drums! - blow! bugles! blow! Make no
parley - stop for no expostulation. Mind not the timid - mind not the
weeper or prayer, Mind not the old man beseeching the young man, Let not
the child's voice be heard, nor the mother's entreaties, Make even the
trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses, So
strong you thump, O terrible drums - so loud you bugles blow.
ii. Dirge for Two Veterans
The last sunbeam Lightly falls from the finish'd
Sabbath, On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking, Down a
new-made double grave. Lo, the moon ascending, Up from the east the
silvery round moon, Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom
moon, Immense and silent moon. I see a sad procession, And I hear
the sound of coming full-key'd bugles, All the channels of the city
streets they're flooding, As with voices and with tears. I hear the
great drums pounding, And the small drums steady whirring, And every
blow of the great convulsive drums, Strikes me through and through. For
the sun is brought with the father, (In the foremost ranks of the fierce
assault they fell, Two veterans son and father dropt together, And the
double grave awaits them). Now nearer blow the bugles, And the drums
strike more convulsive, And the daylight o'er the pavement quite has
faded, And the strong dead-march enwraps me. In the eastern sky up
buoying, The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumin'd. (Tis some mother's
large transparent face, In heaven brighter glowing). O strong dead-march
, you please me! O moon immense with your silvery face, you soothe me! O
my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial! What I have I also
give you. The moon gives you light, And the bugles and the drums give
you music, And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans, My heart gives you
love.
iii. Cavalry Crossing a Ford
A line in long array where they wind betwixt green
islands, they take a serpentine couse, their arms flash in the sun -
hark to the musical clank, Behold the silvery river, in it the splashing
horses loitering stop to drink, Behold the brown-faced men, each group,
each person a picture, the negligent rest on the saddles, Some emerge on
the opposite bank, others are just entering the ford - while, Scarlet
and blue and snowy white, The guidon flags flutter gaily in the wind.
iv. O Captain! My Captain!
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done.
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port
is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes
the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring: But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen
cold and dead.
O Captain my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up - for you the flag is flung - for you the bugle trills For you
the bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths - for you the shores a-crowding, For
you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; Here
Captain! dear father1 This arm beneath your head! It is some dream that
on the deck, You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and
still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, The
ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From
fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult, O shores,
and ring, O bells! But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain
lies, Fallen cold and dead.
v. Hush'd Be the Camps Today (May 4,
1865)
Hush'd be the camps today, And soldiers, let us
drape our war-worn weapons, And each with musing soul retire to
celebrate, Our dear commander's death. No more for him life's stormy
conflicts, Nor victory, nor defeat - no more time's dark events,
Charging like ceaseless clouds across the sky. But sing, poet, in our
name, Sing of the love we bore him - because you, dweller in camps, know
it truly. As they invault the coffin there, Sing - as they close the
doors of earth upon him - one verse For the heavy hearts of soldiers.
vi. Reconciliation
Word over all, beautiful as the sky, Beautiful that
wqr and all its deeds of carnage must in time be utterly lost, That the
hands of the sisters Death and Night incessantly softly wash again, and
ever again, this soil'd world; For my enemy is dead, a man divine as
myself is dead, I look where he lies white-faced and still in the coffin
- I draw near, Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face
in the coffin.
Recorded: Lawrence University,
Conservatory of Music, Appleton, Wisconsin, 2003. Concert Choir Members,
Benjamin Horvat, conductor, Larry Darling, Recording Engineer.