Oh Captain! My Captain!

​Duration: 

4'

​Instrumentation: ​

Baritone, Pno

Premiere (in concert):

Senior Composition Recital
​Tom Dasso (baritone), Carolyn Quick (pno)
Beall Hall, Eugene, OR
March, 2016

​Year of Composition: ​

2013

Oh Captain! My Captain! was my very first art song! Written originally for conductor and baritone Zeke Fetrow, this place has had many performances by many different singers - each performer bringing a new and rich interpretation to the table. 

Text: 

O Captain! My Captain! [abridged]

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 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 father!
                            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.
 
- Walt Whitman (1891)

Carolyn Quick · O Captain! My Captain! (2013)