OH Me! Oh Life!

2015: DeLand, Florida

ca. 5-6 minutes.

TTBB a capella choir

This song is a setting of Walt Whitman's poem by the same title for a standard Men's Chorus featuring a both a Baritone and Spoken Word solo. This piece could be categorized as either a CHAMBER or a LARGE ENSEMBLE piece based on the number of musicians performing it. The premiere at Stetson University featured 2 performers on a part. Some of the material from the revised edition of this piece was used in Lament.

the full text of the poem is as follows:

Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,

Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,

Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)

Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,

Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,

Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,

The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

                                       Answer.

That you are here—that life exists and identity,

That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

The score is available here.