The Wound-Dresser is a piece for chamber orchestra and baritone singer by composer John Adams. The piece is an elegiac setting of excerpts from American poet Walt Whitman's poem "The Wound-Dresser" (1865)The poem "The Wound-Dresser" is part of Whitman's collection Drum-Taps, which in turn is part of Leaves of Grass. It is not to be confused with the book, Whitman, Walt, The Wound Dresser: Letters written to his mother from the hospitals in Washington during the Civil War, edited by Richard M. Bucke (1898). about his experience as a hospital volunteer during the American Civil War.
It was written for baritone singer Sanford Sylvan, who premiered it on 24 February 1989 in St Paul, Minnesota, with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra conducted by the composer. It was subsequently recorded by the same forces for Nonesuch Records. Interpreters who have performed and recorded it since have included Thomas Hampson, Nathan Gunn, Jeremy Huw Williams, and Christopher Maltman.CD: BBCLJ30012; https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/adams-tromba-lontana-violin-concerto-the-wound-dresser
In 2011, the Oregon Symphony performed and recorded the composition for Music for a Time of War.
References
The John Adams Earbox, Nonesuch Records, NY 1999
External links Full text of Walt Whitman's "The Wound-Dresser" In the BBC Discovering Music: Listening Library