Category: Vocal Music / Art Song
Instrumentation: voice, piano
Duration: approximately 2.5–3 minutes
Text / Source: Poem by Linda Pastan
Publisher: North Star Music, LLC

Caroline is an art song for voice and piano setting Linda Pastan’s elegiac poem about the death of a woman. Joanne Sydney Lessner wrote in Opera News that “Baxter uses an economical treatment of Pastan’s elegiac Caroline, with a moving piano prelude and postlude that frames and illuminates the brief text.”

The song is through-composed and bluesy in character, with an extended dramatic piano part that deepens the emotional atmosphere surrounding the vocal line. Baxter’s setting allows the brief text to remain spare and focused, while the piano gives the song a larger expressive frame.

Caroline is well suited for vocal recitals, contemporary art song programs, and concerts dealing with grief, memory, and elegy. With an easy vocal part and intermediate piano writing, it offers a thoughtful and accessible recital piece that depends on restraint, tone color, and a sensitive singer-pianist partnership.