African-American composer George T. Walker, Jr. (born 1922) set Whitman's poem in his composition "Lilacs for voice and orchestra" which was awarded the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Music. The work, described as "passionate, and very American," with "a beautiful and evocative lyrical quality" using Whitman's words, was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra on February 1, 1996. Composer George Crumb (born 1929) set the Death Carol in his 1979 work "Apparition" (1979), an eight-part song cycle for soprano and amplified piano.