Oh Promise Me
song
"Oh Promise Me" is a song with music by Reginald De Koven and lyrics by Clement Scott. The song was written as an art song in 1887 and first published in 1889 by G. Schirmer, Inc. It is believed that De Koven based the melody of "O Promise Me" partly on "Musica proibita", a popular song by Italian composer Stanislao Gastaldon. In 1890, De Koven wrote his most successful comic opera, Robin Hood, and the song "Oh Promise Me" became a hit song through performances by contralto Jessie Bartlett Davis in the role of Alan-a-Dale.
Stories about "Oh Promise Me"'s inclusion in Robin Hood often repeat the legend that Davis demanded a song to better show off her voice and threatened to walk out of the production if the producers did not comply. However, the San Francisco Chronicle published a piece on the history of the song in 1905 shortly after Davis's death which draws into question the truthfulness of this narrative. According to it, "Oh Promise Me" was originally interpolated into Robin Hood for tenor Tom Karl in the part of Robin Hood, but his performances of the song in the operetta were unsuccessful with audiences and it was cut from the production as a failure. Davis requested that the song be reinserted for her character and it was transposed into a lower key for her voice. It is this modified version that managed to connect to audiences.
The sheet music sold over a million copies in 1890 and continued to gain popularity for several decades, being performed by many artists.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Oh Promise Me” is song. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Promise and song, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “song” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7080530. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1887, 1889, 1890 and 1905.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Oh Promise Me”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Oh Promise Me primary sources, Oh Promise Me archive and Promise research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Oh Promise Me”?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Oh Promise Me” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.