By the River (music: Scott Gendel, text: Helen Hoyt) for SATB choir and piano.

When the Choral Arts Society Chorale asked for a piece relating to water for their innovative concert about water and conservation in our region, I was quickly overwhelmed by the huge amount of material available to me. There’s just so much poetry and music about water, it’s hard to know which angle to take. But when I ran across Helen Hoyt’s little-known poem, I fell in love. Hoyt’s words manage to capture the danger and overwhelming power of rivers while also beautifully capturing how being immersed in water can feel transformative on a deep personal level. I wanted to capture that contrast in my music, and so this piece roars along dramatically like a rushing river, but also explores the sense of emptiness & calm left behind after the river rushes by. –Scott Gendel

Commissioned by the Choral Arts Society Chorale, and premiered on Sunday, April 28, 2019 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Madison, WI.