Audio excerpt:
1. Ball's Bluff
2. Donelson
6. The Mound By The Lake
Instrumentation: baritone, Bb clarinet, piano
Duration: ca. 19:00
Year of Completion: 2009
Program Notes
The Civil War poetry of Herman Melville (1819-1891) provides a first-hand account of the war as it unfolded. Melville's collection Battle-Pieces and Aspects of The War published in 1866 contains vivid accounts of brutal battles and epitaphs for fallen soldiers. "Ball's Bluff" is MelvilleÕs lament written while watching soldiers march off to the beginning of the Civil War. "Donelson" is a look into the mind of a solider driven mad by the horrors of war in an attempt to capture Fort Donelson. "Shiloh" is a requiem for the dead at the bloody Battle of Shiloh, while "The Fall of Richmond" is a contrasting joyous celebration of the Civil War's end. "Aurora Borealis" provides a glimpse into the wonder of nature as the soldiers return home, and "The Mound By The Lake" is the final requiem in the cycle for the fallen soldiers of the war.
This piece is humbly dedicated to all of the men and women of the armed forces who have served to protect the United States of America - thank you.