John Eason Stops Preaching

for a cappella choir​Length: ca. 4'
Voicing: SATB; some divisi (all parts). Requires a minimum of 8 singers (SSAATTBB).
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Program Note
In the early 20th century, the Maine government dismantled the Malaga Island community and forced its residents to evacuate. Midden, a collection of poetry by Julia Bouwsma, tells this story from the residents' perspectives. "John Eason Stops Preaching," the poem I chose to set, describes the preacher's reaction to watching his neighbors and congregation leave and having to plan for his own departure. His faith has been shaken. He feels abandoned, and Julia's gut-wrenching words convey the shock of his irreparable loss.
Julia’s words are powerful enough on their own, and I felt like text painting would diminish their impact. So, I aimed to create text painting on a larger, formal scale. The first half of the piece—and most of Julia’s text—describes a series of painful, shocking sensations, and I sought to use form to produce a similar sense of shock within the music. The second half of the piece, which only uses the last three lines of the poem, serves as a subdued, stunned reaction to the preceding material.
Many thanks to Julia Bouwsma and Fordham University Press for allowing me to set these exquisite words. I’m also tremendously grateful to conductor Benjamin Arendsen and the singers of C4 for their tireless and devoted work.
Premiere
Commissioned by C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective; premiered in April 2019.
Recording