There will come soft rains
I wrote the piece "There will come soft rains" in 2021 for the LandesJugendChor Rheinland-Pfalz. Unfortunately, it did not have its premiere there, which is why it was premiered in January 2024 by the NEO | Chorakademie under my direction. The piece is based on a poem by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933), an American poet who suffered from depression throughout her life and whose texts are strongly influenced by it. This text was written under the impression of the First World War and deals with the question of what would happen if humans suddenly disappeared due to our many wars. Teasdale does not paint an apocalyptic scenario of destruction, but describes a world in which nature reclaims the earth and does not care at all that mankind has disappeared.
Musically, the piece consists of several parts that use various compositional elements. These include an alto solo, night noises created by the choir, and whistling. At the center of the piece, however, is an improvisational part, which is accompanied by short snippets of text on current topics.
There will come soft rains, by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933):
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white,
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
Choir: SSAATTBB
Length: 9 min
NEO | Chorakademie, Conductor: Julian Mörth, January 2024