I want to share what I consider to be one of my best efforts, a song cycle just over twenty minutes long.

Of my 400 works, this is almost the only one that brings tears to my eyes. In the final song, when the singer offers a farewell kiss that comes like a benediction, singing, “My kiss will give peace now and quiet to your heart…” that’s when the lump forms in my throat and the salty sap starts to seep.

“Along the River” is a set of seven songs, scored for mezzo, flute, clarinet and piano, connected by instrumental interludes. The cycle tells a sad, beautiful love story. Sad story, beautiful music.

A lonely clarinet solo opens the piece with a tender love theme. You might recognize it because I later expanded it into another work, “The View from Carew,” which is both a single-movement chamber work for clarinet, cello and piano and also the middle movement of my concerto for clarinet and orchestra. One of my best themes, it is played by all three instruments at various times throughout “Along the River,” though it never appears in the vocal part.

A very long time ago, my girlfriend (who, next month, will have been my wife for 44 years) shared with me a wonderful cycle of poems entitled, “Chamber Music” by James Joyce. Don’t be frightened! This is the young James Joyce, the youthful genius who gave us “Dubliners” and “A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man,” not the later, half-mad literatus who conferred “Ulysses” and “Finnegan’s Wake” upon a still baffled world.

The poems are written from a man’s point of view, yet I have cast them here to be sung by a woman. For me, the woman is reading (singing) the man’s love poems back to him, as if to say, “Listen to yourself! Hear what you sound like! Understand how you come across!” Viewed this way, the poems reveal clues as to why the relationship failed. The woman “explains” this to the man as she says goodbye, using his own words, which are very beautiful and very overwrought. One can see how she grew weary of such an ardent, needy and loquacious lover.

What are her feelings? The music itself is the only hint. Her feelings, a mingling of sorrow and relief are implied by the way she sings these poems, the way the words are set to music.

The seven poems I chose from “Chamber Music” (see below) tell the story, starting out naively happy, gradually darkening, ending in separation and farewell.

Except, not quite! The long piano solo after the soprano finishes her last song, ends the cycle with resignation, yes, but also a wistful radiance. “Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

At the very end, the clarinet repeats a fragment of the naively happy 'springtime' theme that begins the cycle, as if to say, “The possibility of Love is always present; Love may come again, even to the broken-hearted.”

“Along the River” was written for and is dedicated to mezzo soprano Diane Haslam.

You are among the few to have heard this beautiful music; the piece has been performed only about a half dozen times.

To hear "Along the River” sung exquisitely and with delicate fervor by Mary Elizabeth Southworth, with flutist Danielle Hundley, clarinetist Marianne Breneman and pianist Phil Amalong (when the four of them perform together, they call their ensemble, “Conundrum,”) click on the link above.

To see a PDF of the score, click on the link above.

Poems from “Chamber Music” by James Joyce, in the order in which they appear in “Along the River":

I. Strings in the earth and air
Make music sweet;
Strings by the river where
The willows meet.

There's music along the river
For Love wanders there,
Pale flowers on his mantle,
Dark leaves on his hair.

All softly playing,
With head to the music bent,
And fingers straying
Upon an instrument.

II. I would in that sweet bosom be
(O sweet it is and fair it is!)
Where no rude wind might visit me.
Because of sad austerities
I would in that sweet bosom be.

I would be ever in that heart
(O soft I knock and soft entreat her!)
Where only peace might be my part.
Austerities were all the sweeter
So I were ever in that heart.

III. From dewy dreams, my soul, arise,
From love's deep slumber and from death,
For lo! the trees are full of sighs
Whose leaves the morn admonisheth.

Eastward the gradual dawn prevails
Where softly-burning fires appear,
Making to tremble all those veils
Of grey and golden gossamer.

While sweetly, gently, secretly,
The flowery bells of morn are stirred
And the wise choirs of faery
Begin (innumerous!) to be heard.

IV. Silently she's combing,
Combing her long hair
Silently and graciously,
With many a pretty air.

The sun is in the willow leaves
And on the dappeled grass,
And still she's combing her long hair
Before the looking-glass.

I pray you, cease to comb out,
Comb out your long hair,
For I have heard of witchery
Under a pretty air,

That makes as one thing to the lover
Staying and going hence,
All fair, with many a pretty air
And many a negligence.

V. This heart that flutters near my heart
My hope and all my riches is,
Unhappy when we draw apart
And happy between kiss and kiss:
My hope and all my riches—yes!—
And all my happiness.

For there, as in some mossy nest
The wrens will divers treasures keep,
I laid those treasures I possessed
Ere that mine eyes had learned to weep.
Shall we not be as wise as they
Though love live but a day?

VI. O cool is the valley now
And there, love, will we go
For many a choir is singing now
Where Love did sometime go.
And hear you not the thrushes calling,
Calling us away?
O cool and pleasant is the valley
And there, love, will we stay.

VII. Sleep now, O sleep now,
O you unquiet heart!
A voice crying "Sleep now"
Is heard in my heart.

The voice of the winter
Is heard at the door.
O sleep, for the winter
Is crying "Sleep no more."

My kiss will give peace now
And quiet to your heart—
Sleep on in peace now,
O you unquiet heart!

Rick Sowash
Cincinnati, OH
June 19, 2016

🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶

The only one of my 400 works that brings tears to my eyes when I hear it performed is the one I want to share with you today.

It’s a song cycle and when, in the final song, the singer offers her benedictory farewell, singing, “My kiss will give peace now and quiet to your heart…” the old lump forms in my throat and the salty sap starts to seep.

“Along the River” is a cycle of seven songs, scored for mezzo soprano, flute, clarinet and piano, connected by instrumental interludes. The cycle recounts a love story that begins joyfully in spring and ends sadly in winter.

A lonely clarinet solo opens the piece with a tender love theme. One of my best tunes, I later expanded it into the second movement of my clarinet concerto. Though played by the three instrumentalists at various times throughout the cycle, it never appears in the vocal part.

A very long time ago, my girlfriend (who, come July, will have been my wife for 49 years) shared with me a slender book of poems titled, “Chamber Music” by James Joyce. Don’t be put off by that information! This is the the youthful genius who gave us “Dubliners” and “A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man,” not the later, half-mad literatus who conferred “Ulysses” and “Finnegan’s Wake” upon a baffled world.

The poems are written from a lover’s point of view, yet I have cast them here to be sung by the beloved. The beloved is reading (singing) the lover’s poems back to the lover, as if to say, “Listen to yourself! Hear what you sound like! Understand how you come across!”

Viewed this way, the poems reveal why the relationship fails. The beloved “explains” as she says goodbye, using the lover’s own words, which are very beautiful and dramatic, even overwrought. One can see how she wearied of a lover so ardent, needy and loquacious.

What are her feelings as the beloved one? Appreciation, sorrow and relief are implied by the way she sings these poems, the way the words are set to music.

The seven poems I chose from “Chamber Music” tell the story, starting out joyfully yet naively, gradually darkening, ending in separation and farewell.

Except, not quite! The long piano solo after the soprano finishes her last song, ends the cycle with resignation, yes, but also with a wistful hint of hope.

At the very end, the clarinet repeats a fragment of the naive 'springtime' theme that began the cycle, after the clarinet’s introduction, as if to remind us that the possibility of Love is always present; Love may come again, even to the broken-hearted.

“Along the River” was written for and is dedicated to mezzo soprano Diane Haslam.

You are among the few to have heard this beautiful music; the piece has been performed only about a half dozen times.

To hear "Along the River” sung exquisitely and with delicate fervor by Mary Elizabeth Southworth (https://www.pbase.com/mess/), with flutist Danielle Hundley, clarinetist Marianne Breneman and pianist Phil Amalong (when the four of them perform together, they call their ensemble, “Conundrum,”) click on the link above.

To see a PDF of the score, click on the link above.