He's Gone Away

He's Gone Away for women's chorus (SSA). 1991

My first choral work was written for the CMU Women's Chorus at the end of my undergraduate years.  Director Nina Nash-Robertson wanted to feature several student compositions during a concert that spring, and I was one of the chosen composers.  I didn't know where to begin looking for a text, but a friend who was working on the old English folksong suggested I set those words.  Without ever having heard the original, I copied them down and composed a short vignette that is in turns both melancholy and celebratory.

(Available from the composer)