The Tide Rises 
​SATB | 2' 30"

​The Tide Rises was my first choral composition, written as a music theory assignment during my freshman year of college. I am grateful to Dr. Ellen Gilson Voth for incorporating this assignment into the curriculum. To this day, the piece it holds a special place in my heart, along with the memories of assembling with classmates in a small practice room to rehearse and conducting the work at a composition recital. I remain endebted to the singers for their generosity of time and encouragement for a very inexperienced conductor!
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Unified by the use of dynamics to depict the water's ebb and flow, The Tide Rises is filled with small moments of text painting and harmonic treasures that I hope choral singers will enjoy for years to come.
​The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The tide rises, the tide falls,
The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;
Along the sea-sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens toward the town,
      And the tide rises, the tide falls.

Darkness settles on roofs and walls,
But the sea, the sea in the darkness calls;
The little waves, with their soft, white hands,
Efface the footprints in the sands,
      And the tide rises, the tide falls.

The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;
The day returns, but nevermore
Returns the traveller to the shore,
      And the tide rises, the tide falls.

This poem is in the public domain.