TEXT
There will come soft rains by Sara Teasdale
INSTRUMENTATION
SSSSAAAATTTTBBBB choir
DURATION
ca. 8′
COMMISSIONER
Helsinki Chamber Choir, with support from Teosto
PUBLISHER


PROGRAMME NOTE
There will come soft rains sets the American poet Sara Teasdale’s poem of the same title. Teasdale’s poem sends a powerful message: nature will prevail, with or without humanity. A humbling thought. At the end of my work, representing Teasdale’s poem’s spring awakening, the sopranos sing in canon an excerpt of Hildegard von Bingen’s (1098-1179) O nobilissima viriditas – a beautiful composition about the divinity of nature and greenness.

PERFORMANCES
22 NOVEMBER 2025 (✦ United Kingdom premiere)
The Carice Singers, conducted by George Parris
St Paul’s Hall, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, United Kingdom

09 JUNE 2023 (✦ Denmark premiere)
Helsinki Chamber Choir, conducted by Nils Schweckendiek
Trinitatis, Copenhagen, Denmark

07 JUNE 2023 (✦ Sweden premiere)
Helsinki Chamber Choir, conducted by Nils Schweckendiek
Storkyrkan, Stockholm, Sweden

05 JUNE 2023 (✦ Norway premiere)
Helsinki Chamber Choir, conducted by Nils Schweckendiek
University Aula, Oslo, Norway

03 JUNE 2023
Helsinki Chamber Choir, conducted by Nils Schweckendiek
Musiikkitalo, Helsinki, Finland

11 JUNE 2022
Helsinki Chamber Choir, conducted by Nils Schweckendiek
Aleksanterin kirkko, Tampere, Finland

10 JUNE 2022
Helsinki Chamber Choir, conducted by Nils Schweckendiek
Jyväskylä, Finland

09 JUNE 2022
Helsinki Chamber Choir, conducted by Nils Schweckendiek
Turku, Finland

08 JUNE 2022 (✦ World premiere)
Helsinki Chamber Choir, conducted by Nils Schweckendiek
Ritarihuone, Helsinki, Finland

VIDEO

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REVIEWS

…a soundworld of equal parts indifference and resignation, like a poignant, heartfelt anthem sung before the end of humanity’s existence, a sad but fond farewell to a world that will continue, no doubt much healthier, without us.

– Simon Cummings – 5:4 (2025)