Crossing The Hudson

for Soprano, Baritone, and piano

Written: 2016
Duration: 5'
Instrumentation: soprano, baritone and piano
Lyrics by Mark Campbell
Commissioned by the Five Boroughs Music Festival for the Five Borough Songbook, Volume II
World Premiere: Five Boroughs Music Festival, DiMenna Center for Classical Music/Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jerome Robbins Theater, New York, NY, Marnie Breckenridge, Soprano, Sidney Outlaw, baritone, Jocelyn Dueck, piano, February 11, 2017.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music

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PROGRAM NOTe

When setting text to music, it is very fulfilling to have an opportunity to work with living writers, and especially a great writer such as Mark Campbell, one of America’s most celebrated librettists. The mission of the Five Borough Songbook project is to have composers and text writers create short pieces that are about New York City, so we decided to create a song entitled Crossing The Hudson about two people who cross each other on different Staten Island Ferries.

Crossing The Hudson was commissioned by the Five Boroughs Music Festival for the Five Borough Songbook, Volume II.

  • Crossing the Hudson
    for Soprano, Baritone and Piano

    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Crossing the Hudson, Island to island,
    SOPRANO:
    Staten to Manhattan…
    BARITONE:
    Manhattan to Staten…
    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Sun just…
    SOPRANO:
    Rising,
    BARITONE:
    Setting,
    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    At the start…
    BARITONE:
    End…
    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Of the day.

    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Crossing the Hudson,
    Landing to landing,

    SOPRANO:
    Heading to the office,

    BARITONE:
    Back home to my fam’ly,

    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Rocked in this old boat,
    As she makes her way.

    BARITONE:
    Another night in our home.
    Dinner on the table,
    And after that, some bad TV,
    A bedtime story,
    And then the night is done,
    For me, my husband, our dog and our son.

    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Crossing the Hudson,
    Island to island,
    SOPRANO:
    Staten to Manhattan…
    BARITONE:
    Manhatten to Staten…
    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Sun just…
    SOPRANO:
    Rising,
    BARITONE:
    Setting,
    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    At the start…
    BARITONE:
    End…
    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Of the day.

    SOPRANO:
    Another day at my firm.
    Cases on the docket,
    An Everest of paperwork,
    And sometimes justice,
    And then the day is through
    At Putnam, Schwartz, Ramirez and Wu.

    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Some days sure stink,
    And make you think,
    You should move, just go,
    Life can be simpler than this.
    But that’s a lost cause,
    As the skyline still awes,
    And you only know
    How much you’d miss…

    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Crossing the Hudson,
    Island to island,
    SOPRANO:
    Staten to Manhattan…
    BARITONE:
    Manhattan to Staten…
    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Sun just…
    SOPRANO:
    Rising,
    BARITONE:
    Setting,
    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    At the start…
    BARITONE:
    End…
    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Of the day.

    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Crossing the Hudson,
    Landing to landing,

    SOPRANO:
    Heading to the office,

    BARITONE:
    Back home to my fam’ly,

    SOPRANO/BARITONE:
    Rocked in this old boat,
    As she makes her way.

    — Mark Campbell. Copyright 2016. Reprinted with permission.