Bed Run Dry
SATB Choir a cappella
6:50 approx.
Bed Run Dry is part of an on-going series of pieces that explore the elements (fire, water, air, earth) through a climate/social justice lens, following Crown of Flames (2020).
This piece looks into the story of the Owens Valley and its lake in the Eastern Sierras. Named Payahǖǖnadǖ in the Native American Timbisha/Mono, it means “place of flowing water.” In 1913, its waters were diverted to feed the city of Los Angeles, 200 miles south, through the creation of the LA Aqueduct. Before the diversion, Owens Lake was up to 12 miles long and 8 miles wide, with an average depth of 23-50 feet. By 1926, the lake was dessicate, disparaging the communities that relied on it. This began a series of litigations and political conflicts known as the California Water Wars.
Bed Run Dry was commissioned by the William Baker Choral Foundation for Vox Venti — Ed Frazier Davis, artistic director. Its premiere was given in Chicago on May 2023.
The Price of Return
Where can a river sleep When its bed runs dry?
Land of little rain
In the mountain’s shadow,
At the mouth of the metropolis — Land of little rain
A city is thirsty.
In the tracks of glaciers, The earthquake’s eye.
At Camp Independence, stolen people died.
Where can a river sleep When its bed runs dry?
Now Hell’s Angels race
The sun for burning tarmac. The lawyers say pay up.
It will take years for sagebrush & salt grasses to return.
A person, too, is mostly water. Glacier-sculpted, earthquake-carved Where can a river sleep
When its bed runs dry?
-Brian Sonia-Wallace