Listen to a Song Based on Annie Powell's 1923 Flooded Bridge Photo
Video of World Premiere Sung by UMass Lowell Women's Choir
Listen to the UMass Lowell Treble Chorale perform Who Loves Bending Heaven Light? based on this photograph Annie Powell took at the flooded Beaver Brook Bridge in 1923. Photo Courtesy of UMass Lowell Center for Lowell History City Engineers Collection. Video by Dan Bazarian of LTC.
How a song came to be
A year ago over coffee at Brew’d Awakening, I proposed to UMass Lowell choral director Jonathan Richter that I write a song for women’s voices. The viewpoint would be the first-person voice of Annie Powell as she set up a 1923 photo of boys on a flooded bridge.
He agreed, and last month conducted the world premiere of my Who Loves Bending Heaven Light? with a soprano soloist, 20 members of the UMass Lowell Treble Chorale, and Brent Kincaid accompanying on piano.
During my creative process, I imagined taking the photo through Annie’s eyes and thoughts, informed by her biography and art. I was challenged to see the world as she did: focused on God and heaven’s rewards. It helped that the title was settled early on, which suggested her art of capturing and manipulating light divinely sent. That same day in 1923, she sold at least 11 other flood scenes that must have reminded her of the story of Noah’s Ark so I had her character ask these questions: “When’s the flood water leaving? So send the dove bringing peace!” I also wrote a low, slow prayer for her to sing just before the end: “Thank you Lord, to see in my dark. Thank you Lord, to see in my art.” I believe that she had a sense of irony and whimsy which I tried to illustrate in her interaction with the “silly neighborhood kids.”
Finally, my fictionalized Annie shares a range of thoughts from selling a photograph to wondering if her work will be remembered. In the climax of the piece, soprano soloist Gia Poulin, a first-year music major from Lancaster, MA, climbs to a high A-flat: “Do you see me, friends, when the darkroom, it ends? When the light, the light in heaven bends?”
This is my second song based on an image attributed to Annie Powell. Five Threads of Gold is a ghost story I wrote for soprano and string trio based on her circa 1909 portrait of Curina Mello at Appleton Mills. If you’re interested in performing either and would like to see scores, please contact me.
Listen to a pep talk with the performers
During a rehearsal before the concert, I met with the singers to help them understand Annie Powell’s life and character, and to make a last-minute lyric change. Listen here.
Bernie Zelitch is an investigative journalist, historian, composer, and by Annie Powell founder and executive director
Published in our newsletter 4/3/2025
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