For That Alone (text: Declaration of Arbroath, Declaration of Independence) for treble choir, mens choir, violin, piano, and handbells; 6’(2018) (commissioned by the Madison Youth Choirs)
composer's note: "As long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.” — Declaration of Arbroath, 6 April 1320
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." — Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776
Many scholars believe that Thomas Jefferson took inspiration from the Scottish Declaration of Arbroath when crafting America's Declaration of Independence. "For That Alone" takes that historical connection and turns it into a musical one, imagining how musical ideas and bits of text from 456 years prior to Jefferson's writing might travel through space & time to create something powerful and new. The two texts blend together, merging into a hybrid that has one foot in 1320 and the other in 1776.