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There is an eloquence of silence...

There is a haunting sense of loneliness...

The tranquility is profound, infinitely satisfying.
That is all beautiful, soft and rich and beautiful,

A pink flush, a powder of gold, a purple haze.
from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain


I teach music composition and theory at Southeast Missouri State University. Every day, when walking home, I would see a glint of blue through the trees on the horizon. For many months, I thought I was seeing the sky. Then, one day, I saw a stern-wheel steamboat squarely in the middle of that patch of blue - what I had been seeing was the Mississippi River. Every day after that, I would watch the river and observe its moods. It's been my daily companion ever since.

Recently, our music department at Southeast Missouri State moved from the main university campus to a new one on the banks of the Mississippi. Now I observe the river up close. I see different things every day. I decided to write a piece about the river, a piece that expresses its mood on a warm day, early in the morning, just as my own day would begin. I looked to Mark Twain for some lyrics and found a suitable passage in his Life on the Mississippi. I thought Twain's words would make a great basis for a song, and I think that someday they will; however, instead of a vocal work they inspired me to write this instrumental solo.-- Robert Fruehwald

Summer Sunrise on the Mississippi was commissioned and premiered by Michael Dean. It is on the CD, Woodwind Music of Robert Fruehwald, Vol. 1 -- available at cdbaby.com, iTunes.com and Amazon.com for purchase and download. The sheet music and CD accompaniment for Summer Sunrise is available for free download at www6.semo.edu/fruehwald/downloads.html.