A Movement Begins

Composer’s Note: “A Movement Begins” sets the words of Sarah Bagley and other miscellaneous sources from the 1840’s labor movement in Lowell, MA. Throughout the song, you can hear the sounds and rhythms of spindles humming and slowing down. The text “our rights, our lives” pervades throughout the piece, and becomes more dominant as the piece goes on. There is a sense of redundancy in the musical and textual patterns that occur, much like the lives of these women - before they decide to slow the loom, and begin a movement. -Laura Nevitt