ENOUGH!

The choral work, "Enough!" with words by Susan Naus Dengler, was written in the summer of 2023 to give voice to the tragic problem of gun violence in our nation. It opens with phrases llfted from breaking news reports of mass shootings. A four-note motive from the aria, "It is Enough" by Felix Mendelssohn, introduces the piece, and appears throughout the work; while almost naggingly persistent bass notes undergird a somewhat erratic lyric and melody that suggest a combined sense of looming danger and necessary urgency. The word "enough" serves more than one purpose. First, "we've had enough." Second, any efforts, thus far, are clearly, "not enough." And third, the question is asked, and repeated over and over, "When will we say it's enough?" (recording is by Camerata Singers, Scott Hochstetler, director)