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Across The River is a song cycle based on the story of Fannie Heldmann. Fannie lived in Greenville, South Carolina from 1862-1889. Little is known about her brief life. The major event that we do know involves her tragic death. She took her own life on New Year's Day 1889 by drowning herself in the Reedy River. Her suicide was reported in The New York Times shortly after the event. It was said that she had become depressed over her upcoming arranged marriage to a business partner of her father.

I have taken literary license to imagine that Fannie had a lover before and during the time leading up to her wedding. I have given him the name of Jordan Christopher. Rather than face a marriage she did not want, she took her own life. This collection of songs reflect the love of Fannie and Jordan. They convey a simple yet profound fact: LOVE NEVER DIES.

If one goes to Springwood Cemetery in Downtown Greenville they can find Fannie's grave and monument on its highest point. Atop a column a forlorn angel looks down upon her final resting place. I often take walks in this cemetery and reflect upon the lives of those who are buried there. Over time I found myself drawn to that angel on the hill and this touching remembrance ultimately became the spark for this song cycle.

THE SONGS

Swan Song/Long Live Life/Everybody Sees Her/You Better Mind/I Know What I Need/If I Could, I Would/All Those Things That Graced My Heart/There For You/Love Never Dies/End of Summer/Midnight Moonlight Memory/The Angel's Eyes/May Your Heart Still Guide Your Way/Across the River

All Songs By William Bates

T21 Music 2013


Tuesday, April 15, 2014

SWAN SONG

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Monday, May 20, 2013

Fannie's Theme



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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Journey to the River

We have all had our moments of desperation.  Times in which the world seems to close in and the claustrophobia that ensues is believed to be beyond our ability to overcome.  It is in 
these circumstances that choices are made.  Faith in a better day leads many to indeed rise 
above this sense of entrapment and rejoin the world of the living.  For those who cannot shed this ghost like burden suicide becomes their only way out.  It is in that crucible of decision, that one can reflect upon the free will that God has given each of us. The irony of suicide is that to take one's own life displays a certain level of strength but it is a strength born of weakness.   Those left behind mourn and rage against such an act.   But as in all manners of death, it is in remembrance that life truly goes on.

Death comes to us all.  It is the only certainty in the physical world.   But in the affairs of the spirit where the soul resides lies the source of our deliverance.   We all have our losses.   We all have our fair share of bitter disappointment.  We all want for us and for those we love a lasting happiness.  Through love and faith the promise of the good endures.  And through the belief and the knowledge that if we just hold on, goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.   I wish Fannie had felt that pull of spirit.   Her journey to the river might have been different.   But still I hold the belief that across the river her soul resides.   And I hope that she found the peace she so wanted...
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

THE NEW YORK TIMES STORY

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FANNIE HELDMANN STORY: THE NEW YORK TIMES
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Monday, March 18, 2013

Swan Song



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