Planet Earth Lullaby | Rich Campbell | MusicSpoke

RICHCAMPBELL PLANET EARTH LULLABY

for SATB choir w/piano accompaniment

Planet Earth Lullaby

Planet Earth

Lullaby

You are here

We are here

In this time

Extinction

Survival

Catastrophic

Climate

Collapse

Mobilize Stategize

Naural Devotion

Natural Communion

Can blossom

Forever

Now we have What we need Tomorrow Is too late

Composer's Note: The spoken news items on the rst page of this score were compiled in the year 2025. Choirs may choose to substitute sentences that are perhaps more relevant to their communities in the time since this work was composed.

The rst 12 measures of piano repeats as needed, until all speaking voices have entered. Then all diminuendo to measure 13.

The soprano "mouth clicks" in measures 118-121 should be very staccato sounds, simulating the clicks of a Morse code machine.

The text below is spoken quickly. Immediately after the piano's rst chord, a solo, newscaster-like voice begins the rst line (below). One after another, 8 members of the choir begin speaking every 3 measures, each speaking a different line loudly. When the 5th speaker enters, the rest of the choir murmurs these lines softly as if in whispered conversation. The piano repeats these 12 measures until all enter, the basses begin to hum an "E." The choir diminuendos to silence. The altos begin singing measure 17, "planet earth lullaby."

Last year was the warmest year on record, according to scientists from the National Centers for Environmental Information.

The planet’s 10 warmest years of the last 175 years have all occurred in the past decade.

Antarctic sea ice coverage dropped to its second-lowest coverage on record.

Los Angeles reghters struggled to contain a brush re that had exploded quickly, burning more than 10,000 acres.

The Environmental Protection Agency warned that “forever chemicals” present in sewage sludge used as fertilizer can pose human health risks.

Hurricane Helene has turned Asheville North Carolina into a post-apocalyptic landscape. 11 million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year, the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic every minute.

Plastic is expected to outweigh all the sh in the sea by 2050.

229 W. 109th St., #1, NY, NY 10025

This score is not licensed for performance. Please visit MusicSpoke.com to purchase performance copies.

Rich Campbell

you are here we are here you are here you are here we are here you are here you are here we are you are here we are

here in this time mmm...(humming)

here in this time in this time you are here in this time in this time you are

we are here in this time you are here we are here we are here in this time you are here we are here in this time we are here ex tinc tion in this time you are here we are here ex tinc tion

B.

now we have what we need now we have

now we have what we need now we have to

what we need now we have to mor row

now we have to mor row is

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Planet Earth Lullaby | Rich Campbell | MusicSpoke

Published on Jun 18, 2025

MusicSpoke

A request by artistic director Susan Glass for a new choral work addressing climate change resulted in the creation of “Planet Earth Lullaby.” Composer Rich Campbell contemplated and determined the piece would be both an alarm for help and a call to action. For over a century the internationally recognized distress signal has been the Morse Code sequence for SOS: 3 short, 3 long, 3 short ( . . . - - - . . . ). This became the rhythmic framework of note durations (heard in various ways) throughout this work, though it collapses when the chorus sings of “catastrophic climate collapse.” The SOS pattern then returns, transformed into longer durations, calling for renewed attention and devotion to our environment. Commissioned by the Glass Menagerie Chorus, NYC.