Oliver Caplan !e Lod" on Gat# Pond
clarinet, horn, piano
The Lodge on Gates Pond
Instrumentation: Clarinet in Bb, Horn in F
Duration: 6’30”
Year: 2026
Program Note:
From my house in Halifax, Vermont, just over the hill, there’s an idyllic pond tucked into the mountains. On autumn mornings, mist rises off the water and melts into the auburn trees. It’s the kind of sight you’d expect to fnd on a postcard—if anyone besides the neighbors knew it was here.
Speaking of neighbors, look closely and you’ll notice a dome of sticks rising from the water. at’s the work of this pond’s fnest residents: the beavers. If you’re patient, you might catch the telltale ripple of a broad tail gliding beneath the surface.
A few summers back, a storm breached the timber dam, draining the pond nearly dry. Within days, the beavers had rebuilt it, the water returned, and peace settled over the hollow once more. e following January it happened again. is time the scene was concerning: the beavers huddled together on an icy mudfat. Neighbors—the human ones—watched with growing alarm.
People loaded pickup trucks with piles of brush and left them, suggestively, near the dam. e beavers, however, barely touched these offerings and mostly sat still amidst the blustery weather. With a brutal cold snap forecasted, folks decided there was only one thing left to do. A spirited band pulled on their waders, climbed into the freezing pond, and got to work patching up the beavers’ dam. at’s the sort of people who live here. e dam has held to this day.
I wrote this piece for the beavers—and for the people who love them. We could use a few more of both.