Concert: Fall of Richmond

The Fall of Richmond is a three-movement concert work for chamber orchestra that evokes the turmoil and exultation which overtook Virginia’s capital on April 2-4,1865 as Confederate forces burned and fled the city. Composer Curt Sydnor crafted the work as a symphonic ode to the US Colored Troops regiment which then led the march into Richmond, saving it from greater destruction, and to President Lincoln’s improbable visit the following day. The hymn “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is woven throughout the work to evoke the African American freedom struggle which found a deep symbolic expression in the events surrounding Richmond’s dramatic transfer to Union control.