The Collapse of Saint Francis, clip 1 The Collapse of Saint Francis, clip 2 The Collapse of Saint Francis, clip 3 The Collapse of Saint Francis, clip 4

         The Collapse of Saint Francis is a dramatic piece scored for full orchestra and mezzo-soprano. The inspiration for the work comes from the 1928 failure of the Saint Francis Dam in Southern California. Both the text and the music were written in the Fall of 2000 by Bear McCreary. The piece was premiered by the USC Symphony Orchestra on January 19th, 2001, by Donald Crockett, conductor. The mezzo-soprano part was written for the voice of Melanie Henley Heyn, and she sang the premiere.

         The piece centers around the tragic figure of William Mulholland, creator of the doomed dam. After completing this week, McCreary sent a copy to Catherine Mulholland, William's granddaughter who had just published a biography of her grandfather entitled William Mulholland and the Rise of Los Angeles. In her response to McCreary, she said that she was "moved with your dramatic treatment of an event forever painful to all our family."

Historical Background Composing the Collapse The Collapse of Saint Francis Text

         The following Spring, The Collapse of Saint Francis placed First in the Arts category of the USC Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Creative Work. In April 2002, this piece was awarded Honorable Mention by the ASCAP / Morton Gould Young Composers Award.