The Requiem for a sailor began as an exploration of narrative maritime literature from the age of tall ships. By their simple passion and poignancy I became interested in first person accounts of shipwreck survivors from this period. As I continued to work, I became aware of a powerful connection between the concepts imbedded in these straight-forward accounts and those of the traditional requiem text. In both cases, mercy and salvation are first and foremost on the writers’ agenda. In each movement of Requiem for a sailor a fragment of shipwreck narrative is paired in various ways with the traditional Latin text. The music for the narratives is intended to evoke the sound of a sea chanty, while the Latin portions are written in a more traditional manner. Sometimes they follow each other; sometimes they overlap. For the most meaningful listening experience, the audience is encouraged to follow along with the enclosed texts and translations in order to understand the concepts behind the music. When completed, the Requiem for a sailor will have ten movements and tell the story of a single ill-fated voyage, though it is actually derived from many different accounts.

Requiem for a sailor contains:
01. Requiem aeternam
02. Dies irae
03. Recordare
04. Kyrie
05. Lacrimosa
06. Agnus Dei
07. Benedictus (in progress)
08. Libera me (in progress)
09. Sanctus (in progress)
10. Lux aeternum (in progress)
This piece is still in progress. In 2004 three of the movements were recorded by the Minnesota-based choir, Vocal Essence, conducted by Philip Brunelle.

Lyrics by the English poets William Whiting (1825 - 1878) and John Masefield (1878 - 1967); the American poet Richard Steere (1643 - 1721) and John Wordsworth (04/12/1771 - 05/02/1805), the drowned captain of the sunk ship "The Earl of Abergavenny" (brother of the poet William Wordsworth (1770 - 1850).