To His Music dates from the summer of 2003 and was composed as a memoriam to the late Robert Fountain, one of America’s greatest and most influential choral directors. In the mid-1980’s, as an undergraduate music student at the University of Wisconsin, I had the opportunity to sing in Robert Fountain’s famous Concert Choir. This was an intense musical experience. Rehearsals were lengthy and intense, occurring every day of the week. A typical concert program was 2 hours in length and always performed from memory. The repertoire was vast, and the performances so exhilarating, they affect my musicianship to this day. To His Music was co-commissioned by four former singers in that same choir, now choral directors in their own right, who trace their lineage back to Robert Fountain: William Weinert (conductor of the Eastman Chorale), Scott Macpherson (conductor of the Trinity College Choir), Robert Glasmann (conductor of the Wichita State University Chorale), and Vickie Lynn Peters (director of the Isthmus Vocal Ensemble). The work combines portions of two texts, one sacred (part of the 90th Psalm), the other secular (portions of a Shakespeare song from Henry VIII). These two texts interact to form what I hoped would be a quiet tribute to a choral giant.