Soldier’s remorse

Coastal view from the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, New Harbor, Maine photographed by Sanford Ross Bender in July 6, 2024.
“Soldier’s remorse” composed and performed with guitar, clarinet, and concertina by Sanford Ross Bender on August 10, 2024.

Spent knights

“Spent knights” composed, performed, and recorded for banjo, concertina, dobro, and glockenspiel by Sanford Ross Bender on October 14, 2022
“Bay berries and flowers” photographed at Island Beach by Sanford Ross bender on October 22, 2022

A lull in the battle

“A lull in the battle” was composed and performed with guitar by Sanford R. Bender on July 17, 2016
“Amiens Cathedral Interior Elevation” drawn with pencil by Sanford R. Bender in 1991
“Amiens Cathedral Exterior Elevation” drawn with pencil by Sanford R. Bender in 1991

My drawings of Cathedrale Notre-Dame d’Amiens from the thirteenth century were drawn while researching Gothic architecture, and how cathedrals in France were being constructed with arches, vaulted ceilings, flying buttresses, and stained glass windows. After drawing the horizontal and vertical lines of the structure with straight edge and triangle, I soon became entranced and astonished by how consecutive arcs drawn with a compass established a rhythm that appeared to dance gracefully across the page. The visual motion of the arcade struck me deeply as being musical, my other passion. The original guitar composition, “A lull in the battle”, inspired by medieval music, is what I imagined as being evocative of an exhausted knight pausing from battle, only to reflect and mourn a bygone romance.