150 Years of river data transformed into music at the Jacobs School of Music
The world’s longest continuous water quality dataset has inspired an unexpected artistic creation — a new piece of music that tells the story of the River Thames through sound.
“Echoes of the Thames” premiered recently at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, reimagining 150 years of River Thames water quality data as a rich, sonification-based musical score. The piece was directly inspired by a recent study led by Dr. Helen Jarvie, a Water Institute researcher, which analyzed the world’s longest continuous river water quality dataset. The study revealed that while phosphorus pollution in the Thames had declined significantly, rising temperatures were driving a surge in algal bloom potential.
The environmental story, told through sound, is deeply connected to musical history. Composer Timothy Reinholz, a doctoral student at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, created the piece in response to a competition calling for works “in the style of Handel,” referencing George Frideric Handel’s Water Music, famously performed on the River Thames in 1717.
Photo: Composer Timothy Reinholz, doctoral student at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.
“As an environmental composer writing sonification based compositions, I took this opportunity to dig into Handel's music and find environmental stories that overlap with his music,” said Reinholz. “Inspired by this connection between music and the river, I delved into the environmental history of the Thames—an essential yet often troubled waterway in London's development.”
His search led to a wealth of historical water quality records. “Initially, I came across scans of old handwritten logs and incomplete records, many of which were not in a digital format that was easy to work with. Eventually, I discovered the dataset presented in the Jarvie et al. (2025) paper, containing 150 years of various river water quality measurements. This data was ideal—it was thorough, well-organized, and helped to tell the story of the river,” he said.
Dr. Jarvie travelled to Indiana University to attend the performance in person, while her co-authors joined virtually to watch the livestream. She also met Timothy Reinholz to learn more about the sonification process and to discuss ways in which environmental composition can add new dimensions to water quality data.
Photo: Timothy Reinholz (composer) and Helen Jarvie (river biogeochemist), at the premiere of Echoes of the Thames, Auer Hall, Bloomington, IN.
“By integrating the 150-year Thames river chemistry dataset into the framework of Handel’s Water Music, Echoes of the Thames creates powerful connections between the environmental history of the River Thames and its rich cultural legacy”, Jarvie said. “This type of collaboration between musicians and scientists also offers wonderful opportunities for public engagement around issues of water quality and environmental change”.
“Echoes of the Thames” uses sonification to map data points — such as water temperature, phosphorus loads, chloride levels and biological oxygen demand — to musical parameters like pitch, rhythm, dynamics and density.
“In the Overture, I adapted Handel’s original material, slicing it into two-beat cells. These were then mapped to seasonal temperature data, phosphorus application rates and the passage of time,” said Reinholz. “As the piece progresses, listeners will hear the music shift from harmonic resolution to dissonance — a reflection of warming waters and changing river health.”
Photo: Sample score of “Echoes of the Thames”.
Other movements continue this interplay of music and science. The Adagio links population data to rhythmicdensity, while the Allegro uses rising chloride levels and oxygen demand to guide repeated figures/rhythm and musical ornamentation. Though rich in technical detail, the piece remains accessible to all listeners.
“On the surface, the music will sound reminiscent of the baroque style,” Reinholz said. But embedded in the music is a complex, data-driven story about the health of our waterways and our relationship to the natural world.
“Echoes of the Thames” was performed on April 13 at Auer Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, by Indiana University’s Baroque Orchestra. A recording of the performance will be available online here in the coming weeks.