Hymn to the Evening (2023)
Hymn to the Evening, based on a poem of the same name by Phillis Wheatley, is a work of admiration and praise. The piece is programmatic with plenty of text-painting. Since the text revolves largely around the appearance of the evening sky, the themes in the “A” section are flowing and float above the bassline. The “B” section is more about praising God for the beauty of nature, so the lines are melismatic and in the mixolydian mode to call back to Gregorian chant. After a brief return to the “A” themes, the piece modulates and turns in for the night with a simpler texture.
Honorable mention for the Scheherazade Music Festival Call for Scores
World Premiere June 15, 2023 by the Scheherazade Music Festival
Text:
Soon as the sun forsook the eastern main
The pealing thunder shook the heav’nly plain;
Majestic grandeur! From the zephyr’s wing,
Exhales the incense of the blooming spring,
Soft purl the streams, the birds renew their notes,
And through the air their mingled music floats.
Through all the heav’ns what beauteous dies are spread!
But the west glories in the deepest red:
So may our breasts with every virtue glow,
The living temples of our God below!
Fill’d with the praise of him who gives the light,
And draws the sable curtains of the night,
Let placid slumbers soothe each weary mind,
At morn to wake more heav’nly, more refin’d;
So shall the labors of the day begin
More pure, more guarded from the snares of sin.
Night’s leaden sceptre seals my drowsy eyes,
Then cease, my song, till fair Aurora rise.
Dur. 6 minutes
Honorable mention for the Scheherazade Music Festival Call for Scores
World Premiere June 15, 2023 by the Scheherazade Music Festival
Text:
Soon as the sun forsook the eastern main
The pealing thunder shook the heav’nly plain;
Majestic grandeur! From the zephyr’s wing,
Exhales the incense of the blooming spring,
Soft purl the streams, the birds renew their notes,
And through the air their mingled music floats.
Through all the heav’ns what beauteous dies are spread!
But the west glories in the deepest red:
So may our breasts with every virtue glow,
The living temples of our God below!
Fill’d with the praise of him who gives the light,
And draws the sable curtains of the night,
Let placid slumbers soothe each weary mind,
At morn to wake more heav’nly, more refin’d;
So shall the labors of the day begin
More pure, more guarded from the snares of sin.
Night’s leaden sceptre seals my drowsy eyes,
Then cease, my song, till fair Aurora rise.
Dur. 6 minutes