Wilder/Lang - Lullabies and NIghtsongs

Goodnight Sweetheart - sorry, probably not "serious" music

Persichetti - Celebrations:  Clear Midnight movement

Moscow NIghts

Whitacre - Water Night

Ellingboe - Be Music, night

Steve Murray - The Middle of the night (I have music)

Raminsh - IN the Night We Shall Go in

Robinovich - Prayer Before Sleep

Now Sleep the Crimson Petal?

 

No doubt a musica search for "night" or "sleep" will turn up lots.

 

D

 Night and Morning, by Gyorgy Ligeti (Schott ED 6415) ssaattbb

Calme des Nuits, by Camille Saint-Saens (Editions Durand DF0310100) satb

 

I have composed three pieces that might suit.  

 

Let Evening Come, SATB & Piano.  Setting of a great poem of Jane Kenyon.

Published by William Thorpe; score and audio samples here

    http://www.thorpemusic.com/holmes01.html

 

Music of the Spheres, SATB, horn, and piano.  Text of Shakespeare from

Merchant of Venice: How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank...

I can send score and recording on request.

 

Daisies SATB a cappella.  Andrew Young

    The stars are everywhere tonight

    Above, beneath me, and around:

    They fill the sky with powdery light

    And glimmer from the night-strewn ground;

    For where the folded daisies are

    In every one I see a star.

Available after the premier in early May.

 

Cheers,

Brian Holmes

horncabbage(at)aol.com

 Here's a ChoralNet resource on this topic.

Hi everyone, 

Thank you for the great suggestions.  I would like to narrow the question down further:

 

The reason I didn't just do a title search for "night", is that I prefer music that is not in English, music that is not necessarily tonal, calm and quiet, but also provoking and exciting.  The connection to night does not have to be obvious.  I am trying to make a program which is challenging, varied in style, and that will look at night from many different angles. 

 

 

I was involved in a concert program called A CAPPELLA DREAM - here is our repertoire:

 

 

Beautiful Dreamer – words & melody by Stephen Foster (1826-1864)
 

 

There rolls the deep – words by Alfred Lord Tennyson, music by Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918)
 

 

The Cloud-Capp’d Towers – words by William Shakespeare, music by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
 

 

Te lucis ante terminum – words & melody possibly 7th century, English translation by John Mason Neale
 

 

In all my dreams I dream of you – words by Joe McCarthy, music by Al Piantadosi (1884-1955)
 

 

The Nightmare Song – words by William Schwenck Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan, arr Ayres (1842-1900)

Joseph fell adreaming – words by Eleanor Farjeon, music by John Ireland, arr Ayres (1879-1962)

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – words by Tim Rice, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
by kind permission of the Really Useful Group Ltd

 

 

 

I'm sure there are many more pieces to choose from!

 

 

Kate S (UK) 

Daniel Pederson's setting of Whitman's "Night on the Praries" is lovely, though not "medium easy" as Pepper would have you think.  We found it a challenge for a non-aud. comm chor.  Divisi, word-metric (no one meter), and drop dead gorgeous in its depiction of the Whitman poem.  You can hear the stars.

 

NIGHT ON THE PRAIRIES
	Walt Whitman & Daniel Lee Pederson

 La nuict froid un sombre by Lassus a favorite.Easily found in many sources.

SIR

<www.renaissancechorus.org>

How 'bout:

I Cannot Count the Stars - Eugene Butler - SATB, violin & pno.  Very nice!

Good Luck...

T

T.

 

Please consider my works "Nocturne" for SSA and piano distributed by Alliance Music Publishing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW2RQ1tFYO4 and "Nightfall in a Summer Garden" for SATB (divisi) and oboe (optoinal piano) distributed by Lighthouse Music Publications. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMzclzdFeqg   The texts are by Dr. Robert J. Smithdas, deaf/blind since the age of 5.  If you will contact me directly, I can share the texts with you crickb88(a)cox.net  Dr. Smithdas retired last year from the Helen Keller National Center in NY.  His poetry is extremely simple and beautiful with a most interesting perspective of "darkness" and "night". 

 

Deaf/Blind perspectives of Night certainly bring a unique perspective to the singer and listener.

 

Good luck,

 

Rick

I would recommend Morten Lauridsen's lovely "Three Nocturnes," my favorite of which is an exquisite Neruda "Soneto de la Noche." And if it is not too self-serving, my own piece, "Silver Night," which was premiered this past December by the Cathedral Choral Society (Wash., D.C., J. Reilly Lewis, dir.).

Best wishes in your quest!

Melinda Bargreen

Abendstandchen by Brahms

Tween Dusk and Dreams and Love in Bloom by Kentaro Sato

 

I have a short piece, Night Blossoms, that is based on a Japanese haiku. The score and recording are on this page:

 

 

Mary Jane Leach

Should you have a light-coloured SSAA section, please consider Kodály Zoltán's Mountain nights. (No words, very expressive!)

good luck

C.Szalai Ágnes

Dear T.,

 

The song "Impromptu" (beautiful words by Wordsworth), from my cycle A Glory from the Earth, is SATB plus piano. It's about 3 minutes long. You can listen to it on my website (http://www.allenlcohen.com/html/music.htm).

 

All best,

 

Allen Cohen

 

If you prefer non-English work, " Huyuno Ibuki (Winter's Breath)" by Kentaro Sato would be fun to sing. It is in Japanese.

another non-english one (not a lot of text for other than soprano soloist) is my "greatest hit" hitherto, Syngur sumarregn, in Icelandic, it has been recorded and published in 3 countries as of now. It's about the soothing rain on a warm summer night and can be heard here: http://cyrad.is/tonlist/Syngur_sumarregn.mp3

Der Abend - Brahms - Great Poem, great piece  - Greek mythology set by Schiller?

La Nuit by Rameau, as featured in the film 'Les Choristes'.  There are two arrangements (at least) the original by Rameau is pretty straightforward.  The other one (used in the film, don't know who its by) is more involved and more beautiful.

 Un Soir de Neige by Francis Poulenc for SSATBB choir, published by Edition Salabert

NIght of the Full Moon by Libby Larsen, published by ECS.  It is a great, atmospheric, piece and if you can

get the instrumentation, even better.

 

Soir d'ete by Henk Badings part of his Trois Chansons Bretonnes is a nice upbeat piece with a very

challenging piano part.  Since most songs about night tend to be slower this would provide some

welcome energy, if you want that.  It is in French and it's a challenging text to negotiate but the music

is wonderful.

 

I also second the recommendation of In the NIght We Shall Go In - wonderful piece of music and poetry

and also the Lullabies and Nightsongs - a nice change of pace and both serious and humorous texts

(Elephant Present and  th NIght Will never Stay are still in my mind and it's been may years since I conducted these little gems.)

 

And lest we forget, Sure on this Shining Night by Samuel Barber, one of the true miniature masterpieces of the art.

I think there is also a setting of the text by Stroope or some other contemporary composer.

 

Choose Something LIke a Star might possibly fit your bill as well, although it's not specifically about night.

 

Larry Smith

MIssouri Baptist University