The Sweets of Evening<\/em> (2006) was written for Dianne Berkun and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus<\/a>. Having worked with this group of musicians many times before, I was honored to finally write them a piece. Having sung in a boy choir myself, I am fascinated and intimate with the changing nature of young voices, and I looked for a text that is itself transitory “\u201c here, depicting the movement between dusk and night. I have long been a great fan of Christopher Smart’s poetry, and particularly of Benjamin Britten’s setting of fragments from Jubilate Agno<\/em>; my own setting here nods to Britten in its episodic nature and, I hope, generosity towards the singers. The Sweets of Evening<\/em> lasts six and one half minutes. “\u201cNico Muhly<\/p>\n

[audio:WebSweets.mp3]
\nThe Brooklyn Youth Chorus
\nDianne Berkun, conductor<\/p>\n

Text<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Sweets of Evening<\/em> by Christopher Smart (1722-1771)<\/p>\n

The sweets of evening charm the mind,
\nSick of the sultry day;
\nThe body then no more confin’d,
\nBut exercise with freedom join’d,
\nWhen Phoebus sheathes his ray.<\/p>\n

While all-serene the summer moon
\nSends glances thro’ the trees,
\nAnd Philomel begins her tune,.
\nAnd Asteria too shall help her soon
\nWith voice of skillful ease.<\/p>\n

A nosegay, every thing that grows,
\nAnd music, every sound
\nTo lull the sun to his repose;
\nThe skies are colour’d like the rose
\nWith lively streaks around.<\/p>\n

Of all the changes rung by time
\nNone half so sweet appear,
\nAs those when thoughts themselves sublime,
\nAnd with superior natures chime
\nIn fancy’s highest sphere.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sweets of Evening (2006) was written for Dianne Berkun and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Having worked with this group of musicians many times before, I was honored to finally write them a piece. Having sung in a boy choir myself, I am fascinated and intimate with the changing nature of young voices, and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2101,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117\/revisions\/2101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}