{"id":117,"date":"2007-05-18T10:22:16","date_gmt":"2007-05-18T15:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/projects\/2007\/the-sweets-of-evening\/"},"modified":"2010-05-25T19:29:39","modified_gmt":"2010-05-26T00:29:39","slug":"the-sweets-of-evening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nicomuhly.com\/projects\/2007\/the-sweets-of-evening\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sweets of Evening"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The Sweets of Evening<\/em> (2006) was written for Dianne Berkun and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brooklynyouthchorus.org\/\">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 &#8220;\u201c here, depicting the movement between dusk and night.  I have long been a great fan of Christopher Smart&#8217;s poetry, and particularly of Benjamin Britten&#8217;s setting of fragments from <em>Jubilate Agno<\/em>; my own setting here nods to Britten in its episodic nature and, I hope, generosity towards the singers.  The <em>Sweets of Evening<\/em> lasts six and one half minutes.  &#8220;\u201cNico Muhly<\/p>\n<p>[audio:WebSweets.mp3]<br \/>\nThe Brooklyn Youth Chorus<br \/>\nDianne Berkun, conductor<\/p>\n<p><strong>Text<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>The Sweets of Evening<\/em> by Christopher Smart (1722-1771)<\/p>\n<p>The sweets of evening charm the mind,<br \/>\nSick of the sultry day;<br \/>\nThe body then no more confin&#8217;d,<br \/>\nBut exercise with freedom join&#8217;d,<br \/>\nWhen Phoebus sheathes his ray.<\/p>\n<p>While all-serene the summer moon<br \/>\nSends glances thro&#8217; the trees,<br \/>\nAnd Philomel begins her tune,.<br \/>\nAnd Asteria too shall help her soon<br \/>\nWith voice of skillful ease.<\/p>\n<p>A nosegay, every thing that grows,<br \/>\nAnd music, every sound<br \/>\nTo lull the sun to his repose;<br \/>\nThe skies are colour&#8217;d like the rose<br \/>\nWith lively streaks around.<\/p>\n<p>Of all the changes rung by time<br \/>\nNone half so sweet appear,<br \/>\nAs those when thoughts themselves sublime,<br \/>\nAnd with superior natures chime<br \/>\nIn fancy&#8217;s highest sphere.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/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}]}}