From Dusk to Starry Night

From Dusk to Starry Night takes as its theme the many meanings and characteristics of 'night'. The work contains four songs, each one with its own contrasting character. The first song, The night in silence, contains texts of Walt Whitman, references the clear starry night and, in the middle section, the rising moon. The second song is a fast moving scherzo of sorts, from a poem of Amy Lowell, referencing fireflies at midnight. The third song, also from Whitman, alludes to the sounds of war, beating drums and bugles. Though it does not directly refer to night, I thought of this as a kind of apocalyptic nighttime battle scene, full of calamity and intensity. The last song uses the text of a Stephen Foster song, Slumber My Darling. Though its lullaby characteristics remain, the melody and setting is very different. Pierre Jalbert