Instrumentation:

SATB Choir

opt. instruments: Handbells, Finger Cymbal, Triangle, Chimes, Sistrum

Duration: ~6:00

Premiered:

12.03.2022

Choir: Collegium Musicum Baden-Baden

Conductor: Fabian Kühn

Lutherkirche Baden-Baden

This work has been commissioned by Collegium Musicum Baden-Baden.

Nachtlied is based on the German poem "Nachtlied" by Friedrich Hebbel, a German dramatist and lyricist. The piece premiered in March 2022 and was performed in a Passiontide program and explores aspects of passion, such as the sorrow, the pain and the desperation connected with it but also the night that, at the end of the period, is a beacon of hope. The German text narrates the approaching night and how the stars decorate the imposing night sky. It also explores the creeping fatigue that is coming with the disappearance of the day and how it affects the body.

The work features an optional ending where the choir is instructed to use small metallic percussion, such as finger cymbals, chimes or handbells, to paint a picture of the shimmering stars in the sky. This ending is optional and can be omitted if so desired.

[Blogpost in German] 

[Konzertkritik zur Uraufführung]

Lyric:

Quellende, schwellende Nacht,

Voll von Lichtern und Sternen:

In den ewigen Fernen,

Sage, was ist da erwacht!

Herz in der Brust wird beengt,

Steigendes, neigendes Leben,

Riesenhaft fühle ich's weben,

Welches das meine verdrängt.

Schlaf, da nahst du dich leis,

Wie dem Kinde die Amme,

Und um die dürftige Flamme

Ziehst du den schützenden Kreis.

Friedrich Hebbel (1813-1863), Deutscher Dramatiker und Lyriker