Alliance Music Publications Inc.

Composed by Jean Belmont Ford
Series Editor: Simon Carrington
Voicing: SATB a cappella
Catalog number: AMP 0798
Price: $1.80

THE DAY IS DONE
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
adapted from the poem by the same title

The day is done, and darkness
Falls from the wings of Night.

Come, read to me some poem,
Some simple and heartfelt lay,
That shall soothe this restless feeling,
And banish the thoughts of day.

Come read to me
From some humble poet,
Who heard in his soul the music
Of wonderful melodies.

Such songs have power to quiet
The restless pulse of care,
And come like the benediction
That follows after prayer.

Then read from the treasured volume
The poem of thy choice,
And lend to the rhyme
The beauty of thy voice.

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day,
Shall fold their tents,
And silently steal away.

I have admired Jean Belmont Ford's compositions ever since I heard the Kansas City Chorale's recording of her Nativitas Christmas cycle soon after my arrival in the U.S. I performed a movement from Nativitas at my first Holiday Vespers at the University of Kansas and have subsequently conducted a number of her pieces including her beautiful “Sky Loom” with the Texas All State Choir and cello soloist.

She sets text in a very special way and any interpretation of her vocal scores requires great attention to the flow of the words, the stress of the syllables and the subtle word-painting. I suggest that the tempo be very flexible throughout, letting her music reflect the shifting rhythms and gentle rise and fall of well modulated sung speech.

performance by Simon Carrington Chamber Singers
Kansas City, Missouri
Simon Carrington, Director

Click here to see a sample.

Click here to listen to a recording (MP3).



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