Draw on, sweet Night

An unaccompanied part-song for SATB choir with divisi

Draw on, sweet Night is adapted from ‘Nightingale,’ movement three of Night Music (1984), originally scored for men’s voices, reader, shakuhachi, harp, and flute. Hallock extracted, transposed, and modified Draw on, sweet Night for performance by a choir of mixed voices (specifically, the Byrd Ensemble) in 2012.

Draw on, sweet Night

Draw on sweet Night, best friend unto those cares
That do arise from painful melancholy;
My life so ill through want of comfort fares,
That unto thee I consecrate it wholly.

Sweet Night, draw on; my griefs, when they be told
To shades and darkness, find some ease from paining;
And while thou all in silence dost enfold,
I then shall have best time for my complaining.
—John Wilbye (1574-1638)