Faye-Ellen Silverman

Lighting the Night

Year: 2023

Duration (in minutes): 11'

Difficulty: Medium (college/community)

Category: string orchestra

Instruments: cello, contrabass, viola, violin

Publisher: Subito Music Corp.

Publisher website: https://www.subitomusic.com/

Purchase score URL: https://www.subitomusic.com/shop/

Description: Lighting the Night, for string orchestra, was written for Bar Haimov’s Kollective 366 for his program “Phases of Light”. It is meant to complement Benjamin Britten’s Les Illuminations. Lighting the Night travels from the calm of evening to the breaking of day. The work is in five short movements. Movements 1, 3, and 5 are related by motives and tempi, as are movements 2 and 4. The first movement, “Waiting Through the Night” uses only the lower strings. The music starts with muted solos built from the notes EFE and builds to unmuted sounds with tutti strings and increased rhythmic motion. It then dies down, returning to the opening idea as it fades out. The second movement is “Dancing Through the Night”. It starts with a pizzicato introduction to the dance and then the dance itself begins. Partway through the pizzicato beats interrupt, and then the dance resumes. In the third movement (“Fireflies”), short pizzicato sounds mimic the short bursts of light of these insects. They are scattered throughout the movement. These sounds are surrounded by the longer notes of the night. The movement starts with the muted notes EFE – (from the opening of movement 1). Here the movement starts in the lowest range of the double bass (the origin of the EFE motive during composition) and gradually builds through the string sections before the fireflies appear. Unlike the first movement, this movement uses muted strings throughout. The fourth movement is “Continuing the Dance”. While it starts at the same tempo as the second movement, it doesn’t get faster. The opening figure comes from one used within the second movement. This is followed by “The Arrival of Day”. The music progresses from lower to higher sounds in the strings. Once again, the music begins muted and, as in the third movement, in the low range of the double bass - before the mutes are removed. The work ends on a high harmonic, as day breaks and brings its natural light. The world is once again illuminated