When was sleep by eric whitacre written

He was fully committed to the Silvestri version. The evening hangs beneath the moon, A silver thread on darkened dune. With closing eyes and resting head I know that sleep is coming soon. Upon my pillow, safe in bed, A thousand pictures fill my head.

If there are noises in the night, A frightening shadow, flickering light, Then I surrender unto sleep, Where clouds of dream give second sight,. What dreams may come, both dark and deep, Of flying wings and soaring leap As I surrender unto sleep, As I surrender unto sleep. Home Blog Store Index 0. And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. If there are noises in the night, A frightening shadow, flickering light, Then I surrender unto sleep, Where clouds of dream give second sight,.

What dreams may come, both dark and deep, Of flying wings and soaring leap As I surrender unto sleep, As I surrender unto sleep. US: Hal Leonard. I was delighted when Eric got in touch to ask if I might arrange some of his choral music for marimba. His music contains many of the things I love in choral music; lush tonal harmonies, strong audience engagement and a firm spiritual connection.

I transcribed Sleep replacing the voices with the warm, earthy tones of the marimbas to make a seriously special marimba chorale. To contrast A Boy and a Girl contains some eighth note passages to convey momentum, whilst Lux Aurumque employs up to twelve mallets across the instruments to keep the original division of parts.

For October I added two vibraphones played without motor to the marimbas to utilize the wider sound pallet of the mallet quartet. Using the choral reworking Alleluia this music chimes and sparkles, a humble meditation on the glory of autumn.

She proposed a commission for a new work from Whitacre to be performed by the Austin ProChorus, where she was an avid member. The details around the commission stuck with the composer, as Julia wanted a piece in memory of her parents, both of whom had died within weeks of each other after more than 50 years of marriage.

Whitacre accepted the commission and began working on the music:. The poem is perfect, truly a gem, and my general approach was to try to get out the way of the words and let them work their magic. The new choral work premiered in Austin in October The piece received positive reviews which led to the composer receiving letters, emails and phone calls from conductors trying to get a copy of the work for their choirs.

However, Whitacre was faced with a bump in the road:. In , out of the blue, the estate released a number of titles, and at least twenty composers set and published Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening for chorus. When I looked online and saw all of these new and different settings, I naturally and naively assumed that it was open to anyone. Little did I know that the Robert Frost Estate had shut down ANY use of the poem just months before, ostensibly because of this plethora of new settings.

The end. If the choir performing it is skilled enough, the effect is perfect: this world fades away and silence creeps in. Buy it here.