NIGHT SONG

Ensemble Baritone and Piano

Duration 5:15

Completed 2013

Text William DeRoche

Cost $7

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One night, in the months leading up to that year’s Christmas, Duluth poet William DeRoche’s son was born and subsequently died in his arms. That Christmas Eve, DeRoche reflected on his loss and grief, and the imagined possibilities of the life of his son that were never allowed to materialize. He wrote the poem Night Song. In this setting of the work, the dialogue between the father and the spirit of the son are carried by one singer, alternating characters with falsetto. The dialogue alternates, merges, and resepartates, as the imagined memories mingle with harsh and painful reality, even while the overall tone is one of comfort as the spirit of Christmas is able to bring some measure of healing to a tortured soul.