Day Is Spent – Carol Barnett

Composer: Carol Barnett Text by: Charles Anthony Silvestri Instrumentation: SATB Duration: Approx. 2 minutes Date Written:  2024 Composer’s note: Last year, I set a text that turned out not to be available for use. Award-winning poet and lyricist Tony Silvestri graciously consented to write a replacement text, and came up with this lovely meditation that invites contemplation of the hours between sunset and dawn. The melody is based in F Lydian; the first verse is sung in unison by sopranos and altos. The tenors and basses take the melody for the second verse, enhanced by the women’s two-part descant. The final verse is in four-part harmony, and strays momentarily to A major before returning to its F Lydian home. text DAY IS SPENT   Day is spent; the scent of jasmine hangs o’er the vale. Shadows long; a song begins-- the nightingale. Sun of splendor, at thy setting, Daylight burdens all forgetting; Banish sorrow and regretting ‘neath evening’s veil.   Glows the fire, its light inspirin