By:

• David Hamilton

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Score (57k)

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© David Hamilton

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• This work has a score

Programme Note

This setting of Antonio Machado’s poem is intended as a study in atmospheric textures. Little of the music is loud or dramatic, and much of the writing consists of repetitive patterns sung by the singers independently of each other. Machado, a Spanish poet of the early twentieth century, describes the simple image of a beach at night in summer, with a voice singing in the distance. Over the scene hangs the moon. The setting does not present the entire text, but uses only fragments of the poem. From the text the words “la luna” (the moon) are heard most often. A solo voice from within the choir sets the scene with the words “A summer’s night on the beach of Sanlucar…”.

Throughout the work a singing bowl sounds in the background, beginning and ending with the single struck note. At times the bowl disappears into the texture and at times it is clearly audible – steady and unvarying.

Una Noche de Verano was written for conductor Rowan Johnston and his choir Choralation (students of Westlake Girls’ and Westlake Boys’ High Schools, Auckland).

David Hamilton

Text Note:

Text from the cycle "Hacia Tierra Baja" by Antonio Machado (1875-1939)

Commissioned:

Commissioned by the conductor Rowan Johnston and Choralation (students of Westlake Girls' and Westlake Boys High Schools)

Performance History

	09 Aug 2010	Performed by Choralation choir from Westlake Girls’ and Boys’ High Schools at a Recital Session for the 2010 BIG SING Finale Festival