Nightfall should be sung without vibrato so that the vocal colors and their translucent quality remain pure and clear. Recalling Baroque passacaglia procedure, the bass line underpins the entire work. Nightfall is an incantatory piece inspired by how light changes at the end of a day: the adding and subtracting of color and shadow; the slowly building and diminishing dynamics; the shifting texture as the sun intensifies and then disappears over the horizon. Nightfall was composed for and performed by Musica Sacra in 1995.

Meredith Monk