WINGATE: CANCIÓN DE LA NOCHE 
for Soprano and Cello

Date:
2008

Instrumentation:
Dramatic Soprano (G3 to C6), and Violoncello.

Duration:
4'45"

Text:
Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973), Soneto LXXIX (Sonnet No. 79), from Cien sonetos de amor (‘100 Love Sonnets’), 1959.

Notes:
Composed as a birthday present for a friend of the composer in New York City, the Canción de la noche uses the name of the dedicatee (translated into musical pitches) as a melodic theme, heard in the cello opening, and soon sung by the soprano on the word amada (‘beloved’) from the sonnet’s first line:

    De noche, amada, amarra tu corazón al mío
    (By night, beloved, tie your heart to mine . . . )

The piece’s title ‘Song of the Night’ also arises from this first line, as the whole sonnet goes on to evoke the magic of the night, of sleep, of darkness. The main andante section of the first stanza is contrasted by an allegro episode depicting the nocturnal train of the sonnet’s second stanza, ‘carrying shadows . . . endlessly’, culminating with a spectacular soprano high C. 
 
The next two stanzas abide in the dark languor of the first, and the whole piece dabbles in an unabashedly latin-flavored tonal language with much ornamentation and romantic chromaticism. The elaborate and virtuosic cello part makes extensive use of syrupy double-stops as if to call forth a whole orchestra of cellos for accompaniment, often tarrying on the instrument’s low C string as a self-indulgent pedal point. The soprano part frequently dwells in the lowest range of that vocal Fach as well, with no less than nine low G’s throughout. The Canción quietly concludes on an expansive and breath-defying appoggiatura set to the poem’s final word, sombra (‘shadow’). 
 
The piece had its premiere at a private concert in Harlem, New York City, on July 10th, 2008.