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Looking forward to singing together

Tristan Meister on his favorite choral collection lullabies and evening songs

01.02.2021/0 Comments/in Favorite Works /by Tristan Meister

Rocking a child to sleep and singing a calming song is probably one of the most natural forms of music-making of all. And the song of thanks after the day’s work is done, combined with the plea for a peaceful night has had its established place in evening worship for centuries. With a touch of nostalgia, choral director Tristan Meister is now thinking back to many lovely concerts which ended with Rheinberger’s Abendlied, a piece which for him is one of the most touching choral works of the Romantic period. So the hope is all the greater that we might soon be given the green light to sing this wonderful music together again.

The choral collection impressively documents the rich treasury of German and international lullabies and evening songs. Popular classics feature alongside rediscovered masterpieces as well as numerous new arrangements, making this collection a unique resource for choral music in this genre. And last but not not least, the stylistic and cultural breadth of the selection is inspiring – perhaps not what you might expect – bringing with it a distinctive variety of content.

Many concert programs include an evening song or night song, either as a moment of repose or a final encore. The Lullabies choral collection contains both sacred and secular pieces of easy to medium difficulty, all of extremely high quality which makes this collection interesting for almost every kind of choral ensemble. You can find music for use in church services as well as simple folk song arrangements and relaxed canons for summer open air evenings, plus exciting new compositions and international titles to round off your chamber choir concert. For anyone who wants to branch out from the same small selection of standard works, this choral collection can be heartily recommended. The Conductor’s volume includes a CD with outstanding recordings of some of the numbers to help you get an idea of the sound.

Tristan Meister is a freelance conductor and lecturer in Choral Conducting at the Universities of Music in Mannheim and Frankfurt am Main. He is the founder and musical director of the Ensemble Vocapella Limburg, and his recordings with this group include the first complete recording of Max Reger’s unaccompanied male voice choruses. He also founded the semi-professional chamber choir Vox Quadrata, and conducts the Beethovenchor Ludwigshafen and the Wormser Kammerensemble. In addition, he is artistic director of the Jugendchor Hochtaunus and the Cantus Juvenum Boys’ Choir.

Choral collection lullabies and evening songs

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Melodious evening songs lend themselves to a quiet ending or an imaginatively accented concert. This choral collection is a selection with about 40 English, German and international lullabies and evening songs of stylistic diversity, with easily singable settings for a mixed choir, some of which include piano accompaniments. The repertoire ranges from Baroque and Romantic works to contemporary works, with settings newly-composed for the collection and well-known lullabies and evening songs. The conductor’s volume includes a CD with recordings of selected pieces.

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Suggestions for a concert program:

Although the arrangements encompass a wide stylistic variety, it would be unusual to devise a whole concert program entirely of lullabies and evening songs. But the following suggestion, with the title “Nach(t)klang”, attempts to do this, and divides the evening and the concert into two parts – evening and night.
In the first half, which would ideally begin with a little reception, the emphasis is on the early evening and celebrating with friends or family. If circumstances allow, this part can take place in the open air.

Tanzen und Springen (Hans Leo Hassler, Weitersingen! No. 87)
A round of three country dances in one (Thomas Ravenscroft, Folk Songs No. 2)
Die Feierabendstunde (Johann Michael Haydn)
Im Krug zum grünen Kranze (Volker Hempfling, Lore-Ley No. 75)
Vinum schenk ein (Benedict Widmann, Weitersingen! No. 90)
Wenn die Bettelleute tanzen (Helmut Barbe, Lore-Ley No. 136)
O wie wohl ist mir am Abend (Carl Friedrich Schulz, Lullabies No. 29), gemeinsam mit Publikum

The second half of the program can then set the mood for a peaceful end to the day with rocking melodies, until lullabies and night songs finally bring the concert to a close. The change of mood works well if this half of the concert, with works exclusively from the Lullabies and Evening Songs Choral Collection, takes place in another room with an appropriate ambience.

Oj Jano, Jano (Clifford W. King, Lullabies No. 28)
Weißt du, wie viel Sternlein stehen (Reijko Kekkonen, Lullabies No. 39)
Lavender’s Blue (Kieren MacMillan, Lullabies Nr.o22)
Aftensuk (Julius Bechgaard, Lullabies No. 4)
Dormite, mi nino (Ludwig Böhme, Lullabies No. 13)
An die Sterne (Louis Spohr, Lullabies No. 10)
The long day closes (Arthur Sullivan, Lullabies No. 38)

Encore: Der Mond ist aufgegangen (Adolf Seifert, Lullabies No. 12)

Tip: Many of the works from the choral collection are also available as separate editions (in print or digitally to download) at attractive bulk discount prices for choirs. The sample scores and audio samples in the Carus webshop make learning the arrangements easy!

Have a listen:
Lullabies and evening songs
Deutscher Jugendkammerchor (Concudctor Florian Benfer)

CD from the choral collection

Further choral collections