Peaceful was the night: Christmas aria for Soprano and Organ (2020)

Peaceful was the night: Christmas aria for Soprano and Organ (2020)

I composed this aria during my tenure as music director of the Congregational Church of Salisbury, as a prelude for the Congregational Church of Salisbury’s 2020 online Christmas Eve service. The piece sets a stanza from John Milton’s “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity.” The imagery in this stanza felt especially striking to me–here there is nothing heady or theological, but simply, a beautiful calm seascape. In my music the pulsing chords in the organ evoke gentle waves as the soprano voice floats and soars above.