When sleep is nigh (2020)
for SATB divisi choir, a cappella
Text: Anonymous poem (20th c.)
Duration: 4 minutes
Difficulty: 3/4
Commissioned by Michael Gaffney in honour of his mother Peggy Gaffney’s (née Welsh) 90th birthday, 9 July 2020, and in memory of his father Ken Gaffney, Peggy’s loving sweetheart for 73 years. First performed by Spiritus Chamber Choir (Mark Bartel, dir.) in May 2022.
I was contacted in November 2019 by Michael Gaffney, a singer in The Fourth Choir, to privately commission a work both in honour of his mother’s 90th birthday, and in memory of his late father. Throughout our correspondence, Michael shared many details and stories of his parents’ long marriage, and I was immediately struck by the profound love and commitment they shared for one another. The text for this piece, an anonymous poem which his father wrote in a letter to his mother while serving in the Royal Navy, is a powerful statement of love and reassurance in spite of the risks and danger he faced. My setting of this poetry is rich, warm, and whole-hearted—and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to honour this wonderful couple with my music.
About the Gaffneys: Margaret (Peggy) Gaffney (b. 1930) and Kenneth Gaffney (1929-2019) met in February 1946 in the doorway of a record shop, sheltering from heavy rain. They were married five years later, on 12 May 1951 at St. Wilfrid’s Catholic Church (Sunderland Road, Gateshead, UK). Their happy marriage of nearly 68 years produced four children, seven grandchildren and, to date, three great-grandchildren.
Click here to see the complete score.
The excerpt below is from a studio recording by the BBC Singers (Will Dawes, dir.), originally broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in May 2023.
Full Text
An anonymous poem, contained in a letter from Ken to Peggy, while serving in the Royal Navy between 1947-1949
Think of me at night when sleep is nigh
And I who loves you is so far away
Think of me and I will come to you
Nor leave you ‘til the night turns into day.
Stretch forth your hand and through the depths of dark
Another hand will touch your fingertips
And as of old my voice shall breathe your name
And press a kiss upon your dreaming lips.