Evening was composed in 1921; the words are from Milton’s
Paradise Lost. Apparently at one time this was intended as the first item in
114 Songs, which proceeds in reverse chronological order from latest to earliest songs. (It is now the second item.) The mood is valedictory, suggesting a gentle harmony of all life, and closing with a quotation from Beethoven’s Piano Sonata ‘Les Adieux’.
from notes by Calum MacDonald © 2008
