For mixed choir

Lullaby

for Mixed Choir

A brief a cappella choral setting of William Blake’s Cradle Song, held between tenderness, night, and the fragile threshold of sleep.

Year 2002
Duration 3′
Scoring Mixed choir
a cappella
Publisher Boosey & Hawkes
/ Sikorski

Text

William Blake. Cradle Song, in English.

First Performance

21 November 2004. Vienna · Chamber choir “Vox humana”, Gumpoldskirchen.

Structure

  • Lullaby

    Single-movement choral work.

  • Text

    William Blake, Cradle Song.

  • Language

    English.

  • Sound world

    A cappella mixed choir.

Work Information

Full Title
Lullaby
Scoring
For mixed choir a cappella.
Year
2002.
Duration
3′.
Text
William Blake, Cradle Song, in English.
First Performance
21 November 2004, Vienna · Chamber choir “Vox humana”, Gumpoldskirchen.
Publisher

The Work

Lullaby compresses the intimacy of Blake’s cradle-song into a short, unaccompanied choral form. The poem’s surface gentleness carries a deeper doubleness: sleep as protection, dream as shadow, and innocence as something both radiant and vulnerable.

The a cappella scoring gives the piece a private, breathed quality. Without instruments, the choir becomes the cradle: a single body of sound holding the text in suspension.

  • Form Single-movement choral miniature.
  • Text William Blake, Cradle Song.
  • First Performance 21 November 2004, Vienna.

Text

Text

Text in English. The poem is closed until clicked.

English William Blake · Cradle Song

Sweet dreams, form a shade O’er my lovely infant’s head; Sweet dreams of pleasant streams By happy, silent, moony beams.

Sweet sleep, with soft down Weave thy brows an infant crown; Sweet sleep, angel mild, Hover o’er my happy child.

Sweet smiles, in the night Hover over my delight; Sweet smiles, mother’s smiles, All the livelong night beguiles.

Sweet moans, dovelike sighs, Chase not slumber from thy eyes; Sweet moans, sweeter smiles, All the dovelike moans beguiles.

Sleep, sleep, happy child, All creation slept and smiled; Sleep, sleep, happy sleep, While o’er thee thy mother weep.

Sweet babe, in thy face Holy image I can trace; Sweet babe, once like thee, Thy maker lay, and wept for me:

Wept for me, for thee, for all, When he was an infant small. Thou his image ever see, Heavenly face that smiles on thee.

Smiles on thee, on me, on all, Who became an infant small; Infant smiles are his own smiles; Heaven and earth to peace beguiles.

Listen to Work

Educational listening access to Lullaby, presented as an embedded performance video after the listening notice is accepted.

Now Playing

Lullaby

For mixed choir a cappella · text by William Blake

Online Materials

Public links related to Lullaby, including publisher materials, commercial recordings, and educational listening on this page.

Publisher and Materials

Published by Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski. The official publisher catalogue page and purchase / enquiry page are linked below.