Nativity Cradle Songs

Would you be surprised that the Cradle Song is a serious genre within the Western classical tradition? Of course, people everywhere sing to babies and need no musical training to do so! They generally pass on the same folk-based tunes their parents sang to them. Consequently, we can assume that the melodies Mary sang to Baby Jesus would be Middle Eastern in terms of pitch content and expressive intonation, and that the rhythms would follow the prose rhythm of Aramaic.

Trevisani
Francesco Trevisani (1706)

Certainly her tunes would have been different from the symmetrical Italianate melodies we sing in our Western lullabies. Still, it’s precisely Western tradition that has shaped our ears when it comes to cradle songs, and not the peasant songs of a Nazarene hillside.

Cradle songs had a rebirth in the 19th-century as a type of formal art song and character piece. They became popular in aristocratic salons and appeared in new arrangements as sheet music in music stores catering to the growing middle class. A number of composers who ordinarily wrote sonatas, concertos, and operas penned pieces in the style of lullabies.

These newly composed lullabies reflected a pan-European interest in folk genres. Some pieces sported the French title berceuse while those by German composers were called Wiegenlieder (“rocking or cradle songs”). Often they were cast in “compound meter”—a rhythmic pattern made up of groups of three beats. You can see how natural compound rhythm sounds by counting the pattern out loud, several times, slightly emphasizing the underlined number in each grouping.

1 2 3  4 5 6

Can you feel the gentle oscillation? Isn’t that exactly what you’d want to rock a baby to sleep?

Of the accomplished composers composing cradle songs, none was greater than Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). And no, I’m not about to highlight the famous lullaby we sing to the words “Lullaby, and Goodnight.” Little could Brahms have predicted that this one, published in 1868 as Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, gute Nacht (Cradle Song: Good Evening, Good Night), would still be a mainstay of nurseries around the world.

Instead, I’d like to tell you about another of Brahms’ cradle songs. He called it Geistliches Wiegenlied, or Spiritual Lullaby and composed it to celebrate a child born to two very special musician friends. It was published in 1884 as the second of a pair of songs labeled Op. 91.

The first time I heard Geistliches Wiegenlied, I was a student hired to accompany a violist in a recital. The scoring for alto voice, viola, and piano struck me as unusual, but I soon learned it was typical both of its era and of Brahms’ preference for rich, lower ranges. At the first rehearsal, the violist plopped the music in front of me, introduced me to the mezzo soprano, and off we went. I was utterly captivated. It sounds strange to jump up and down in excitement over a cradle song, but inside, quietly, I did.

The beguiling text comes from a German translation of a poem by early Baroque playwright Lope de Vega (1532-1635). For Germans, accustomed to snowy Christmases, the poet’s image of angels stilling the palm trees would have evoked a tender response. And yet, the underlying message of the text is restless and prophetic. It foretells Christ’s ministry and death and thus fits well into the Advent season.

No recording, in my opinion, can match the historic performances of Jessye Norman who often sang this song. (You can download it here.) But you’ll also find other vocalists performing it whom you may like even better. For violists, it’s a joy to play. The piano part is beautiful too. Whichever performance you choose, listen several times. Realize that it takes a fine violists and mature singer to find the right level of intensity for this piece. Tender, yet strong. Vibrant, yet humble.

Follow the text when you listen, if you can. Think about how the opening section with viola and piano seems to make a complete piece. Then, the vocal line enters, ascending luxuriously as if it were being pulled upward like toffee. The middle of the song is more agitated and departs from the undulating meter. Afterwards, the pastoral introduction with its lullaby atmosphere returns.

Be prepared to fall in love. In fact, while not the first piece associated with Christmas Eve, you may find it complements beloved works like Adeste Fideles and Silent Night. In fact, its melody is just as hypnotically beautiful as O Holy Night and has a similar power to move listeners deeply. May it be a musical blessing to you and your family today, the last day before Christmas Eve.

Die ihr schwebet
Um diese Palmen
In Nacht und Wind,
Ihr heilgen Engel,
Stillet die Wipfel!
Es schlummert mein Kind.
All of you who hover
Around these palms
In the night and the wind,
You holy angels,
Be still, O ye treetops,
For my child is slumbering.
Ihr Palmen von Bethlehem
Im Windesbrausen,
Wie mögt ihr heute
So zornig sausen!
O rauscht nicht also!
Schweiget, neiget
Euch leis und lind;
Stillet die Wipfel!
Es schlummert mein Kind.
You palms from Bethlehem
In the howling wind,
How is it possible to bluster
With such wrath today!
O make not such a roar!
Be silent, bend yourselves
Softly and gently down;
Be still, O ye treetops!
For my child is slumbering.
Der Himmelsknabe
Duldet Beschwerde,
Ach, wie so müd er ward
Vom Leid der Erde.
Ach nun im Schlaf ihm
Leise gesänftigt
Die Qual zerrinnt,
Stillet die Wipfel!
Es schlummert mein Kind.
This little boy from heaven
Is patient through the pain,
Oh, how tired he has become
From the sorrow of the earth.
Look, now in his sleep,
Quietly eased,
His suffering has softened.
Be still, O ye treetops!
For my child is slumbering.
Grimmige Kälte
Sauset hernieder,
Womit nur deck ich
Des Kindleins Glieder!
O all ihr Engel,
Die ihr geflügelt
Wandelt im Wind,
Stillet die Wipfel!
Es schlummert mein Kind.
The fierce cold
Forces itself through us,
What can I use to cover up
The little baby’s limbs?
O angels, all of you,
Ye who, winged,
Wander across the wind,
Be still, O ye treetops!
For my child is slumbering.
Translation by Carol Reynolds