a lullaby for the nativity (saa)
- Catalog ID: S-451
- First Line: lullay, lullaby, my Babe...
- Composer: Phillip Rhodes
- Voicing: saa
- Accompaniment: organ, violin
- Language: English
- Country: Usa
- Other: 2018, christmas, holiday, women
- Score: View Score
- Sound: Listen
Description
Lullaby, lullay,
My Babe here asleep while I watch, While I watch and sing for you.
Lullay, lullaby, my Babe,
While Angels sing of Peace on Earth and
of God’s Love to all,
For in God’s Love is found the dearest desire
of every soul.
Lullay, lullaby, my Babe,
While lowly shepherds watch their flocks
through the night,
May this Love be a bright and shining star
to guide our days.
My sweet Babe, You bring us Peace. You give us Joy, You give us Love.
Program Notes
The musical genesis of A Lullaby for the Nativity comes from an actual lullaby which I wrote for our daughter when she was born in 1966. The range and nature of the original single-line melody was written to suit her mother’s voice.
Since that time, the lullaby has gone through two other iterations: the first is a setting called The Virgin Mary’s Lullaby for solo voice with violin and organ accompaniment. The melody was expanded to fulfill its new role and a harmonic context was added. A new set of words was created to reflect the aura surrounding the birth of the holy child.
The second version is the one which is recorded here. It is for two and three-part women’s chorus with basically the same violin and organ accompaniment and the same text as Mary’s lullaby. This setting was written for the women of the Western Carolina Community Chorus and their director, Dr. Robert Holquist.
Phillip Rhodes
Note: A separate violin part is available and is provided with multiple copy orders or by request.