by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834)
Sleep, sweet babe! my cares beguiling
Language: English after the Latin
Sleep, sweet babe! my cares beguiling: Mother sits beside thee smiling; Sleep, my darling, tenderly! If thou sleep not, mother mourneth, Singing as her wheel she turneth: Come, soft slumber, balmily!
About the headline (FAQ)
First published in Courier, August 1811, revised 1817 with the word "Roman" removed from the title.Text Authorship:
- by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834), "The Virgin's Cradle-Hymn Copied from a print of the Virgin in a Roman Catholic village in Germany" [an adaptation] [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Latin by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ronald Kent Arnatt (b. 1930), "The Virgin's cradle hymn", published 1955 [ soprano, alto, and SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Sarah Beck , "The Virgin's cradle hymn", published 1933 [ mixed chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Maurice Blower (1894 - 1982), "Cradle song", published 1935 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Francis Boott (1813 - 1904), "Dormi, Jesu", published 1859 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ian Alfred Copley (b. 1926), "Dormi, Jesu", published 1975 [ SSAA chorus a cappella ], from Two Lullaby Carols [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ervin J. Dunham , "Sleep, sweet babe", published 1972 [ soprano and SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Frederick Thomas Durrant (1895 - ?), "The Virgin's cradle hymn", published 1935 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Herrick M. Hayes , "Lullaby", published 1957 [ SATB chorus and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Tasker Howard (1890 - 1964), "The Virgin's cradle hymn", published 1947 [ SSA chorus and instrumental ensemble or piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edward Alexander MacDowell (1860 - 1908), "Cradle hymn", published 1894 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Alexander Campbell MacKenzie, Sir (1847 - 1935), "Dormi, Jesu (The Virgin's cradle hymn)", published 1892 [ mezzo-soprano or alto, piano, and violin or violoncello obbligato ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Macpherson (1870 - 1927), "The Virgin's cradle hymn", <<1893 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Kenneth Meek , "Sleep, sweet babe", published 1951 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Three Christmas Carols [sung text not yet checked]
- by John Theodore Livingston Raynor (1909 - 1970), "The Virgin's Cradle-Hymn", op. 365 (1952) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Roland Rogers (1847 - 1927), "Lullaby", published 1873 [ chorus ], partsong [sung text not yet checked]
- by Edmund Duncan Rubbra (1901 - 1986), "The Virgin's cradle hymn", published 1925 [ SATB chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Jack Meredith Tatton (1901 - 1970), "The Virgin's cradle hymn", published 1940 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Stephen D. Tuttle , "Dormi, Jesu!", published 1943 [ soprano, SSAA chorus, and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
- by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "A Cradle Song", alternate title: "The Virgin's Cradle Song", 1894, published 1905, first performed 1894 [ voice and piano ], first published in The Vocalist, April 1905 under the title 'A Cradle Song'; later publications used the title 'The Virgin's Cradle Song' [sung text not yet checked]
- by Charles Lee Williams (1852? - 1935), "Dormi, Jesu!", published 1903 [ five-part chorus a cappella ] [sung text not yet checked]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Arthur Charlton [an adaptation] ; composed by Herbert Fryer.
- Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Bertram Kottmann , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission ; composed by Gary Bachlund.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-04-03
Line count: 6
Word count: 31