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.

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
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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 against a primary source]
• by Sarah Beck , "The Virgin's cradle hymn", published 1933 [mixed chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Maurice Blower (1894 - 1982), "Cradle song", published 1935 [SATB chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Francis Boott (1813 - 1904), "Dormi, Jesu", published 1859 [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Ian Alfred Copley (b. 1926), "Dormi, Jesu", published 1975 [SSAA chorus a cappella], from Two Lullaby Carols [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Ervin J. Dunham , "Sleep, sweet babe", published 1972 [soprano and SATB chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Frederick Thomas Durrant (1895 - ?), "The Virgin's cradle hymn", published 1935 [SATB chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Herrick M. Hayes , "Lullaby", published 1957 [SATB chorus and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• 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 against a primary source]
• by Edward Alexander MacDowell (1860 - 1908), "Cradle hymn", published 1894 [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• 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 against a primary source]
• by Charles Macpherson (1870 - 1927), "The Virgin's cradle hymn", <<1893 [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Kenneth Meek , "Sleep, sweet babe", published 1951 [SATB chorus a cappella], from Three Christmas Carols [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Roland Rogers (1847 - 1927), "Lullaby", published 1873 [chorus], partsong [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Edmund Duncan Rubbra (1901 - 1986), "The Virgin's cradle hymn", published 1925 [SATB chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Jack Meredith Tatton (1901 - 1970), "The Virgin's cradle hymn", published 1940 [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Stephen D. Tuttle , "Dormi, Jesu!", published 1943 [soprano, SSAA chorus, and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958), "The Virgin's cradle song", 1894, first performed 1894 [voice and piano], first published in The Vocalist, April 1905 under the title "A cradle song" [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
• by Charles Lee Williams (1852? - 1935), "Dormi, Jesu!", published 1903 [five-part chorus a cappella] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in English, a translation by Arthur Charlton [an adaptation] DUT FRE GER ; composed by Herbert Fryer.
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• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Bertram Kottmann , copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission DUT ENG ENG FRE ; composed by Gary Bachlund.
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-04-03
Line count: 6
Word count: 31