The Virgin's Cradle-Hymn Copied from a print of the Virgin in a Roman Catholic village in Germany | The Virgin's cradle hymn | Sleep, sweet babe! my cares beguiling

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
- Go to the text page.

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.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

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