Poet: N/A
Source: Eight Folksong Arrangements
Date of Composition: 1976 (Apr. – Jun.)
Publication: Eight Folksong Arrangements
Voice Difficulty Level: Moderate
Subject: A lullaby.
Range: Eb4 – F5
Tessitura: F4 – C5
Tempo: [Gently rocking]; 6/4
Duration: 02:39
Vocal Characteristics: Requires some pitch independence; ascending and descending octave leaps;
Piano Difficulty Level: Moderate
Accompaniment Characteristics: Both hands in treble clef for the first two verses; undulating eighth notes in left hand with right hand melodic interjections; detached chordal section; undulating section reverses hands
Additional Comments: For harp and voice; transcribed for piano by Colin Matthews in Benjamin Britten: Complete Folksong Arrangements. *Words and melody from North countrie ballads, songs and pipe tunes, arr. W. Gillies Whittaker (J. Curwen & Sons), n.d. Britten made an earlier arrangement of this song for voice and guitar in ca. October 1958, which was included in volume 6 of the Folk Song Arrangements. Although different, the two accompaniments share one or two brief melodic patterns.
*From the Britten Thematic Catalog http://www.brittenproject.org/works/BTC1175