Description
Kallman Creates Publications
A gentle lullaby for soprano solo voice and piano.
Duration: 3’00”
Composer’s Notes
This was a gift to my oldest daughter, Brittany, on her 17th birthday. It is a setting of a lovely short poem by the American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906). Brittany premiered it on a full recital in early June 2001. She used it on the program within a set of two other lullabies that I have arranged: “Donata’s Lament and Lullaby” (from the musical Donata’s Gift) and “Thy Holy Wings.” I think “A Farm Child’s Lullaby” works nicely as a mellow encore on a recital. It is appropriate for the intermediate to advanced singer. Here is the text:
Oh, the little bird is rocking in the cradle of the wind,
And it’s bye, my little wee one, bye;
The harvest is all gathered and the pippins are all binned,
So it’s bye my little wee one, bye;
The little rabbit’s hiding in the golden shock of corn,
The thrifty squirrel is laughing bunny’s idleness to scorn;
You are smiling with the angels in your slumber, smile till morn;
So it’s bye my little wee one, bye;
It’s bye my little wee one, bye.
Why the bobwhite thinks the snowflake is a brother to his song,
And it’s bye, my little wee one, bye;
And the chimney sings the sweeter when the wind is blowing strong,
So it’s bye my little wee one, bye;
The snow may be a-flying o’er the meadow and the hill,
The ice has checked the chatter of the little laughing rill,
But in your cosy cradle you are warm and cosy still;
So it’s bye my little wee one, bye;
It’s bye my little wee one, bye.
–Paul Laurence Dunbar
