Lute-Book Lullaby ('Sweet was the Song') 1' 30" SATB a cappella

Programme Notes

Every year I write a carol or two, and stretching right back to 1980 is my setting of the Lute-Book Lullaby – 'Sweet was the Song the Virgin sang'. It won a competition organised by the Goldsmith's Choral Union, and was first performed in two concerts given in the Royal Festival Hall that Christmas under the direction of Brian Wright. This was the first of my pieces to be published.

© Ronald Corp, 2006

The text is by the 17th century William Ballett:

Sweet was the song the Virgin sang,
When she to Bethlem Juda came
And was delivered of a son,
That blessed Jesu hath to name.
Lulla, lulla, lulla, lullaby.

'Sweet babe,' sang she, 'my son,'
And eke a Saviour born,
Who had vouchsafed from on high
To visit us that were forlorn:
'Sweet babe,' sang she,
And rocked him sweetly on her knee.

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