Lullaby

:This page is for "lullaby", the song. See Lullaby (novel) for the Chuck Palahniuk novel.

Related Topics:
Lullaby (novel) - Chuck Palahniuk - Novel

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A lullaby is a soothing song sung to children before they go to sleep. The idea is that the song sung by a familiar voice will lull the child to sleep. Lullabies written by established classical composers are sometimes called Berceuse, which is a French word for lullaby, or cradle song. A famous berceuse is Frédéric Chopin's berceuse for solo piano, opus 57. Perhaps the most famous berceuse of all time (though it is called a lullaby) is Brahms' song Wiegenlied.

Related Topics:
Song - Child - Classical - French - Frédéric Chopin

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Johannes Brahms wrote his famous "Lullaby" as a cradle song (Wiegenlied, in German), originally for a young singer whom he knew, Bertha Faber, on the occasion of the birth of her first child. The English lyrics are similar to the original German lyrics.

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Typically a berceuse is in triple meter, or in a compound meter such as 6/8. Tonally most berceuses are simple, often merely alternating tonic and dominant harmonies: since the intended effect is to put a baby to sleep, wild chromaticism would be somewhat out of character. Another characteristic of the berceuse--for no reason other than convention--is a tendency to stay on the "flat side" --for example the berceuses by Chopin, Liszt and Balakirev are all in Db.

Related Topics:
Tonic - Dominant - Liszt - Balakirev

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Other famous examples of the genre include the piece by Maurice Ravel for violin and piano, Berceuse sur le nom de Gabriel Fauré; the Berceuse élégiaque by Ferruccio Busoni; the Berceuse by Igor Stravinsky which is included in the Firebird ballet, and Lullaby for String Quartet by George Gershwin.

Related Topics:
Maurice Ravel - Ferruccio Busoni - Igor Stravinsky - Firebird - George Gershwin

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In Tamil (a classical language), lullaby is called as "Thaalattu". 'Thal' means 'tongue'. A melodious sound is created by frequent movement of the tongue at the beginning of the song. Thus, it earned its name "thaalattu" in Tamil.

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