Christmas Lullaby
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| Christmas Lullaby | |
|---|---|
| by John Rutter | |
 Maria mit dem Kinde, by Dagmar Anders, 1990 | |
| Dedication | David Willcocks |
| Published | 1990 |
| Scoring | SATB choir and piano or organ or small orchestra |
Christmas Lullaby is a popular sacred choral composition by John Rutter, a lullaby for Christmas. He wrote his own text, beginning "Clear in the darkness",[1] three stanzas with the refrain "Ave Maria" ("Hail Mary").[2] Rutter scored the piece for four vocal parts (SATB) and piano, adding other versions.[3] He composed it on a 1989 commission from The Bach Choir for the celebration of the 70th birthday of their conductor David Willcocks.[3] It was first performed at the choir's Christmas concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, an event that Rutter knew from being a member of the audience as a boy.[3]
The work was published by Oxford University Press in 1990. It was published in a German edition, Weihnachts-Wiegenlied, with a text translated by Alex Grendelmeier, by Bärenreiter in 1998.[2] It became part of the John Rutter Anniversary Edition.[3]
Christmas Lullaby has been recorded several times,[4] notably with the composer conducting the Cambridge Singers on an album The John Rutter Christmas Album.[5] It was also sung by the chamber choir Polyphony with the City of London Sinfonia, conducted by Stephen Layton.[1]
