{"id":451,"date":"2013-05-24T07:30:39","date_gmt":"2013-05-23T21:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/catesings.org\/?p=451"},"modified":"2013-05-24T07:30:39","modified_gmt":"2013-05-23T21:30:39","slug":"friday-fun-a-charm-benjamin-britten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/2013\/05\/24\/friday-fun-a-charm-benjamin-britten\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Fun: A Charm (Benjamin Britten)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is, quite simply, the most evil lullaby I’ve ever heard.<\/p>\n

[youtube http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W_Wb6hqkbAs&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0]I especially like “The worst is called Tisiphone \/ Shall lash thee to eternity; And therefore sleep thou peacefully.”\u00a0 Because that would make me feel better, I know…<\/p>\n

This piece is part of a song cycle called “A Charm of Lullabies<\/a>“, the rest of which are really quite innocuous.\u00a0 This one, though, has a text by Thomas Randolph, who clearly had a baby who was teething in a big way.\u00a0 Though I suppose it’s not really much worse than “Hushabye baby”, which ends with the baby’s cradle falling from the treetop with the baby still inside it.\u00a0 Or perhaps not by that point.\u00a0 (I really shouldn’t write these posts late at night, should I?)<\/p>\n

The singer, Alice Coote, is a rather wonderful mezzo-soprano – I love her deep low notes, and the wonderful way she puts the mood of the song across.\u00a0 Scary stuff.<\/p>\n

Here’s another recording, this time by Sarah Connelly<\/a>.\u00a0 To me, it sounds just that little bit more unhinged than Alice Coote’s version, which is always a good thing, but her low notes are a bit too pretty for my taste.\u00a0 I like the colour of Coote’s voice in this better.\u00a0 Both gorgeous recordings, though.<\/p>\n

Oh, and just in case you missed the lyrics, here they are:<\/p>\n

Quiet!
\nSleep! or I will make
\nErinnys whip thee with a snake,
\nAnd cruel Rhadamanthus take
\nThy body to the boiling lake,
\nWhere fire and brimstones never slake;
\nThy heart shall burn, thy head shall ache,
\nAnd ev’ry joint about thee quake;
\nAnd therefore dare not yet to wake!
\nQuiet, sleep!
\nQuiet, sleep!
\nQuiet!<\/p>\n

Quiet!
\nSleep! or thou shalt see
\nThe horrid hags of Tartary,
\nWhose tresses ugly serpants be,
\nAnd Cerberus shall bark at thee,
\nAnd all the Furies that are three
\nThe worst is called Tisiphone,
\nShall lash thee to eternity;
\nAnd therefor sleep thou peacefully
\nQuiet, sleep!
\nQuiet, sleep!
\nQuiet!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Sweet dreams)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is, quite simply, the most evil lullaby I’ve ever heard. [youtube http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W_Wb6hqkbAs&version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5,6,22,48,74,635,723],"class_list":["post-451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-charm","tag-a-charm-of-lullabies","tag-alice-coote","tag-art-song","tag-benjamin-britten","tag-sarah-connelly","tag-thomas-randolph"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catesings.catespeaks.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}