Cradle Song - music arranged by John Rutter

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John Rutter’s arrangement of ‘Cradle Song’ – recorded live at our Christmas Concert in 2016

The musical melody Rutter chooses to set his Cradle song relentlessly clings to a rocking triple meter, and the lines of poetry (even when set to different musical textures or harmonies) follow a relaxed and repetitious series of seven-syllable phrases; in these elements he follows the original "Flemish traditional" carol he is reverently setting. The very first line of text sets of the common image of Mary beside the simple stable in which the new-born infant, the Holy Child, is laid; both the poetic images and their musical guise here are completely conventional. A change in musical texture solidifies the message that it is Jesus lying in this stall, even though He as divine Word "comes to us on earth a stranger." The final line sings a "lullaby," with just a hint of unease in the dissonance under the "little one sleeping"; the unease quickly subsides.

The middle verse introduces the unlikely but highly British figure of St. George, who as sung by the men's voices, is also envisioned by the side the Child's cradle. As the women provide a musical halo above, the Saint and the oxen and asses witness the simplicity of this Child; a much simpler harmonic setting of the final lullaby closes the verse. The third verse, on the other hand, responds to the "angels' watch" with a resounding "Hosanna" in a strong unison texture that gives way to full and loud evocation of the "seraphim" who sing before the same cradle. Jesus' mother Mary resides at the heart of this verse, watching the child, though the final line of the final verse returns to the Lullaby with the subtle hints of harmonic unease on the word "sleeping." Rutter might be introducing a hint of foreshadowing, that the simple Babe being rocked in the manger will go on to a life of suffering to serve all who gaze so upon Him.