Introduction to lullaby

Lullaby is also called lullaby. At first, it was a song that the mother sang at the cradle to make the baby fall asleep quietly, and later it gradually developed into a music genre. The musical image of lullaby generally has a warm, cordial and peaceful atmosphere. The tune is calm, slow and beautiful, full of mother's sincere wishes for her children's future. Accompaniment often imitates the rhythm of cradle swing. Because the rhythm of lullaby and boat song is very close, and both of them have lyrical melody and quiet medicinal gas, and have many characteristics of * * *, German composer Richard Strauss adopted Mendelssohn's melody of boat song in his lullaby of Family Symphony. Family Symphony is about a day in the composer's family life. Lullaby is one of them. This piece of music has two melodies: one is the melody representing children, which is the theme of children. It was played in silence by the ancient oboe, bassoon and viola. The sound played by the ancient oboe is one-third lower than that of the current oboe, and it is an oboe with keys. The other is the melody of a lullaby, which comes from a song about mother. On the bass clarinet, the first two bars are the melody of Mendelssohn's wordless song in G minor. The author combined the two melodies with polyphony. Supporting these two melodies is a rhythmic sound pattern describing the cradle swing, which is blown by two large pipes. At the end of this piece of music, we can hear the bell ring seven times, which is played by Zhong Qin. At this time, the theme of father appeared on the cello, and the theme of mother appeared on the violin, describing the eyes of parents' blessing and devoting themselves to their sweet sleeping children.

Lullaby, like boat songs, has both vocal works and instrumental works. 6/8 beat is also a typical lullaby beat. For example, the following 6/8 beat vocal lullaby is composed by Mozart. This song is based on the short melody of two bars, with clear and warm timbre and full of hope for children's future. Describe the rhythm of the cradle swinging gently from beginning to end. This song sings:

Go to sleep, my baby, the little bee has rested,

The birds have returned to their nests and the garden is so quiet.

The moon smiles in the sky, what a beautiful silver light.

Shine on you through the window, sleep, my baby,

Go to sleep, go to sleep!

Besides lullabies in 6/8 beats, lullabies in 3 beats and 4 beats can also describe the swing of the cradle in harmony and rhythm. Schubert's "lullaby" uses the constant alternation of stable chords and unstable chords to reflect the effect of cradle swing. This is a folk song, and the music is full of infinite tenderness and caress.

Brahms's "lullaby" is a rhythm fluctuation through strong and weak beats. To create the image of the cradle swaying. This is also a gentle and beautiful folk song, which shows the mother's cordial wishes to her children:

1. Good evening, good evening,

Roses and lilacs closed their eyes,

You also go to sleep.

Tomorrow morning,

Talking and dancing.

2. Good evening, good evening,

Angels are watching over you, go to sleep,

The baby tree will appear in the dream.

Sleep soundly, sleep sweetly,

You will dream of heaven.

Composers often use lullabies in operas. For example, the French composer Godard wrote a lullaby in his opera Yue Se Land. But its object is not a baby, but a dying woman. This is a lyric song with the characteristics of traditional Chinese opera music. The whole song is divided into two parts. The first part is equivalent to the recitation in the opera, and the second part is equivalent to the aria in the opera. Recitation tone is based on the tone of language. The first part of this lullaby has the nature of recitative, but it has strict three beats and is not as free as the real recitative. Aria is a lyric solo or dramatic solo in opera. The second part of this lullaby has some characteristics of lyric aria. But there is no three-stage structure commonly used in aria. The opera Yue Se Land is based on a poem by the French poet Lamartin. It tells the story of 1789, when the bourgeois revolution broke out in France, Celander, the mending soil of the monastery, hid in the Eagle Cave in the Taufenny Valley. Laurence, a noble girl, disguised herself as a boy and hid in this valley. Yue Se Lan hid her in her hiding eagle hole and found that she was a girl. They are in love with each other. Lawrence reminded him not to forget that he was a cultivator, so Joslan broke up with Lawrence and returned to the monastery. Many years later, Yue Se Lan was invited to make a confession for a dying woman in Paris. This woman is Lawrence. On her deathbed, she expressed her wish to marry Yue Se Lan in heaven. This lullaby is a lullaby sung by Utzelan for Lawrence. The first part is a monologue with the nature of recitative. The second part is a lullaby with four beats, and the accompaniment describes the shaking of the cradle.

Besides the lullabies for voices, there are also lullabies for various musical instruments. This kind of instrumental lullaby is more developed than vocal lullaby in content and scale. Instrumental lullaby is not limited to hypnosis and describing babies falling asleep, but more about expressing inner thoughts and feelings and depicting a quiet and poetic spiritual realm. Chopin's lullaby is a piano vocal poem with profound artistic conception. The left hand is a steady chord and an unstable chord repeated from beginning to end. Describe the swing of the cradle, this short melody or harmony that is repeated repeatedly, which is called fixed motivation. The right hand is a continuous variation of a phrase, and the whole song is constantly unfolded through variation according to the melody of a phrase; Under the background of fixed motivation, it develops from a single part to two overlapping parts; From simple and symmetrical rhythm to brisk cadenza. The right hand is like the wind blowing willow dance; And the left hand is like a solid trunk, motionless. The whole song has always maintained a quiet atmosphere, but it is full of subtle tone changes. The French writer Dumas had a vivid description when he talked about Chopin's lullaby in a play. He said, "Silent music gradually permeates the atmosphere. We are shrouded in the same feeling, which can be compared with the fact that after taking a bath in Turkey, all consciousness is dispelled and we enter a calm state. At this time, the body consumed by harmony has no other desires except rest; The mind sees that the prison doors that imprison it have all been opened, and it can go wherever it wants, but it always tends to have a blue dream. "

—— Lecture on Music Broadcasting by Shanghai People's Broadcasting Station, edited by Shanghai Music Publishing House, and Speech on Music Appreciation, edited by Mr. Qian Renkang.