In a BBC radio programme in the 70’s, the presenter, O. Michael, introduced the lullabies with theses words: “Of all folk songs, probably those with the greatest staying power are the lullabies created to do the special and subtle job of sending an unwilling baby to sleep.

Some melodies, even those used by highly developed societies seem hardly to change in the course of thousands years. There’s a theory that the kind of lullabies that people hear in infancy may determine the whole course of a nation musicality”.

A lullaby is a soothing song, usually sung to children before they go to sleep, but they can also be sung to insomniac teenagers and adults as well to help them sleep. The idea is that the song sung by a familiar and beautiful voice will lull the child to sleep. Lullabies written by established classical composers are often given the form-name berceuse, which is French for lullaby, or cradle song.*

Perhaps the most famous berceuse of all is Johannes Brahms' song Wiegenlied, or "cradle song", called Brahms' Lullaby in English. Brahms wrote his "Lullaby" originally for a young singer whom he knew, Bertha Faber, on the occasion of the birth of her second son. The English lyrics are similar to the original German lyrics.*

*Source Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lullabies

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