Biblioteca de la Guitarra y Cuerda Pulsada

Lullaby from the William Ballet Lute Book (ca. 1610)
This manuscript in the library of Trinity College Dublin is signed on the first page by William Ballet, and contains a number of popular tunes and dances for lute as well as for lyra viol. This carol, the only vocal piece in the manuscript, is found at the end of the viol section, and has a bass line written in tablature for the bass viol. We have transcribed it into continuo notation and performed it with theorbo, which may very well have been the most common way of performing such music after about 1620.

Sweet was the song the Virgin sang,
when she to Bethlem Judah came
and was deliver'd of a son,
that blessed Jesus hath to name:
“Lula, lula, lula, lullaby,
lula, lula, lula, lullaby.

Sweet babe,” sang she, “my son, and eke a Saviour born,
who hast vouchsafed from on high
to visit us that were forlorn:
Lalula, lalula, lalullaby.
Sweet babe,” sang she,
and rock'd him sweetly on her knee.