Languages from the Cradle - lullabies of Europe

Danish Lullabies
There is a living tradition for composing lullabies in Denmark. New lullabies continue to be written, and the old, popular ones are being re-recorded in both traditional and new musical arrangements. For example, when Prince Christian – the Danish Crown Couple’s first child – was born in 2005, lullabies were written to celebrate the occasion: "Så fik livet mening" (Now life has a meaning) and "Marys vuggevise" (Mary’s lullaby).
The Danish lullabies in this collection are from the 19th - 21st century. Well-known writers such as Halfdan Rasmusssen, Christian Winther, Johan Ludvig Heiberg, Harald Bergstedt and Carl Ploug wrote a great deal of lullabies during this period. Several compositions have music from popular composers such as Carl Nielsen, Oluf Ring, Christopher Weyse, Benny Andersen and Sigurd Barrett. This shows that lullabies are considered a serious genre that composers find interesting to work on, making the lullaby tradition not only a private endeavour (i.e., not exclusively an intimate song from the parent to the child), but also the poet’s well thought-out work and well-structured poem with rhymes and themes.
There is a difference in theme between the new and the old Danish lullabies. The oldest from the 19th century have serious – often, religious -- themes, while newer ones have a lighter, brighter and carefree content. The old songs may be an evening prayer, thanking God for the day and asking Him to watch over, and strengthen one’s belief. Some of these were originally written as psalms using religious language, which would sound strange to many Danes today. Old lullabies can also have an element of child upbringing. The lullaby, "Mues sang få Hanse-mand" (Mother’s song to little Hans), written in Jutlandic dialect has a traditional theme: Here, the mother sings to her youngest child about her worries and hopes for her children’s future.
The newer lullabies tend to be fun and full of imagination. They are about exotic jungle animals and even stuffed toy animals that children can sleep with. Some lullabies’ setting is fairytale or imaginary land, and some are written in a funny and playful language, such as Halfdan Rasmussen’s lyrics. "Godnatsang" (Goodnight Song) is, in its simplicity, a nice little description of a child getting tucked into bed -- something every child of today can relate to.
The lullaby "Solen er så rød mor" (The sun is so red, mother) can be considered a "transition lullaby" since its language and content are modern, yet with a serious theme. It speaks of nightfall and – for the child and the adult – evening is related with scary things: darkness, death, night sounds and its eeriness. The mother soothes her child by singing to him about the bright stars where he imagines other little boys living.
Today, lullabies are used to stimulate language learning among bilingual children in Denmark. There have been several projects in the Danish libraries where mother’s groups with mixed ethnic backgrounds met and listened to and sang lullabies in both Danish and their maternal language. Thus, lullabies strengthen language learning as well as connecting people across different cultures.

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Disclaimer: The project Languages from the cradle has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.