(Fr.: ‘cradle’, ‘lullaby’; Ger. Wiegenlied).
A
gentle song intended for lulling young children to sleep. In instrumental music
the term usually refers to a character-piece for piano. The defining work of
the genre is Chopin's Berceuse in D
major op.57 (1843–4), a model imitated by several
other composers. Its most notable characteristics are compound time, a quiet
dynamic level, a tonic pedal bass and a ‘rocking’ accompaniment oscillating
between chords I and V, over which Chopin places a simple melody later varied
with a profusion of filigree passagework.
The
first version of Liszt's Berceuse (1854), also in D major, is indebted to Chopin's, but the
revised version (1862) is much more elaborate, featuring complex chromatic
excursions and an extended coda. The ‘rocking’ feel of compound metre is here
achieved by the use of triplets within 4/4 time; the same is true of the berceuse
from Gounod's opera La reine de Saba, which Liszt freely arranged as a
piano berceuse (1865). The ‘Berceau’ section of Liszt's symphonic poem Von
der Wiege bis zum Grabe (1881–2) was originally written as a berceuse for
piano solo, but departs further from the Chopin model, displaying the austerity
of Liszt's later style. Other examples of the piano berceuse are by Balakirev
(again in D) and
Debussy (Berceuse héroïque). Ravel composed a Berceuse sur le nom de
Gabriel Fauré for violin and piano, while Busoni's Berceuse élégiaque
op.42 and the ‘Berceuse’ from Stravinsky's The Firebird are scored for
orchestra. One of the most beautiful and sophisticated vocal berceuses is
Brahms's Geistliches Wiegenlied op.91 no.2; a famous operatic berceuse
is in Benjamin Godard's opera Jocelyn (1888).
See also Lullaby.
KENNETH L. HAMILTON