Pauline Viardot (1821-1910)
soprano Elissa Alvarez
pianist Eunmi Ko
Written by the generously talented and revered (while still not yet fully recorded) singer, pianist, educator, host, polyglot, and composer Pauline Viardot (née García), this late song depicts the tender and miraculous slumber and awakening of the infant Jesus. The static voice line mirrors his sleeping, and rises dramatically with the piano at the end as his attention arrives on his holy mother and reverberates through the world.
English Translation:
Now Jesus slept
Laid on a swaddle,
The virgin watched over him
And an angel on the wing
Acted as curtain
Hanging over his head.
At his feet a lamb
A sweet and shy beast,
Waited, confident
his master awakes.
And smiling Jesus
With lips ruddy,
Finally opened his eyes
which he turned to his mother,
And the night sky
Gave way to the light.
