Sleep Child in Peace
for Chamber Orchestra and SSAA Choir [2fl. 2 Cl. in Bb. 2 Horns in F. Strings]
Duration c. 9'
Premiered February 2022, conducted Mr. Jacob Kaminski
Program Notes
On July 27th of 2021, my baby brother, Ashton Xander Hodgson, was born. Sadly, I got to spend little time with him seeing as less than a month later I would return to school. A reality I have had to cope with is the fact that I will be away at college, then graduate school, then working a career for most of his growing up. It pains me to know that he may never know much about me. Writing this piece, Sleep Child in Peace, was my way of leaving behind a message and a gift showing to him who I am. He may be too young to appreciate this work, but I hope one day he’ll be able to understand it. In terms of musical inspiration for this piece, I drew from both impressionistic music and it’s iconic usage of whole tone based tonalities, as well as the musical styling of the lullaby Baby Mine from Walt Disney’s 1941 film Dumbo. The specific choice to use this song as a model for the chorale is quite significant, as Baby Mine was a song my mother sang to my sisters and I when we were young. Although Ashton will grow up hearing that same song, I hoped to gift him new music to drift peacefully to sleep with.
Lyrics: Sleep, sleep child in peace. The sky looks upon you with blessings. The moon and stars shine brightly. Sleep, sleep child in peace.