Dormi, Jesu

For SATB chorus (with limited divisi) and piano
c. 6′

Winner, Houston Choral Society Choral Composition Competition, 2024

Houston Choral Society
Houston Choral Society is a professional quality civic chorus that has been serving the greater Houston area for more than 35 years. Its mission is to perform great choral music and advance the choral arts to audiences in the Houston area and beyond.

Competition
Houston Choral Society’s inaugural composition competition called for a new work for SATB chorus with piano accompaniment, between 4 and 6 minutes in length. Texts can be sacred or secular.

Text
“Dormi, Jesu,” also known as The Virgin’s Cradle Hymn

The text of “Dormi, Jesu” appeared on a sixteen-century devotional engraving by Flemish engraver Hieronymus Wierix, accompanying an image of the infant Jesus being rocked by angels to sleep while the Virgin Mary does needlework alongside his cradle. Encountering the engraving in a German inn during a visit in 1799, the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge copied the Latin text and published it upon his return.

Dormi, Jesu! Mater ridet
quae tam dulcem somnum videt,
Dormi, Jesu! blandule!
Si non dormis, Mater plorat,
Inter fila cantans orat,
Blande, veni, somnule.

Sleep, Jesus! Mother smiles
who sees such sweet sleep,
Sleep, Jesus, tenderly!
If thou sleep not, Mother weeps,
While she spins, in song she prays,
Come, gentle little sleep.

Performance
March 7, 2025 – Houston Choral Society at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Houston, Texas

Score
Score sample below. Please contact the composer for the complete score