Lyrics drawn by Frank DiGiacomo from The Sunken Bell, A Fairy Play, by Gerhart Hauptmann, freely rendered into English verse by Charles Henry Meltzer, published by Doubleday, Page & Company in 1911.
In Act Two Heinrich, the bell maker, is very ill and unconscious. His wife Magda is distressed. In her absence, Rautendelein, disguised as a peasant girl, has come to their home and while singing, makes magical gestures of protection over the human man she loves. After her song, Heinrich awakes and is cured, to the relief of the returning Magda, whom he hardly notices. Rautendelein stands at the side in a glow of light.
The live performance offered is by Christine Klemperer, accompanied by Frank DiGiacomo at DiGiacomo in Concert on May 28, 1975, at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York.
The Lullaby is available as a downloadable Sheet Music PDF, a live performance MP3, a piano-only MP3 rendering of the sheet music for rehearsal purposes and a synth voice and piano MP3.
LYRICS
Rautendelein:
Master, close your eyes, you will be mine when you arise.
Happy dreams shall dull your pain, help to make you whole again.
Hidden treasures now grow bright, to the depths now give your light.
Glowing hounds in vain do bark, they whine and whimper in the dark.
But we who serve him glad will be, for the Master sets us free.
A new man be, for the future be now free!