Lullay, lullay, thou lytil child

This short carol, a setting of an anonymous 15th-century text, was commissioned for a service given in Cambridge in 2012 by the Fairhaven Singers, conducted by Ralph Woodward. A witness account of The Nativity, it opens with a solo soprano (‘This other night I saw a sight, A mayd a cradle keep:’) before unfolding as a dialogue between Christ and the Virgin Mary, represented by the alternation of the full choir and a group of four soloists (SATB). The soloists may either be placed within the body of the main choir or be grouped together some distance away.