Some melodies keep following me—I go around humming them— and they leave their marks in my pieces. My little piano piece Lullabies is based on two of those melodies.
To begin with, the first melody was a sketch for an opera. Later it was—with text by the English text writer Selima Hill—incorporated in my song cycle Roses are Falling for mezzo-soprano and piano. It is a love song, but I have always felt it is a lullaby, and it also turns up as a lullaby in the opera—with text by Peter Abrahamsen—which I work on at the moment. Here the lover sings and hums for the beloved—and he falls asleep.
The second melody has always been a lullaby. I used to sing it to my youngest daughter when she was going to fall asleep. Later for some reason, it turned up in the background of the last movement of my trombone concerto Birds and Bells.

Bent Sørensen