bedtime music

Music has long been a part of our bedtime routine, along with reading, prayers, and snuggling.  After lights out, the music comes on.

 I've been playing Perchance to Dream, piano pieces mainly from the Romantic era of music performed by Carol Rosenberger, since I was a child.  It went to college with me.  Now our bambini fall asleep to it.  I often do also, as it's so ingrained in my psyche as the "night-night" cue.  If I manage to fend off its sleep-inducing effect, I mark time by it, since the order of the pieces is by now very familiar.  A few of the pieces were among the repertoire I studied as a piano major in college, including "Mignon" by Robert Schumann (track #8) and Johannes Brahms' Intermezzo in E-flat Major, Op. 117 No. 1 (track #16).  This latter piece is probably what I would consider my hallmark, closest-to-my-heart piece of piano literature I studied.  Inscribed to an unnamed loved one with words akin to "Sleep softly, my child.  It pains me so to see you crying," the piece endeared itself to me long before I had children.

If pressed to name one favorite composer, Johannes Brahms is probably mine.  The sonorous melodies, rich harmonies, and expressiveness of his music speak to my particular brand of musical taste.  Brahms at Bedtime: A Sleepytime Serenade is an instrumental compilation of orchestral and vocal works by various performers and instrumentation (no voices).  Brahms' "Lullaby" is, of course, included (track #1), as is my dear Intermezzo in E-flat Major (track #11).  Among others is the lied (or song) "Wie Melodien" transcribed for cello and piano (track #7) and one of the variations (track #12) from Brahms' much larger work Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, Op. 24, an intriguing and multi-faceted piece first introduced to me when my college piano professor was preparing it for recording and would perform it for his students in our weekly studio class. 

Intrigued by an elementary school marimba ensemble concert in a microbrewery/pizza parlor on our honeymoon to Portland, Oregon, my beloved and I sought out some marimba recordings upon our return home.  Our favorite quickly became Christian Roderburg's marimba transcriptions of Bach cello suites (BWV 1010-1012).  I've read that Bach is actually not the best music for sleep because it is so complex and stimulating to the brain, but the marimba seems to counteract the complexity and lure the listener into a nice rainy-day kind of sleepiness. 

Sleep is elusive around here these days (at least for some of us, the raven-haired lass being the exception).  Good thing this collection of bedtime music is queued up and ready.  With such strong sleep associations these recordings have, eventually drowsiness overtakes even the most obstinate sleep fighter -- that would be me.