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Come, heavy sleep

'Music and sleep have always belonged together,' writes Arno Lücker, who traces their intertwining history in this playlist, curated exclusively for IDAGIO. Sink back, relax and drift away with music from Dowland to Shostakovich.

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  • Dowland • Orlando Sleepeth P. 61
  • Bach • Goldberg Variations (Clavier-Übung IV) BWV 988 • Aria da Capo è Fine
  • Bridge • Adagio ma non troppo for Organ H. 11 • Adagio
  • Humperdinck • Dornröschen, Suite • 1. Prelude
  • Anonymous (Traditional) • A dormir ahora mesmo (Murcia)
  • Schumann • Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) op. 15 • 12. Kind im Einschlummern
  • Dowland • The First Booke of Songes or Ayres • 13. Sleep, wayward thoughts
  • Schubert • Ländler for Piano D 366 • No. 15 in D flat major
  • Byrd • Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs of Sadness and Piety • Songs of Sadness and Piety • 32. Lullaby, My Sweet Little Baby
  • Obiedov • Songs and Dances of Latin America • 1. Lullaby
  • Anonymous (Christmas) • Schlaf, mein Kindlein (Baiushki Baiu) • Schlaf, mein Kindlein
  • Tchaikovsky • Spiashchaia krasavitsa (The Sleeping Beauty) op. 66 TH 13 • Act II • No. 17 Panorama
  • Gurney • Elizabethan Songs • 4. Sleep
  • Shostakovich • Hamlet, Suite from the Incidental Music op. 32a • 10. Lullaby. Andantino
  • Lindblad • Lullaby (Vaggvisa)
  • Reimann • Schlaf wohl, du Himmelsknabe du (Instrumental version)
  • Pilkington • The First Book of Songs or Airs of 4 Parts • 6. Rest, sweet nymphs, let goulden sleep
  • Brahms • Waltzes op. 39 (Version for Solo Piano) • Waltz No. 15 in A flat major
  • Reger • Schlummerlied WoO VII/33 • 'Schlaf wohl, schlaf wohl'
  • Elgar • Three Bavarian Dances op. 27a • 2. Lullaby
  • Carmichael • Puppet Show for Piano four hands • 4. Lullaby of the Sleeping Doll
  • Anonymous (Traditional) • Schlafe, mein süsses Kind
  • Debussy • Children's Corner L 119 (113) • 2. Jimbo's Lullaby (Berceuse des éléphants). Assez modéré
  • Schubert • Wiegenlied (Wie sich der Äuglein kindlicher Himmel) op. 105/2 D 867 • Wie sich der Äuglein kindlicher Himmel
  • Rachmaninoff • Moments Musicaux op. 16 • 5. Adagio sostenuto in D flat major
  • Liszt • Consolations S 172 • 3. Lento placido in D flat major
  • Brahms • Lieder (Songs) op. 49 • 4. Wiegenlied

Music and sleep have always belonged together. Even shamans in primitive, brutal prehistory are likely to have sung songs to help the insomniac drift off, to expose the sick to the healing powers of slumber.

And it will be so forever. For ever. Mothers and fathers will always sing their children to sleep. The restless will always seek solace in the calming strains of soft music, music that eases the gentle drift into the realm of slumber: to sleep, perchance to dream.

This playlist is for those who've had a hard day at work. For those who can't sleep. For all who want to sleep. For all those burdened by the travails of life. For the unwell. But, above all, for all those who believe that music can heal – or offer the comfort and consolation of those lullabies from long ago that echo in our memories.

Come, sleep!