Rest, Sweet Nymphes

• Date: 1605
• Composer: Francis Pilkington
• Period: Renaissance (1450-1599)

Review

This charming song, a pastoral lullaby, is one of Pilkington's

most appealing works, with its tranquil mood, caressing tones, and a tiny

hint of the erotic. The singer addresses the nymphs (figures from Greek

mythology, which the Elizabethans frequently used as a generic term for

beautiful young women), urging them to dream of and send kisses to their

lovers while they sleep. The melody is simple, befitting the pastoral

setting, and moves by delicate steps, which set the languid tone of the work.

As with many lute songs, such as Campion's Beauty, since you so much desire

the singer can leave the song on an innocent surface level, or hint at

more erotic imagery, particularly in the basic idea of watching beautiful

sleeping women, or such lines as "lullaby hath pleased you and eased you

and sweet slumber seized you, and now to bed I hie." ~ All Music Guide

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Classical Lullabies	2001
Faire, Sweet & Cruell: Elizabethan Songs	1984
Fairy Dreams: Classical Lullabies	2001
Folk Songs and Ballads [Includes CD-ROM] [Box Set]	2008
Four Centuries of Vocal Music	1991
Indoubliable Alfred Deller: A Portrait
Madrigals	1989
Morley, Holborne, Campion and others
Music Dear Solace to my Thoughts	2002
O Ravishing Delight
O Ravishing Delight: Airs Anglais
The Golden Age of the European Polyphony, 1350-1650	2001
The Great History of English Classical Music
The Peaceful Western Wind	1993
The Silver Swan	1996
Westminster Choir at Spoleto Festival U.S.A.
What Then Is Love? An Elizabethan Songbook	1998