A lullaby
Albert Pruks was a conductor and composer. Together with his family he fled Estonia inthe autumn of 1944 and the family ended up in Geislingen. There, in the refugeecamp, in March 1946, he wrote a lullaby for his little daughter Inge.
Albert passed away three years later. Inge didn’t hear the song sang by a choir, as it was intended to be, until Paul de Boer rehearsed the song with his chamber choir Tegenlicht and recorded it. Finally, after 72 years, Inge could hear the songher father had written.
The song was meant to be in the film, but in the end we didn’t use it. It was one of the difficult decisions we had to make. And so here it is:
Lullaby
Sleep, my dearest child, my little one,
Sorrows are unknown to you,
Sleep a quiet sleep.
Sleep, my dearest child, my little treasure,
Life’s long journey is still ahead of you,
A wind-blown stormy path.
Your loving mother watches tenderly over your bed
And your father carries you carefully in his arms.
When you grow up, don’t forget your people,
And your home on the Northern shores.
Sleep my child, my little dove,
Sleep peacefully, my tender child,
A long road still lies ahead of you.
Fall, fall, fall asleep.
Albert Pruks, writtenfor Inge Pruks, Geislingen, March 1946.