Children in Music

   This section considers music about children, music by children or depicting children.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Renoir's "Two young girls at the Piano"

      
   Perhaps the most famous classical piece concerning children is "Peter and the Wolf" by Prokofiev. Although composed as an introduction to classical music for children, the melody is certainly so sweet as to bring visions of innocence and a little boy. Prokofiev had two sons.
   Mussorgsky, although he had no children of his own, loved them. He played, read, and sang songs for children and the stories the children told him were quite often a source of inspiration to him.  


In Mussorgsky's song cycle entitled "The Nursery", each song depicts a child engaged with someone or something. "With nurse" portrays a musical picture of a child asking the nurse to tell a story, "In the corner" musically illustrates a child standing in the corner. "The cockchafer" describes with tones a child discovering an insect while building a sand castle. In "With the doll" a child sings a lullaby for the doll and in "Going to sleep" the recitation of the evening prayer is interrupted when the child loses the thread. "On the hobby-horse" has the child fall but the mother steps in to help.   

 

Stevie Wonder's - "Isn't She Lovely "is about his new daughter. The lyrics to one version of the song follow:

Isn't she lovely

Isn't she wonderful

Isn't she precious

Less than one minute old

I never thought, through love we'd be

Making one as lovely as she

But isn't she lovely made from us

Isn't she pretty

Truly the angel's best

Isn't she lovely

We have been heaven blessed

I can believe what God has done

Through us He's given life to one

But isn't she lovely made from love

Children in the Arts

Home  |  Contribute or Contact