This is a rather strange Lullabye. Happily, to avoid the work being potentially
autobiographical, Tailleferre´s daughter was no longer toddler when this work was written.
Five sequences, with three being repeated, make this short lullabye a caricature of the
genre. This piece could have been used to accompany a film by Tailleferre´s friend Chaplin
because of the comical effects which are apparent from the first measure through the repeated
appoggiatura figures in the right hand and then in the left hand.
There is, in this Lullabye, the expression of a growing annoyance (through the chromatic effects)
which, in spite of a polite calmness, finishes with a dissonance which fails to be sweetened even
by the final consensuel major chord. The effect is a bit like Debussy´s Chouchou who gets angry
at Docteur Gradus.
No, really, this baby which is being rocked must be a detestable brat who "Charlot" (as the
French call Chaplin), by the most surprising of coincidences, has been asked to rock to sleep.