Composed by Philip Stopford in 2008, 'Lully, Lulla, Lullay' is drawn from Pro Victoria's 2024 album 'Advent Calendar', a sequence of music and readings for Advent and Christmas, jointly curated with the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

The text is drawn from the Coventry Carol (16th century), which was traditionally performed in Coventry as part of a mystery play called 'The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors'. The rocking lullaby tells the story of the Massacre of the Innocents — when King Herod ordered all male infants under the age of two to be killed, in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus.

The narrative voice is a mother of one of the Innocents, singing a haunting lament for her doomed child.

Ensemble Pro Victoria
Toby Ward

Delphian Records
Paul Baxter

Foxbrush Films
Will Coates Gibson