diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h
index bf26a6f685..f98f7854d1 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ private:
   XMLNodeList _children;
   XMLPropertyList _proplist;
   XMLPropertyMap _propmap;
+  mutable XMLNodeList _selected_children;
 
 public:
   XMLNode(const string &);
diff --git a/libs/pbd/xml++.cc b/libs/pbd/xml++.cc
index 5507f658e9..942727a041 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/xml++.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/xml++.cc
@@ -241,22 +241,21 @@ XMLNode::children(const string& n) const
 {
 	/* returns all children matching name */
 
-	static XMLNodeList retval;
 	XMLNodeConstIterator cur;
 	
 	if (n.empty()) {
 		return _children;
 	}
-	    
-	retval.erase(retval.begin(), retval.end());
+
+	_selected_children.clear();
 	
 	for (cur = _children.begin(); cur != _children.end(); ++cur) {
 		if ((*cur)->name() == n) {
-			retval.insert(retval.end(), *cur);
+			_selected_children.insert(_selected_children.end(), *cur);
 		}
 	}
 	    
-	return retval;
+	return _selected_children;
 }
 
 XMLNode *