Wiegenlied (Brahms)


's "Wiegenlied", Op. 49, No. 4, is a lied for voice and piano which was first published in 1868. It is one of the composer's most popular songs.

History

Brahms based the music of his "Wiegenlied" partially on "S'Is Anderscht", a duet by published in the 1840s. The cradle song was dedicated to Brahms's friend, Bertha Faber, on the occasion of the birth of her second son. Brahms had been in love with her in her youth and constructed the melody of the "Wiegenlied" to suggest, as a hidden counter-melody, a song she used to sing to him. Simrock published Brahms's Op. 49 in November 1868. The lullaby was first performed in public on 22 December 1869 in Vienna by Luise Dustmann and Clara Schumann.

Song

The song has been described as deceptively simple. In its original publication it only had a single verse.

Lyrics

The lyrics are from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of German folk poems:
Later, Brahms adapted a second verse from a 1849 poem by :

Melody


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In 1877, Brahms based the second theme of the first movement of his Second Symphony on the lullaby's tune. The melody is first introduced in bar 82 and continues to develop throughout the movement.

Reception

The "Wiegenlied" is one of Brahms's most popular songs.

Arrangements

In 1922, Australian pianist and composer Percy Grainger arranged the "Wiegenlied" as one of his "Free Settings of Favorite Melodies" for solo piano. This study was characterized by much use of suspensions and arpeggiation, with the first statement of the melody placed in the tenor range of the keyboard. This last practice was a favorite one of Grainger.
In 2017, Italian bassist and composer Davide Laugelli arranged the lied for electric bass and synth.

Cultural references

A 1936 biographical film of Brahms with Albert Florath as the composer, took its title from the opening lines of this song, Guten Abend, gute Nacht.
Wendy Cope's poem "Brahms Cradle Song" refers to this song.

Cultural interpretations

In an article published in 2005, Karen Bottge analysed Brahms's "Wiegenlied" as an expression of the maternal voice, basing her reflections on writings by theorists such as Friedrich Kittler, Michel Chion, Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, and Theodor W. Adorno.

Recordings

Recordings include: