"Wiegenlied" ("Lullaby"; "Cradle Song"), Op. 49, No. 4, is a lied for voice and piano by Johannes Brahms which was first published in 1868. It is one of the composer's most famous pieces.
History
Brahms based the music of his "Wiegenlied" partially on "S'Is Anderscht", a duet by Alexander Baumann [de] published in the 1840s.[2][3][4] The cradle song was dedicated to Brahms's friend, Bertha Faber, on the occasion of the birth of her second son.[5][6] 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.[7]Simrock published Brahms's Op. 49 in November 1868.[6] The lullaby was first performed in public on 22 December 1869 in Vienna by Luise Dustmann (singer) and Clara Schumann (piano).[6][8]
Song
The song has been described as deceptively simple.[3] In its original publication, it only had a single verse.[6]
Later,[when?] Brahms adapted a second verse from an 1849 poem by Georg Scherer [de]:[5][6][3]
Melody
In 1877, Brahms based the second theme of the first movement of his Second Symphony on the lullaby's tune.[10] The melody is first introduced in bar 82 and continues to develop throughout the movement.[11]
Reception
The "Wiegenlied" is one of Brahms's most popular songs.[5]
In 1922, Australian pianist and composer Percy Graingerarranged 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.[12]
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.[13]
Wendy Cope's poem "Brahms Cradle Song" refers to this song.[14]
^Lotte Lehmann: The Town Hall Recitals at www.muziekweb.nl.
^ a bAlbin 2018.
^ a bBrahms' Lullaby (Close Your Eyes) by Rosemary Clooney; Percy Faith and his Orchestra; William Engvick; Brahms – Columbia at Internet Archive website.
^Crossland & Macfarlane 2013, p. 192.
^Track-Informationen BRAHMS EDITION V Lieder Download 449 6332: Details zu Künstler und Repertoire at Deutsche Grammophon website.
^Ould 2002.
Sources
Albin, Steve (21 November 2018). "Frank Sinatra Discography: The Columbia Years, 1942–1946". www.jazzdiscography.com.
Arnim, Achim von, ed. (1808). "Kinderlieder: Anhang zum Wunderhorn" [Children's songs: Appendix to the Wunderhorn]. Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Alte deutsche Lieder [The boy's magic horn: old German songs] (in German). Vol. III. Heidelberg: Mohr und Zimmer. pp. 1–103.
Berry, Paul (2014). "Ch. 1: Old Melodies, New Identities". Brahms Among Friends: Listening, Performance, and the Rhetoric of Allusion. AMS Studies in Music. OUP. pp. 41–72. ISBN 9780199982646.
Bottge, Karen (2005). "Brahms's "Wiegenlied" and the Maternal Voice". 19th-Century Music. 28 (3): 185–213. doi:10.1525/ncm.2005.28.3.185.
Crossland, Ken; Macfarlane, Malcolm (2013). "Appendix A: Rosemary Clooney on Record". Late Life Jazz: The Life and Career of Rosemary Clooney. New York: OUP. pp. 187–220. ISBN 978-0-19-979857-5.
Liebergen, Patrick M., ed. (2005). "Wiegenlied (Lullaby): Johannes Brahms". Singer's Library of Song: A Vocal Anthology of Masterworks and Folk Songs from the Medieval Era Through the Twentieth Century. Alfred Music. pp. 48–52. ISBN 978-0-7390-3659-4.
Macfarlane, Malcolm, ed. (23 January 2020). "A Bing Crosby Discography – part 1b: Commercial Recordings – The Decca Years". BING magazine. International Club Crosby.
Ould, Barry Peter (2002). Percy Grainger: Rambles and Reflections (Media notes). Piers Lane (piano). Hyperion. CDA67279.
Schmidt, August [in German] (14 May 1844). "Revue: im Stich erschienener Musikalien. Gebirgs-Bleameln, sechs Lieder in österreichischer Mundart für eine oder zwei Singstimmen mit Begleitung des Pianoforte, nach National-Melodien gedichtet und herausgegeben von Alexander Baumann. II. Heft. (3. Werk.) Wien bei Anton Diabelli & Comp" [Review of engraved music publications: Gebirgs-Bleameln, six songs in Austrian dialect for one or two singing voices, with pianoforte accompaniment, written after national melodies and published by Alexander Baumann, 2nd volume (Op. 3). Vienna: Anton Diabelli & Co.]. Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung [wikisource:de] (in German). IV (58). Vienna: Mechetti: 231–232.
Taller, Ellen (2017). "Johannes Brahms: Eine Sinfonie aus der Sommerfrische" [Johannes Brahms: a symphony from summer freshness]. www.sinfonia-engiadina.ch (in German).