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Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Op.49, No.5 - Wiegenlied

Emir Gamsız, piano

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This piece is in the album:

"Classical Lullabies"

Read about the album: Click here.

Read about the composer: Click here.

Read about the pianist: Click here.

Listen to the preview:

ABOUT THE WORK:

Johannes Brahms's "Wiegenlied" ("Lullaby"; "Cradle Song"), 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. Brahms based the music of his "Wiegenlied" partially on "S'Is Anderscht", a duet by Alexander Baumann 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 (singer) and Clara Schumann (piano).

The lyrics are from 

Des Knaben Wunderhorn, 

a collection of 

German folk poems:

Guten Abend, gut' Nacht,

mit Rosen bedacht,

mit Näglein besteckt,

schlupf' unter die Deck':

Morgen früh, wenn Gott will,

wirst du wieder geweckt.

—First edition (1868)

Good evening, good night,

With roses covered,

With cloves adorned,

Slip under the covers.

Tomorrow morning, if God wills,

you will wake once again.

—Translation

Later, Brahms adapted 

a second verse from 

a 1849 poem by 

Georg Scherer

Guten Abend, gut' Nacht,

von Englein bewacht,

die zeigen im Traum

dir Christkindleins Baum:

schlaf nun selig und süss,

schau im Traum 's Paradies.

—Georg Scherer (1849)

Good evening, good night.

By angels watched,

Who show you in your dream

the Christ-child's tree.

Sleep now blissfully and sweetly,

see paradise in your dreams.

—Translation