Cradle Song, Op. 4, No. 4 (“Wiegenlied”)

Description

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 constructed the melody of the “Wiegenlied” to suggest, as a hidden counter-melody, a song she used to sing to him. The lullaby was first performed in public on 22 December 1869 in Vienna by Luise Dustmann (singer) and Clara Schumann (piano).