Download Brahms’s Lullaby Flute Sheet Music from The Country Flutist.
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Product Description
“Wiegenlied” (“Lullaby” or “Cradle Song”), Op. 49, No. 4, is a well-known lied (art song) for voice and piano by Johannes Brahms, first published in 1868. It remains one of the composer’s most beloved and recognizable works.
Background and History
Brahms composed Wiegenlied in part based on the folk-like duet SIs Anderscht by Alexander Baumann, published in the 1840s. He dedicated the lullaby to his friend Bertha Faber to celebrate the birth of her second child. As a young man, Brahms had once been in love with Bertha, and he subtly wove into the lullaby’s melody a hidden counter-melody reminiscent of a song she used to sing to him during their youth.
The work was published by Simrock in November 1868 as part of Brahms’s Opus 49. The song received its first public performance on December 22, 1869, in Vienna, with Luise Dustmann as the vocalist and Clara Schumann at the piano.
The Song
Though often considered simple and soothing, Wiegenlied has been described as “deceptively simple” in its musical design. The original publication included only one verse, emphasizing the songs gentle, lullaby-like nature while leaving room for interpretation and additional stanzas in future arrangements.
This arrangement is for solo flute.
