Guten Abend, gute Nacht, Mit Rosen bedacht, Mit Näglein besteckt, Schlupf' unter die Deck, Morgen früh, wenns Gott will, Wirst du wieder geweckt.
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View text with all available footnotesConfirmed with Achim von Arnim und Clemens Brentano, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Band 3, Stuttgart, 1979, page 304.
Note provided by Laura Prichard: Brahms gentle Wiegenlied, op. 49, no. 4, was dedicated to his youthful [girl]friend, Bertha Faber, née Porubsky. Although it was composed to celebrate the birth of her second son, it may contain a touching, bittersweet farewell to Bertha herself, who became a regular alto chorister in the women’s choir Brahms conducted in Hamburg before her marriage. Bertha and the twenty-six-year-old Brahms exchanged many letters, and he was a frequent [chaperoned] dinner guest in her home in 1859. This cradle song’s famous melody was intended to act as a harmony part to the Austrian duet "S’Is Anderscht" (1842) by Alexander Baumann (1814-1857), which Johannes and Bertha sang together in her family parlour. Baumann’s melody is preserved in the piano introduction: its original text is "Du moanst wol di Liab last si zwinga" [Do you think that love can be forced], and continues "Zatrist wo a Bleamle, steht’s nimmermer auf" [if you trample a flower it’ll never rise again]. Brahms sent the published lullaby to Bertha’s husband in Vienna, confessing "Frau Bertha will realize that I wrote the Wiegenlied for her little one. She will find it quite in order that while she is singing Hans to sleep, a love song is being sung to her."
Text Authorship:
- from Volkslieder (Folksongs) , "Gute Nacht, mein Kind!", appears in Des Knaben Wunderhorn, first published 1808 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2011-02-07
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Word count: 25