Brahms' Lullaby - Listener's Guide
Nevertheless, even in this brief, simple, folklike children's song, Brahms breathes subtle genius into his music. Here is a listener's guide to some of the aural joy in this little masterpiece.
Text
The text is adapted from one in Des Knaben Wunderhorn ("The Youth's Magic Horn"), a famous collection of German folk poetry. The widely attributed author of the text is Karl Joseph Simrock (1802-1876). The single verse (another verse by a different author was added to the song later) consists of just four lines, the third and fourth being exactly the same.
Music Basics
The key is E-flat major, the meter is 3/4, and the tempo is Delicatamente mosso ("delicately moved" or "gently moved").
The voice range is an octave, from E-flat on the first line of the treble staff to the E-flat on the fourth line.
Form
After a brief piano introduction, the song consists of four phrases, one for each line of the text. Musically, the phrases may be represented as abcc'. The third and fourth lines of the text are the same, and the music duplicates that repetition but changes slightly the second time to bring the song to an end.
With chord symbols for each measure of the song, here is a graphic representation of the form:
a (4 measures), I, I, I, V7
b (4 measures), V9, V9, V9, I
c (4 measures), V7 of IV and IV, I, V7, I
c' (4 measures), V7 of IV and IV, I, V7, I
What to Listen For
Piano introduction. The piano introduction consists of an eighth-note upbeat and five full beats, all on the tonic (I). The piano immediately establishes two important elements in the song.
The first is the two-tone eighth note tied over the bar line from the upbeat to the first measure. This syncopation, which continues, after the song starts, on every single beat in every single measure of the first two phrases, creates a rocking effect that suggests, of course, the rocking of a cradle.
The other element established by the piano introduction is the low E-flat (tonic) in the left hand on the first beat. The same tone will recur on the same beat in every single measure of the song, serving as a pedal during changes of harmony. This deep recurring E-flat provides a feeling of tonal stability, which symbolizes the security conducive to a child's peaceful slumber.
Phrases a,b. Phrase a, as well as every other phrase in the song, begins with an upbeat of two eighth notes. Like the piano accompaniment, the opening notes of the melody suggest rocking: in the first seven beats of the melody (the upbeat plus two full measures), the voice rocks back and forth between G and B-flat five times. The phrase ends inconclusively on the V7 chord and on a weak beat.
Phrase b completes the musical thought of the first phrase by ending on the tonic chord and on the first, or strong, beat of the measure. The most memorable point in this phrase is the melodic leap of a poignant tritone (augmented fourth) up to the leading tone (D) from the end of the second measure to the start of the third measure. The compelling need to resolve upward to the tonic (E-flat) is delayed for one measure, but the resolution does take place at the end of the phrase.
Phrases c, c'. After nothing but tonic (I) and dominant (V) chords in the first two measures, phrase c opens with the beautiful freshness of a subdominant (IV) chord, emphasized melodically by the leap of an octave from low E-flat to high E-flat at the moment of harmonic change.
The listener should notice in phrase c that while the voice presents a new melodic line, the piano accompanies with the rocking motion between G and B-flat that the voice itself sang in phrase a.
Phrase c' duplicates phrase c for the first two measures, but the last two measures subtly differ. In the third measure of phrase c, the voice moves upward as the piano moves downward, and the phrase ends inconclusively with the voice on the fifth degree of the scale (B-flat) and the piano on the third degree (G). In phrase c', the voice moves downward as the piano moves upward, and the phrase ends conclusively with both voice and piano on the tonic.
Brahms, Johannes. Lullaby (Wiegenlied). http://artsongcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/Imm019.pdf
Published by Darryl Lyman
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