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Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) · sheet music

  • Time 3/4
  • Levels 3–5
  • Passages 7

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Johannes Brahms, German romantic (1833–1897). The reading release has 7 passages from this piece at levels 3–5; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 1–4 for the left hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 5.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4.

  1. Right hand alone · bars 3–6 level 3
  2. Left hand alone · bars 1–4 level 3
  3. Hands together · bars 1–8 level 5

How to play Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4

  1. Tempo:Take it at a pace you could rock a cradle to: slow enough that each bar of three feels like one gentle sway. If you tap your foot, it should feel unhurried.
  2. Right hand:Play the melody legato and shape each short phrase with a small rise and fall. Lift very slightly at the end of each phrase, as a singer would breathe.
  3. Left hand:The left hand plays a low note and then lighter notes above it. Practice the pattern alone and keep the notes after the first one very soft so they cannot cover the tune.
  4. Hands together:Listen for the melody over the accompaniment and adjust the left hand until the tune floats on top. If you can sing the tune along with your playing, the balance is right.
  5. Pedal:If you pedal, change on each low note so the harmony stays clear. Without pedal, let the melody carry the legato.
  6. Dynamics:Stay in the soft range throughout. Make the second verse a touch quieter than the first to give the feeling of the child dropping off.
  7. Rhythm:Feel three equal beats in each bar, with the first beat a little stronger. Avoid rushing the long notes at the ends of phrases.
  8. Practice:Work hands separately first, as the page's passages show, then play both hands in four-bar pieces. Add the next four bars only when the earlier ones feel calm.

Common mistakes

  • Playing the accompaniment chords too loudly, so the tune is swamped. Fix: Play the left hand alone at a whisper and then add the right hand over it.
  • Rushing the long notes at the end of phrases. Fix: Count all three beats out loud and hold each note its full length.
  • Playing every melody note at the same volume so the phrase sounds flat. Fix: Mark the peak of each phrase and let the notes before and after it be softer.
  • Stopping the rocking motion between phrases. Fix: Keep the left hand moving through each pause so the sway never stops.

Structure: strophic song (one tune, two verses)

The Wiegenlied is strophic: one short melody serves for each verse. The first edition had a single verse, and Brahms later added a second. Under the tune, the piano part hides a counter-melody that Brahms meant as a private message to Bertha Faber.

V1 · Verse 1 (E-flat major)
The tune unfolds in short, gently rising and falling phrases over a swaying accompaniment in three. The reading goal is a smooth melody and an even, quiet accompaniment.
V2 · Verse 2 (E-flat major)
The same melody returns with the second verse. It is a chance to play even more softly, as if the child is falling asleep.

About Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4

Johannes Brahms wrote the Wiegenlied for his friend Bertha Faber when her second son was born. He had been in love with her when she was young, and he shaped the music so that a song she used to sing to him can be heard as a hidden counter-melody.

Simrock in Berlin published the Op. 49 songs in November 1868. The lullaby's first public performance came on December 22, 1869, in Vienna, sung by Luise Dustmann with Clara Schumann at the piano.

The tune is partly based on S'Is Anderscht, a duet by Alexander Baumann published in the 1840s. The words come from the German folk-poem collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and Brahms later adapted a second verse from an 1849 poem by Georg Scherer.

  • Brahms based the second theme of the first movement of his Second Symphony (1877) on the Lullaby tune.
  • A hidden counter-melody in the piano part is a musical love note to Bertha Faber.
  • Clara Schumann played the piano at the song's first public performance.
  • Brahms marked the song Zart bewegt, which means gently moving.

Why the first passage is level 3

That passage is level 3 rather than 2 because it leaps a fifth.

This page builds up in stages, starting with the left hand alone, then the right hand, then both. Read the left-hand pattern as one low note plus a soft chord, and the melody as steps and small skips.

Questions about Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4

How hard is Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4 to play?
Its passages grade from level 3 to level 5 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece sits around early intermediate. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 5.
Is there an easy part of Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4 for beginners?
Yes. Start with bars 1–4 for the left hand alone, the level-3 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 3 because it leaps a fifth.
What key and time signature is Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4 in?
The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.
Who composed Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4?
Johannes Brahms, German romantic (1833–1897). Johannes Brahms wrote the Wiegenlied for his friend Bertha Faber when her second son was born.
Can I practice Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 7 graded passages from Lullaby (Wiegenlied), Op. 49 No. 4 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Who was Brahms's Lullaby written for?
Brahms wrote it for Bertha Faber, a friend he had once loved, to celebrate the birth of her second son.
Where does the Brahms Lullaby melody come from?
It is partly based on S'Is Anderscht, a duet by Alexander Baumann from the 1840s. Brahms also built a hidden counter-melody into the piano part.
What are the words of the Brahms Lullaby?
The first verse comes from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of German folk poems, and begins Guten Abend, gut Nacht. Brahms later adapted a second verse from an 1849 poem by Georg Scherer.
When was the Brahms Lullaby first performed?
It was first performed in public on December 22, 1869, in Vienna, by Luise Dustmann and Clara Schumann.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 7 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 3
bars 1–4 left hand · bars 3–6 right hand · bars 5–8 right hand
Level 5
bars 1–8 both hands · bars 1–4 both hands · bars 5–8 both hands · bars 9–12 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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