Lyrics Versions: Brahms' Lullaby

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: masato sakurai
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 12:37 PM

Grainger, Free Settings & Favorite Melodies for Piano Solo: Nr. 1. Cradle-Song (Wiegenlied) by J. Brahms [score]

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: masato sakurai
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 12:18 PM

Score is at The VARIATIONS Online Score Prototype - Song Literature - Brahms Lieder, Band II.

Op. 49, No. 4. Wiegenlied.

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: GUEST,Yovanny
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 11:49 AM

i think all of u have a valid point no matter how we see this composicion. it is interesting how it let us to different thoughts regarding that just a simple word gave us the idea that it was related to 'Christ'..like Jerry Friedman said..

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Barbara
Date: 22 Mar 99 - 01:42 AM

Bri, they're all translations from the German, and there are German variations as well. I don't think there's right words, just the ones you know, or the ones I know. Someone in search of a doctoral thesis topic could try to put the German variations, and the English ones in chronological order, to see how it evolved, and we would still just have a time consuming proof that this is indeed a folksong.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Bri
Date: 21 Mar 99 - 12:40 PM

The words I always knew were:

Lullaby and good night,
With roses bedight,
With lilies bedeck,
The baby's sweet head!
Lay thee down now and rest,
May thy comfort be blessed,
Lay thee down now and rest,
May thy comfort be blessed.

Is that wrong, because Barbara's were different?

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Wolfgang
Date: 19 Mar 99 - 08:19 AM

I asked Frank Petersohn (ingeb.org) who knows more about German folk than most others. His explanation: "N„glein" is Suebian dialect for "Nelklein", i.e. "kleine Nelken" and that's carnations (the flowers). So the suspicious line means "decorated with flowers", a better fit for a lullaby than "pierced with nails", if I may add: even for a German lullaby!

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 07 Mar 99 - 06:40 PM

This seems to be my day for Brahms. If anyone still cares--I recently saw a translation (in the liner notes to Twilight and Innocence, an album by Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano, and Kevin Murphy, piano). They translated "Naeglein" as "carnations". So Daniel Malena was on the right track. I guess the connection is that carnations smell like cloves, and cloves look like nails. After all, one English name for carnations--clove pinks--comes from the French word for nail--clou.

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 06:21 PM

Danke schön, Andreas und Wolfgang!

I'm still wondering about the nails. Could the thing covered with roses and stuck with nails be the blanket (or coverlet)? Back when the verses in Des Knaben Wunderhorn were written, did people nail the blanket to the crib (leaving one side open to slip the baby under), by any chance? Or does the German have to mean that the baby has been stuck with nails? Yuck. Unless there's supposed to be a connection with the Christ child?

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Wolfgang
Date: 15 Oct 98 - 03:52 PM

Jerry, verse 1 comes from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn", a very old song collection, so it is definitely trad/anon, verse 2 has been added by Georg Scherer.

Wolfgang

Subject: Lyr Add: GUTEN ABEND, GUTE NACHT / BRAHMS' LULLABY
From: AndreasW
Date: 14 Oct 98 - 05:04 AM

I am willing, my attempt at a translation
I did not try to make it into rhymes,
I tried to get a translation quite near the German version.
But please consider: I only learned English at school ;-)
(translation in italic)

Brahms: Guten Abend, Gute Nacht

Guten Abend, gute Nacht,
   Good Evening, good night
Mit Rosen bedacht,
   given roses
Mit Näglein besteckt,
   stabbed with small nails
Schlupf unter die Deck'
   slip under your coverlet
Morgen früh, so Gott will,
   tomorrow morning if God likes
Wirst du wieder geweckt.
   you will be woken again.
Morgen früh, so Gott will,
   tomorrow morning if God likes
Wirst du wieder geweckt.
   you will be woken again.

Guten Abend, gute Nacht,
   Good Evening, good night
Von Englein bewacht,
   guarded by small angels
Die zeigen im Traum
   who show in your dream
Dir Christkindleins Baum.
   to you Christ baby's small tree
Schlaf nun selig und süß,
   sleep now blessedly and sweetly
Schau im Traum's Paradies.
   Look into dream's paradise
Schlaf nun selig und süß,
   sleep now blessedly and sweetly
Schau im Traum's Paradies.
   Look into dream's paradise



cu, Andreas

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Jerry Friedman again
Date: 13 Oct 98 - 05:12 PM

And is anyone willing to provide a translation into English?

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 13 Oct 98 - 05:11 PM

I know it wouldn't be good writing, but could the nails be stuck in the bed or cradle? Perhaps for decoration?

Does anyone know who wrote the German words?

Does anyone know whether this is really by Brahms, or is it a folk song he arranged, like "Da unten im Tale", "Mein Maedel hat ein Rosenmund", and others?

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Wolfgang
Date: 13 Oct 98 - 07:00 AM

that was an unsolved riddle for me when I was young and it still is.

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: AndreasW
Date: 13 Oct 98 - 01:41 AM

I never thought about the meaning of the text until now.
I looked it up, and wherever I looked (on the web, in a book)
it says "Mit Näglein besteckt"
Perhaps these small nails (Näglein) are the thorns of the Roses?
I don't know, sorry.
cu,Andreas

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: malena
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 03:13 PM

Andreas, I wouldn´t even have remembered the first verse, that is, everthing except the third line. "Mit Näglein besteckt", is that some kind of sadistic ritual? Does it really say "Näglein"??? (Oder Nelklein oder so?, to all non-germanistics: to me that means something like "pierced with nails...")

Barbara, funny that Americans have Brahms in the name, while Germans usually know the song and know who Brahms was but would never make a connection between these (unless there experts)...

Daniel

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Barbara
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 06:56 AM

Whereas, as an American kid growing up, I knew the name of that particular lullaby was "Brahms Lullaby" long before I had a clue who Brahms was. My mother sang it, and that's how we asked for it.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: AndreasW
Date: 12 Oct 98 - 04:39 AM

It is too long since I was a kid to remember all the words, and I do not yet have my own kids, so I have to admit that I had to look up the second verse.

cu, Andreas

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: malena
Date: 09 Oct 98 - 01:20 PM

I guess every German knows it as a kid´s song/folksong/lullaby, but who ever knew it was by Brahms? Good on you, Andreas, did you remember all the words by heart or did you look it up? Daniel

Subject: Lyr Add: GUTEN ABEND, GUTE NACHT / BRAHMS' LULLABY
From: AndreasW
Date: 09 Oct 98 - 03:28 AM

This is the "original" version, as Brahms was German-speaking.

Brahms: GUTEN ABEND, GUTE NACHT

Guten Abend, gute Nacht,
Mit Rosen bedacht,
Mit Näglein besteckt,
Schlupf unter die Deck'
Morgen früh, so Gott will,
Wirst du wieder geweckt.
Morgen früh, so Gott will,
Wirst du wieder geweckt.

Guten Abend, gute Nacht,
Von Englein bewacht,
Die zeigen im Traum
Dir Christkindleins Baum.
Schlaf nun selig und süß,
Schau im Traum's Paradies.
Schlaf nun selig und süß,
Schau im Traum's Paradies.

cu, Andreas

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: BSeed
Date: 09 Oct 98 - 02:34 AM

Those are the words, Barbara, and a lovely lullaby it is. Bless YOU. --seed

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Barbara
Date: 09 Oct 98 - 12:02 AM

Lullaby and goodnight,
With the roses in sight
And the clover, all around,
You will sleep safe and sound.
And when day starts to break
You will once more awake,
And when day starts to break
You will once more awake.

Those words?
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Alice
Date: 08 Oct 98 - 05:53 PM

Found it in a few seconds with an AltaVista search on the words "lullaby and goodnight". The page address is:

http://hendersonville-pd.org/nurserylullaby.html

alice in montana

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Alice
Date: 08 Oct 98 - 05:46 PM

All I can think of is the first words "Lullaby, and goodnight..." didn't find it in the database, and right now can't remember the rest. May be able to get back to you on this.

alice

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: Wolfgang Hell
Date: 08 Oct 98 - 05:25 PM

this is what I found entering Brahms + Wiegenlied into a search machine. No idea whether it is close to what you are looking for, Garrison.

Subject: RE: Brahms Lullaby
From: malena
Date: 08 Oct 98 - 04:53 PM

What exactly do you mean by Brahms Lullaby?

Subject: Brahms Lullaby
From:
Date: 08 Oct 98 - 01:45 PM

Does any body no the lyrics to Brahms (sp) Lullaby