Cradle Song, Op. 49 No. 4

Although linked with several women, German composer Johannes Brahms had little fortune regarding matters of the heart and never came close to marriage. Biographers have linked him with Clara Schumann, the wife of his friend composer Robert Schumann, who was 14 years older than he was. Whether they ever became lovers after the death of her husband is unknown, but the destruction of their letters to each other may point to something beyond mere privacy. Another of Brahms' relationships was with one Bertha Faber, who sang in his women's choir at Hamburg. The composer renewed his acquaintance with her when he moved to Vienna, by which time she had married. Bertha had the honor of having this lullaby written to celebrate the birth of her second child, Hans.

"Cradle Song" or "Brahms's Lullaby" was originally written by Brahms in 1868 under the title of "Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, gute Nacht" ("Good evening, good night"), and included in his op.49 set of five songs. The lullaby's melody is one of the most famous and recognizable in the world, used by countless parents to sing their babies to sleep.

Brahms took the first verse from a collection of German folk poems called Des Knaben Wunderhorn; the second stanza was written by Georg Scherer (1824–1909) in 1849. The melody is based on a Viennese song that Bertha used to sing to him.