These four songs are about as unrelated to one another as any single collection in Brahms' output. This is unusual, as Brahms normally took great pains to unite his songs within a given Opus. The reason is that Brahms' friend, the Swiss publisher Jakob Rieter-Biedermann, had heard a performance of the songs Von ewiger Liebe and Die Mainacht by Brahms and the baritone Julius Stockhausen and expressed a strong desire to publish them under very favorable terms. Unfortunately, Brahms had already included these songs in a large collection he had sent to his publisher Simrock (what was to become Opus 47 through Opus 49). He felt that to pull these two songs would disrupt the organization of those sets. Eventually, though, Brahms relented and in order to round out the Opus, added two other, unrelated songs. As it turned out, these four, unrelated though they are, have become among Brahms' most famous and often performed songs.

1. Von ewiger Liebe (Of Eternal Love). The text of this song, a dialogue between lovers, is of the sort that could have been set in a simple folk style. Instead, Brahms gives it a rather intricate and imaginative setting, eschewing typical structure and composing three separate sections that illustrate respectively the scene at night, the young man's anxiety, and the maiden's reassurance of love.

2. Die Mainacht (May Night). This particularly popular and beautiful song uses a floating melody over a restless accompaniment to illustrate bitter loneliness and its contrast to the tranquility and harmony of nature.

3. Ich schell mein Horn ins Jammertal (I Blow my Horn in the Valley of Grief) is simply an arrangement of the male chorus of the same name Opus 41, Number 1. Brahms merely transcribed the a cappella parts directly to the piano, with the voice doubling the top part. It is a simple chordal presentation, in strophic form, of the hunter's lament at losing his quarry.

4. Das Lied vom Herrn von Falkenstein (The Song of the Lord of Falkenstein). This sixteenth-century ballad of the dialogue between the lord and a maiden he meets on his ride is set by Brahms in a modified strophic form. The first through the third verse use the same material, a gruff and aggressive melody that characterizes Falkenstein. A contrasting and more gentle middle section is used for verses four through six, as the maiden addresses the lord. The final three verses return to the music of the opening.



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2.Die Mainacht

Brahms, emotionally damaged by his experiences playing in Hamburg waterfront brothels when just a boy, responded to this poem of loneliness and detachment with deep feeling. Ludwig Hölty's text, as edited by Johann Voss, exemplifies the work of this lyric poet, a classically oriented writer whose subject matter made him a spiritual companion of the Romantic versifiers. Brahms held up Hölty's work to those who complained that he often set indifferently written texts. Voss' editing altered some of Hölty's choice of words, bringing them more fully into the Romantic genre. The singer describes his alienation by sharing the lonely observations he makes. When the silvery moon shines through the bushes and drops its drowsing light across the grass and the nightingale pipes, he sadly wanders from bush to bush. Protected by leaves, a pair of doves each coo their pleasure, but he turns away, a solitary tear falling. When, he asks, will the smiling vision that shines like the dawn be found here on Earth? That lonely tear now quivers more hotly down his cheek. Sehr langsam und ausdrucksvoll (very slow and expressive) and piano are the two initial indications given to the singer and accompanist. Two measures of piano introduction establish the accompaniment's half note chords in the left hand and eighth note right-hand figures, the latter sounded after the bass chords are intoned. The effect is of hesitant wandering and directionless. At the beginning of the second strophe, the pianist's left hand moves to the treble clef and, briefly modulating into B major, breaks into a steady pattern of eighth notes as the singer describes the partially hidden doves. As the singer turns away, the left hand drops once more into the bass clef and, after a shift back to E flat major, grows in strength to a forte, then recedes as the singer seeks out the shadows. At the falling of the tear, the inner intensity builds and the voice and accompaniment both crescendo, though never beyond a forte. The final strophe begins as did the first, the accompanist's right hand now sounding triplets rather than eighth notes, but picks up the rising climax of the second before dropping in tearful resignation in the final line.

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1.Von ewiger Liebe

One of Johannes Brahms' most dramatic creations, Von ewiger Liebe (Of Unending Love) was even admired by Hugo Wolf. Wolf, who despised Brahms for almost all of his other works, was appreciative of the song's bold imagery and its deep emotion. Those qualities have resonated with others, as well, making the song one of Brahms' most popular. It is a song for the generously endowed singer only; those with light voices cannot summon the body of tone and breadth of phrasing demanded. Lasting about five minutes in performance, the text by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben (a proponent of German unification and personal independence) recounts in a simple folk style a meeting between two lovers. The word painting is bold. Dark how dark it is in forest and field. At evening, all is silent: no lights, no smoke, not even a lark. From the village comes a lad, escorting his love to her home. Past the willow trees, he speaks of many things. He tells the girl that if she suffers shame or sorrow for their love, then let it be broken quickly, let them depart in the rain, in the wind. She replies with absolute certainty: "Our love," she says, "will never break." Steel and iron are strong, but their love is stronger still. Those metals can be re-forged, but who can alter their love? Iron and steel can be smelted, but their love must last forever. Brahms skillfully paints the textures that flavor the song. "Dark" sounds deep in the piano's register, preparing the voice for its entry four measures later. Beginning in 3/4 meter, the song's rhythmic footprint places a half note before a quarter note. The effect is heavy, hesitant, doubtful. The setting of the scenario and the youths' anguished words proceed in this fashion. When the girl replies, however, the meter changes to 6/8, more animated and gaining in volume, eased by only the brief pauses before the girl's protests redouble. The accompaniment reinforces her insistent words, forcefully (but not violently) underscoring their authority. In the piano's final three measures, her 6/8 phrases are conjoined with the lad's 3/4 meter (now recast), slowing and finishing with a quiet, sustained chord.

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