Ex. 11-6: Liebe und Frühling I

No. 2 of Brahms's 6 Gesänge (6 Songs, Op. 3), set to a poem by Hoffmann von Fallersleben. Brahms wrote it in 1853, at the age of 20. In the poem, vine tendrils sway in the breeze and white bindweed twines around a rose — an image of the poet's thoughts winding, day and night, around the one he loves. Op. 3 also has a companion song, "Liebe und Frühling II" (No. 3), set to another Fallersleben poem; the two make a pair.

The year 1853 was the turning point of Brahms's life. Still unknown, with nothing yet in print, he set out on a concert tour with the violinist Eduard Reményi, and along the way he met the violinist Joseph Joachim, who saw his gift at once and became a lifelong friend and supporter.

That autumn, on Joachim's recommendation, Brahms called on Robert and Clara Schumann in Düsseldorf and played them his music. Schumann was overwhelmed. In his diary, he wrote that a genius had come to visit. Soon after, he published an essay called "Neue Bahnen" (New Paths), telling the musical world about the young Brahms. With Schumann's help, Op. 3 was published by Breitkopf & Härtel that December — one of Brahms's very first works in print.

The poet, Hoffmann von Fallersleben, also wrote "Das Lied der Deutschen" (1841) — the poem whose words are today the German national anthem.

In the music, the voice and the piano follow each other in canon. Nearly thirty years later, in 1882, Brahms made small revisions to bring that canon out more clearly.

From the album Vergebliches Ständchen – Frauen um Brahms by Angelika Huber and Kilian Sprau (2013; unavailable on Apple Music)
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Also on the album Brahms: Lieder (Complete Edition, Vol. 1) by Juliane Banse and Helmut Deutsch (2000)
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