‘Lied’ Op. 3 no. 4 (‘Weit über das Feld’) (comp. July 1853, publ. Dec. 1853)

THE 20-YEAR-OLD BRAHMS may have first encountered the poetry of Friedrich Bodenstedt on a concert tour with the violinist Eduard Reményi in Hanover in summer 1853. Bodenstedt came from nearby Peine, and his Gedichte, from which the ‘Lied’ was drawn, had been published the previous year. The poet had enjoyed a burst of success following his 1851 translations of the Azerbaijani poet Mirza Shafi Vazeh, Lieder des Mirza-Schaffy. In 1857, Brahms acquired a copy of this volume in its fourth edition (1856), possibly from Clara Schumann, who noted in her diary that she was reading Bodenstedt late that year; however he set nothing more by the poet despite his renown. Brahms's opinion of Bodenstedt fluctuated; in one letter of 1877 he described him as unjustly neglected; but according to Kalbeck, on another occasion he declared: ‘Far too much is made of Bodenstedt; in my view he is one of the direst of poets. Absolutely no comparison with Geibel, who in turn is far too underrated.’

The ‘Lied’, as Brahms composed it, was a selection of two verses from a long narrative poem, Iwan, der Sohn des Starost: Poetische Farbenskizze aus Rusland (Ivan, Son of the Starost: Poetic Colour Sketches from Russia) which had first appeared in 1842, and reappeared in the Gedichte. A village girl, Masha, is engaged to a handsome village boy, Ivan, but has caught the eye of the local landowner, Count Büstrow. Büstrow, who has recently returned from travels, finds that Masha has grown into a great beauty, and the two renew their friendship. This triggers furious jealousy in Ivan, who cannot compete with the count's charm and wealth. Ivan resolves to take revenge. It is at this point that Brahms's chosen text is heard. The count tricks Ivan into going away, leaving the coast clear for a liaison with Masha. Ivan overhears their arrangements, lies in wait and slaughters them both with an axe; their bodies are found in the river the next day.