Liebeslieder Walzes
Johannes Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes ("Love Song Waltzes") are distributed across two opus numbers: Op. 52 and Op. 65. The waltzes are a collection of love songs in Ländler style for voices and piano four hands. The lyrics for the Liebeslieder come from Georg Friedrich Daumer's Polydora, a collection of folk songs and love poems. While there is no concrete record indicating the exact inspiration for the Waltzes, there is speculation that Brahms' motivation for the songs was his frustrated love for pianist and composer Clara Schumann.
Conductor Ernst Rudorff convinced Brahms to create an arrangement of the waltzes for voice and small orchestra for a performance in 1870, although this version was not published until 1938.
The Liebeslieder Waltzes are written in a popular style that do not lose Brahms' compositional complexity. Scored for piano four hands and voices ad libitum, the piece can easily accommodate many different sized ensembles. Brahms likely intended them to be played in parlors or informal home gatherings rather than in concert halls. Immediately successful, these waltzes were responsible for much of his personal wealth, and solidified his reputation with the general music-buying public in Vienna and Europe.
