Brahms's “Gestillte Sehnsucht” [“Satisfied Longing”] opens with an undeniably warm and lush atmosphere. The score is marked adagio espressivo, and rolling sextuplets immediately provide a sense of motion and an aura of comfort. The harmonic language also contributes to the rich soundscape: dissonant harmonies regularly occur in metrically accented positions—the downbeats of measures 1, 3, and 5 are respectively ii7, vi7, and IV7 chords—and suspensions decorate almost every chord. Finally, the combined timbre of mezzosoprano, viola, and piano (often with both hands notated in bass clef) is low and rich. The instrumentation reflects the function of the op. 91 songs: they were written to be played by Brahms's good friends Joseph and Amalie Joachim, who were a world-class violinist and amateur singer. Perhaps Brahms chose to write for viola (over violin) because the timbre would better blend with Amalie's voice; or, perhaps Brahms simply wanted to write for one of his favorite stringed instruments. Opus 91, no. 2 (1864) “Geistliches Wiegenleid,” was written to commemorate the birth of the Joachims’ child. Opus 91, no. 1 (1884), “Gestillte Sehnsucht,” was Brahms's contribution to the Joachim's (unsuccessful) marital reconciliation; he presumably hoped that performing this piece together would help them smooth over their differences.

One needs only to read the first line of Rückert's text to understand Brahms's careful creation of the atmosphere: “In gold’nen Abendschein getauchet” [“Dipped in the golden evening glow”]. In addition to numerous other instances of clear and beautiful text painting, less obvious connections between text and music permeate the piece at deeper structural levels. Expression of a text can occur in ways other than basic text painting, unusual modulations, or form. Phrase rhythm can also be added to this list of techniques. For this analysis, it is, arguably, the primary technique for expressing the essence of the poem: longing. A detailed examination of phrase rhythm reveals metric manipulations of unusually long twelve-measure basic phrases. The musical material within these twelve-measure phrases unfolds at a luxurious pace that contributes greatly to the general sense of longing permeating “Gestillte Sehnsucht.”