Two Songs for Voice, Viola and Piano (German: Zwei Gesänge für eine Altstimme mit Bratsche und Klavier), Op.

The text of the second, "Geistliches Wiegenlied" (Sacred lullaby) was written by Emanuel Geibel after Lope de Vega, and set to music in 1863.

[1][3] The first public performance was on 30 January 1885 in a Kammermusiksoirée (evening of chamber music) in Krefeld on the occasion of the Stiftungsfeier (foundation celebration) of the Singverein.

")[5] Rückert's poem about nature and yearning was appealing to Brahms, who returned to Baroque practices for the setting, not only the obbligato instrument, but also a da capo form, with a contrasting middle section.

It illustrates the restless desires (sonder Rast und Ruh, "without rest or silence") in an excited minor section.

[6] The poem begins with a woman addressing the holy angels hovering around palms in night and wind, to silence the trees because her child is sleeping.

The second stanza describes the angry wind and palms, the third the burden of the suffering of the world, tiring the child, and the fourth threatening cold, but all four are resolved in the same last line, Es schlummert mein Kind.