Brahms' output of vocal music is greater than that of his instrumental music. He published thirty-one volumes of solo Lieder (songs), six volumes of duets and five of quartets. His settings up to 1860 are either strophic (each verse the same) or varied strophic. With the publication of the Songs, Op. 32, in 1864 we find Brahms' first through-composed settings, in which each verse is set differently. After 1877, through-composed songs nearly disappear and strophic settings find new life. Varied strophic forms appear at all points in Brahms' career. Although he set many poems by Goethe and two by Schiller, Brahms showed a predilection for the work of second-rate poets, usually choosing texts for their musical potential.

Brahms once wrote to Clara Schumann that the folk song is the ideal toward which the composer of songs must strive. With the release of the Nine Songs, Op. 69, Brahms would distance himself from the language of the folk song. In the eight songs of Op. 58, however, folk song aspects are clearly evident in the diatonic melodies, repetition of the last words of a verse, consistent rhythmic patterns and the lack of lengthy piano introductions. The Songs, Op. 58, were published in 1871. A sketch of No. 7, "Vorüber," in Vienna, clearly shows how Brahms' first concern was the voice part of his songs, worked out to his satisfaction before he began the details of the accompaniment.

"Blinde Kuh" (Blindman's Buff) is an anonymous Italian poem in German translation by August Kopisch in which someone takes very seriously a childhood game. In two parts, Brahms' setting begins with two verses in simple strophic form in G minor, shifting to G major for new material.

In a free ternary form with changing meters, "Während des Regens" (During the Rain) is a setting of an original poem by Kopisch. As the narrator compares the kisses of her lover to sweet rain, Brahms' accompaniment evokes the sound of raindrops on a rooftop.

"Die Spröde" (The Prude), an anonymous Calabrian poem translated by Kopisch, tells of a woman whose tears could tame a tiger, but when she visits a graveyard, a youngster laughs at her. Like "Blinde Kuh," "Die Spröde" is in two parts, although it begins and ends in A major.

In "O komme, holde Sommernacht" (O Come, Sweet Summer Night), by M. Grohe, the narrator credits summer with both the opening of rosebuds and the victory of love. In his F sharp major setting, Brahms maintains a folk song-like quality in the melody despite the decidedly art song accompaniment.

Brahms set Carl Candidus' "Schwermut" (Melancholy) in the dark key of E flat minor with a close on E flat major. The extremely slow pace and low bass notes convey the heaviness of the narrator's heart.

The theme of emptiness continues with "In der Gasse" (In the Street) by Fr. Hebbel, in which the narrator gazes down the street where a woman used to live. In an unusual gesture, Brahms anticipates the first line of the voice part with the piano introduction in this D minor, through-composed setting.

In "Vorüber" (Gone), also by Hebbel, a man falls asleep under a tree. When he awakes from a dream he finds himself covered with leaves but wishes instead he were covered with burning ashes. Brahms stresses motivic development in this through-composed setting in F major, venturing away from the tonic as the narrator dreams.

"Serenade," by Adolf Friedrich von Schack, addresses the fleeting passion of midnight liaisons. A detached accompanimental pattern brings to mind the sound of a guitar in this harmonically adventurous ternary setting.

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