idea of the text by shedding a ray of light over the whole, and leaving a more hopeful impression". Musical elements Schicksalslied, which John Lawrence Erb posits is "perhaps the most widely loved of all of Brahms's compositions and the most perfect of his smaller choral works", is sometimes referred to as the "Little Requiem", as it shares many stylistic and compositional similarities with Brahms's most ambitious choral composition. The Romantic characteristics of Schicksalslied, however, give this piece a closer tie with the "Alto Rhapsody" than the Requiem. Whichever piece it most closely relates to, it is clear that Schicksalsied was the work of a master composer working at the height of his skill. John Alexander Fuller Maitland stated that in Schicksalslied, Brahms "set the pattern of the short choral-ballad, to which, in Nänie, Op. 82, and the Gesang der Parzen, Op. 89, Brahms subsequently returned". Likewise, Hadow praises the piece for "its technical beauties, its rounded symmetry of balance and charm of melody, and its marvelous cadences where chord melts into chord like colour into colour". The first movement, marked Adagio, is in common time and begins in E major. The piece opens with 28 measures of an orchestral prelude (which Brahms later re-orchestrates in the third movement). At measure 29, the altos enter with the initial statement of the choral melody, which is immediately reiterated by the sopranos while the rest of the chorus adds harmony. The first example of the text painting in Schicksalslied occurs in measure 41, with the "luminous" harmonies as the choir sings "Glänzende Götterlüfte". The orchestra returns to prominence at measure 52 with harplike accompaniment as the chorus presents a new melody to the line Wie die Finger der Künstlerin Heilige Saiten. At measure 64, the orchestra cadences in the dominant key (B major) before repeating the first thematic melody line originally stated by the alto voices. This time, however, the melody is taken initially by the horn with the entire chorus repeating the theme on Schicksallos, wie der Schlafende Säugling. While Brahms does return to the initial thematic material in the dominant tonality, the restatement is a mere 12 bars while the initial statement was 23. This section ends with a similar orchestral cadence in measure 81, this time in tonic. The melodic theme returns one final time in this first movement at the choral line Und die seligen Augen (measure 84),