Die Mainacht

In Brahms Die Mainacht, the climax of the piece is at measure 41. The chords used to bring this out are a iv6 then to a V/IV. This phrase is sung earlier, so the performer would need to sing them in two different ways. I see it as singing the first one at a mf, but then at the second, sing it at a pp or p then cresendo into a f but still leaving some behind. In my opinion, this is a very affective technique. At that point of the song you want the audience to feel that your voice is lifting them out of their seat through the cresendo to you. So that then audience feels the hope and dispair that the singer feels. For the spot at Morgenrot you would not want to end. Morgenrot means literally "red morning" or dawn so both musically and contextually you would not want to spot. If you were singing about the sun setting, that is a different story, but for our purposes this is not the case. In performance, you would want to feel like there is a line going through the passage, so that you don't mistake the rest as a break in the phrase.