Vibrational coherences in a photoexcited cyanine dye are preserved for the time-scale of diffusive torsional motion to the bottom of the excited-state potential. The coherently excited modes are virtually unaffected by solvent friction and thus distinct from the bond-twisting motion, which is strongly coupled to the surrounding solvent. We correlate the modes apparent in the resonance Raman and the four-wave mixing signal of 1,1'-diethyl-2,2'-cyanine with the understanding of optimal control of isomerization. In turn, the experimental results illustrate that optimal control might be used to obtain vibrational information complementary to conventional spectroscopic data. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.