In his career as a composer of songs, Schubert would occasionally set the same poem twice or even thrice. But only one poem did he set six times, Goethe's "Geister-Gruss" (A Spirit's Greeting). The first five versions from 1815 and 1816 are all essentially the same, with very minor differences. All start with a powerful recitative, often so called in the score, that is followed by an aria often marked Mit Majestät (With Majesty). Four of the five versions start in E flat minor for the recitative and modulate to G flat major for the aria, while the fifth version retains the same harmonic relationship but moves the whole song down a semitone to D minor and G major. All five versions are grandly imposing but none too convincing, a fact that Schubert's all too frequent attempts to set the poem underlined.

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