By the time he got to the fourth of his settings of the Hymns of Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenburg) in May 1819, Schubert seemed to have nearly run out of enthusiasm for the task. The first Hymne (D. 659) was an extraordinarily experimental setting that went on for more than seven nonstop, non-repeating minutes in performance. The second Hymne (D. 660) is an extremely simple strophic setting that lasts about three minutes. The third Hymne (D. 661) is virtually a rewrite of the second and is even shorter. The inevitably strophic Hymne IV (D. 662) lasts less than two not especially inspired minutes, but it marches along and is in a major key, so it at least sounds upbeat.

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