Schubert set five of Novalis' poems from the book Hymnen an die Nacht to music. The first four of these were composed in May 1819 and the last in January 1820. The first of the May 1819 settings is among the wildest and most extravagant songs Schubert ever wrote and, as if in compensation, the next three may be among the dullest songs he ever wrote. But the setting from January 1820 is in another class altogether. Indeed, Nachthymne (Hymn to the Night, D. 687) fuses art song with hymn, passionate longing with serene repose, and even the here and now with the infinite and eternal.

Novalis' Nachthymne consists of one long strophe without repetition, but Schubert forms from it a subtle and supple song structure. He takes Novalis' first two quatrains and creates a short ternary-form song by repeating the first quatrain twice, once after its first statement and then again after the second quatrain. The music here is slow and simple with hymn-like dactylic rhythms. But the music gathers both harmonic and temporal momentum in Novalis' next two quatrains. Over throbbing chords, Schubert repeats each couplet though ascending harmonic sequences as the vocal melody rises higher through the singer's tessitura. Novalis' next quatrain stands poised on the brink of revelation, and after a slight ritardando, Schubert sets Novalis' final pair of quatrains to some of the most ethereal, most luminous music he ever wrote. Over quick and glittering sextuplets in the piano, the voice rises higher and higher in glistening arches to finally vanish into the furthest limits of the singer's range.

© All Music Guide