Schubert set his close friend Franz von Schober's poem "Schatzgräbers Begehr" (Treasure Hunter's Desire) (D. 761) in late 1822 when both were working on the opera Alfonso und Estrella. The subsequent failure of the opera to even gain a hearing in Schubert's lifetime has moved some scholars to remark that the song is addressed to opera's critics, that the lines "Even if I am digging my own grave with this hope" is the authors' sarcastic reply to those who warned them that Rossini-mad Vienna would never stage their opera. Whether this was actually in the mind of the poet and the composer remained a mystery, but while the poem is fairly pathetic in its attempt to defend an unsuccessful work, the music is close to Schubert's best in "by the grave of a young artist" manner. With its solemn vocal melody and its chorale-like piano accompaniment moving from dark D minor to bright D major, Schubert's music redeems the song from excessive pathos and bathos. Although not one of the great Schubert songs, his setting of Schober's Schatzgräbers Begehr is still an improvement on his dull setting of Goethe's Der Schatzgräber (D. 256) from seven years earlier.

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