Glaube, Hoffnung und Liebe (Faith, Hope, and Charity) (D. 955 (Op. 97) is a curious little hymn with a curious little history. Schubert had composed a setting of the same text by the Viennese poet and playwright Christoph Kuffner for a work dedicating a new bell for a Viennese church set (D. 954). That setting, for mixed choir with a small wind band accompaniment, was apparently composed in August 1828 at the same time as this setting for tenor or soprano and piano. That setting seems to have been performed, but this setting was published very quickly on October 6 of 1828. Both settings are to entirely different music, and one wonders why Schubert made two consecutive settings of exactly the same text to entirely different music. But, of course, one will never know: Schubert died on November 18, 1828.

Kuffner's poem takes as its starting point Paul's famous Epistle to the Corinthians 1:13) and in three verses elaborates on the virtues of faith, hope, and love ("charity" is an English translation of the Greek "caritas," which is translated as Liebe or love in German and most other European languages). The text's sentiments are mawkishly pious but clearly heartfelt, and it is no doubt this quality rather than the details of the text itself to which Schubert responded. Schubert's setting is hymn-like in the extreme in the two outer verses—one could easily imagine them sung by a mixed choir—but the three central verses are more aria-like, requiring professional solo singers. In all the verses, the melodies are Schubert at his purest: they are simple, folk-like tunes that give one the feeling that one has always known them.

While Glaube, Hoffnung und Liebe is not among the greatest text settings of Schubert's final summer (how could it be? that summer saw the composition of the Rellstab and Heine settings of Schwanengesang), it is still a warmly attractive setting of a text that clearly meant much to its composer.

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