Sometimes sung as a solo song, sometimes as a three-part woman's choral song, and sometimes as a four-part men's choral song, Schubert's setting of Klopstock's Das grosse Halleluja (The Great Hallelujah) (D. 442) is less an early nineteenth century Schubert setting than a Schubert adaptation of the mode and manner of an eighteenth century choral hymn. Marked Feierlich, but nevertheless giving the impression of impetuous momentum, Schubert's strophic setting sounds as if it could have been composed by Haydn, Mozart, or even C.P.E. Bach with its flowing lines, its block major key harmonies, and above all, its constantly moving bass line. Indeed, the spirit of the Enlightenment is present in Schubert's rational harmonies built from the bass up to match Klopstock's invocation of "You, Exalted One, the First, Father of Creation! Ineffable, Unthinkable One!"

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