It is impossible to say exactly how Schubert achieved the spiritual depth and the emotional profundity of his setting of Johann Jacobi's Am Tage aller Seelen (Litanei) (On All Soul's Day [Litany]) (D. 343) from August 1816. A single page of exquisitely wrought melody setting the three verses of Jacobi's poem as a strophic song, there is little about Am Tage aller Seelen which requires comment. The vocal melody is a seemingly effortless fusion of Italian bel canto and German innigkeit. The harmonies are for the most part simple but with a few suspensions and secondary dominants all articulated over smoothly moving arpeggiated triplets in the piano accompaniment. On paper, it looks like nothing special: but in performance Am Tage aller Seelen is one of the handful of the very greatest Schubert songs of quiet consolation and rapturous repose.

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