Schubert tried twice to set Goethe's "Mahomets Gesang": first in March 1817 and then again four years later in March 1821. The former is a massive 114-bar torso that breaks off at the 35th of 36 lines; the latter is 39-bar fragment that breaks off after 12 lines. The former is in E major, the latter is in C sharp minor, E major's relative minor. The former cheerfully starts and seems to be headed toward an explosive climax when it stops; the latter starts turbulently, but ends before he can get very far. Both versions were completed by Dutch musicologist Reinhard van Hoorick, and while the former almost-but-not-quite reaches a convincing conclusion, the latter just stops with a four-bar repetition of the piano's introduction.

© All Music Guide