Like the earlier Psalm 13 (D. 663) and the later Ständchen (D. 920), Schubert's setting of Christian von Kleist's "Gott in der Natur" (God in Nature) from August 1822 was written at the request of Anna Frohlich. She was a friend of Schubert's who directed the female singers at the Vienna Conservatory in performances that charmed Schubert. He was apparently so delighted by the performances of music from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte that he composed his setting of Kleist's pantheistic hymn in the manner of Mozart's Singspiel. From its mock pomposo C major opening similar to the start of Mozart's work to the rapturous close such as the trio for the Three Women after the departure of the Queen of the Night, Schubert's chorus is full of his love of Mozart. And yet the joyous pantheism of the work and its innocent happiness is all Schubert's.

© James Leonard, All Music Guide