Despair not in this vale of pain

At first described as a 'religious song' by Schumann, the motet 'Verzweifle nicht' could be heard with organ accompaniment for the first time on 4 July 1850 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the University's St. Pauli choral society in Leipzig. He wrote the organ version specifically for this performance for he had originally planned an orchestral accompaniment. That, however, could only be completed later and was eventually premiered in 1853. In a letter to Schumann, Herrmann Langer, the conductor of both world premieres, mentioned 'the wonderful effect which the same has produced' and that, to him, 'the motet was one of the most stimulating and inspiring creations in male-voice literature'.