Considered his highest achievement in church music, it sets the German text of Psalm 42, “As the hart pants for the water brooks”, reflecting profound longing and spiritual thirst through dramatic, lyrical, and emotive musical, structural, and harmonic, shifts.

Composed iin 1837 and finalized after self-criticism, the first performance of this version was February 8, 1838, at the Leipzig Gewandhaus.

Comprised of seven movements that blend intense choral sections, tender soprano solos, and rich, often melancholic orchestral textures.