It is widely reported on websites that the trio in the scherzo of Beethoven's 7th was inspired by an Austrian pilgrims' hymn. None of the websites, however, supply its name. Does anybody know it?
BoggyB
No one ever mentions what the mystery hymn is. It was passed on (supposedly) via Abbé Stadler (a priest acquaintance of Beethoven). However this is merely hearsay and not backed up by letters or quoted testimony. It's basically highly unreliable hearsay. I strongly suspect that this attribution is BS and was either just a bit of gossip or absolute rubbish. There is a lot written about Beethoven that is either untrue (especially from that bullsh*tter, Anton Schindler) or based on hearsay. Czerny and Ries are probably the most reliable witnesses of Beethoven and they mention no such thing. Everyone else seems to have just made up a pack of stories about Beethoven. The Austrian hymn claim was investigated many years ago but there is no evidence of any similar hymn or melody. The numerous attributions of it are just lazy cut and paste copying. A case of if you say something enough times it's true! 
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