Psalm 150 (Bruckner)

Anton Bruckner's Psalm 150, WAB 38, is a setting of Psalm 150 for mixed chorus, soprano soloist and orchestra written in 1892.

Richard Heuberger asked Bruckner for a festive hymn to celebrate an opening, but Bruckner did not deliver the piece in time for Heuberger's purpose.[1] The setting was premiered on 13 November 1892, conducted by Wilhelm Gericke.[2] The concert also included "a Schubert overture and Liszt's Piano Concerto in E-flat, followed by Richard Strauss' „Wanderers Sturmlied“ and Mendelssohn's „Loreley“."[3]

The choir has sopranos, altos, tenors, basses, while the orchestra consists of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones (alto, tenor and bass), timpani, strings. Of the instruments listed in the Psalm text, Bruckner did not use harps, fifes or cymbals. Bruckner used the German-language Martin Luther Bible for the text.

The piece starts out in C major, alla breve, with a tempo marking of "Mehr langsam! Feierlich, kräftig," as the choir sings "Hallelujah" several times before moving on to the second line of the Psalm. At rehearsal letter E, marked "Bewegter," begins the listing of instruments with which to praise God. At J, "Langsamer," follows "Alles, Alles lobe den Herrn..." At K, with a return to the initial tempo, Bruckner repeats the opening Hallelujahs, but at L follows with "a complex fugue"[4] starting with the words "Alles, was Odem hat..." once again "Langsam." Another return to the initial tempo at R marks the beginning of the coda with the words "Alles, Alles lobe den Herrn..." The theme of the fugue is related to that of the fugue of the fifth symphony and that of the Adagio of the ninth symphony.

The last time Bruckner improvised at the organ, he used melodies from this Psalm setting.[5] Psalm 150 "shares both the key and the triumphant mood of rapturous exaltation of the Te Deum."[6] In 1893, Heinrich Schenker published a critique of Bruckner's setting in the Musikalisches Wochenblatt,[7] quoting the flute in m. 43 - 44 and the soprano in m. 125 - 126 as examples of "badly constructed lines."[8]

Contents

Text

  1. Halleluja! Lobet den Herrn in seinem Heiligtum; lobet ihn in der Feste seiner Macht!
  2. Lobet ihn in seinen Taten; lobet ihn in seiner großen Herrlichkeit!
  3. Lobet ihn mit Posaunen; lobet ihn mit Psalter und Harfe!
  4. Lobet ihn mit Pauken und Reigen; lobet ihn mit Saiten und Pfeifen!
  5. Lobet ihn mit hellen Cymbeln; lobet ihn mit wohlklingenden Cymbeln!
  6. Alles, was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn! Halleluja![9][10]

Bruckner also set Psalms 22, 112, 114 and 146 to music.

Discography

The first recording (c. 1950) was by Henry Swoboda with the Wiener Akademie-Kammerchor and the Wiener Symphoniker, LP: Westminster WAL 201 (with Symphony No. 6 and Psalm 112)

Among the 10 other recordings, Hans Roelofs selects the following 4 recordings:

Notes

  1. ^ p. [blank] (1964) Grasberger
  2. ^ p. [blank] (1964) Grasberger
  3. ^ p. [blank] (1964) Grasberger
  4. ^ p. 96 (1997) Watson
  5. ^ p. 50 (1997) Meier
  6. ^ p. 96 (1997) Watson
  7. ^ p. 123 (1988) Rast
  8. ^ p. 80, Laskowski (1978) Larry. New York Heinrich Schenker: an annotated index to his analyses of musical works Pendragon Press
  9. ^ p. 683 in Die Bibel, oder die ganze Heilige Schrift des alten und neuen Testaments, nach der deutsche Übersetzung D. Martin Luthers. Abgedruckt nach der Hallischen Ausgabe, 1839
  10. ^ Online Bible - Psalm 150 (German - modernised text)

References

External links