Arneth Cantata, WAB 61
| Arneth Cantata Heil Vater! Dir zum hohen Feste | |
|---|---|
| by Anton Bruckner | |
|
Ceiling of the library of the St. Florian Abbey | |
| Key | D major |
| Catalogue | WAB 61 |
| Form | Cantata |
| Text | Ernst Marinelli |
| Language | German |
| Composed |
|
| Dedication |
|
| Vocal | SATTBB choir |
| Instrumental | 3 horns, 2 trumpets, bass-trombone |
The Arneth Cantata, WAB 61, is a cantata composed by Anton Bruckner in 1852.
History
Bruckner composed the cantata for the name-day of Michael Arneth, the prior of the St. Florian Abbey. The piece was performed on 29 September 1852 on the evening before Arneth's name day.[1]
The original manuscript is stored in the archive of the St. Florian Abbey. A facsimile of the cantata was first in band II/1, pp. 116–128 of the Göllerich/Auer biography.[1] It is put in Band XXII/1 No. 3a of the Gesamtausgabe.[2]
The cantata is in seven movements:
- Heil Vater! Dir zum hohen Feste: six-voice SATTBB mixed choir (24 bars) - Bewegt
- Dir schlägt so treu und wahr: TTBB men's choir a cappella (16 bars) - Mit Gefühl
- An dreißig Jahre mögen's sein: six-voice mixed choir (18 bars) - Bewegt
- Drum bringen wir mit Jubel heut': men's choir a cappella (16 bars) - Mit Gefühl
- An dreißig Jahre mögen's sein: six-voice mixed choir (18 bars) - part 3 da capo
- Du wirktest treu und bieder hier: men's choir a cappella (19 bars) - Andante
- Final Choir Sie bringen dir mit Jubel heut': six-voice mixed choir (30 bars) - Nicht zu geschwind[1][3]
Text and music
The work is using a text by Franz Ernst Marinelli.
Heil Vater! Dir zum hohen Feste. |
Hail father! To you on this noble celebration
|
The 123-bar long work, plus a 18-bar repeat, in D major is scored for SATTBB choir, and wind instruments (3 horns, 2 trumpets and bass-trombone).[1] The trombone functions mostly as bass voice of a horn quartet.[4]
This cantata, the first of three larger-scale occasional compositions,[5] is mostly conventionally diatonic and based on simple structures. Movements two and three are repeated as movements four (with a different text) and five (exact repetition). The work displays already some marks of Bruckner's style. Two horn passages, which recur frequently, provide as in later works musical unity.[4]
There are two other versions of this celebratory composition:
- Auf Brüder! auf zur frohen Feier!, a shortened version in five movements, on another text of Marinelli, composed in 1857. It was performed on 17 July 1857 as second name-day Cantata for Friedrich Mayer.[6] The original manuscript of this second version is stored in the archive of the St. Florian Abbey. It is put in Band XXII/1 No. 3b of the Gesamtausgabe.[2]
- Heil dir zum schöne Erstlingsfeste. In c. 1870, another text by Beda Piringer was put on the original seven-movement setting of the cantata for a Primitzfeier (celebration of the first Mass) by a newly ordained priest in Kremsmünster. The original score is lost, but copies of it are stored in the archive of the Kremsmünster Abbey. It is not known whether Bruckner was involved in the realisation process of the new setting.[7] This setting is not not put in the Gesamtausgabe.[1]
Discography
There is no recording of the Arneth Cantate or its other two versions as yet.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 C. van Zwol, p. 713
- 1 2 Gesamtausgabe – Kantaten und Chorwerke mit Orchester
- ↑ U. Harten, pp. 192-193
- 1 2
- ↑ C. Howie,Chapter II, pp. 22-23
- ↑ U. Harten, pp. 66-67
- ↑ U. Harten, p. 192
Sources
- August Göllerich, Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild, c. 1922 – posthumous edited by Max Auer by G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1932
- Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXII/1: Kantaten und Chorwerke I (1845–1855), Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Franz Burkhart, Rudolf H. Führer and Leopold Nowak (Editor), Vienna, 1987
- Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. Residenz Verlag, Salzburg, 1996. ISBN 3-7017-1030-9
- Keith William Kinder, The Wind and Wind-Chorus Music of Anton Bruckner, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 2000
- Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner 1824–1896 – Leven en werken, uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012. ISBN 978-90-6868-590-9
- Crawford Howie, Anton Bruckner - A documentary biography, online revised edition
External links
- Heil, Vater! Dir zum hohen Feste D-Dur, WAB 61a Critical discography by Hans Roelofs (German)
- Auf, Brüder! auf zur frohen Feier D-Dur, WAB 61b Critical discography by Hans Roelofs (German)
- Heil Dir zum schönen Erstlingsfeste D-Dur, WAB 61c Critical discography by Hans Roelofs (German)
