Mayer Cantata, WAB 60
Mayer Cantata Auf, Brüder! auf, und die Saiten zur Hand! | |
---|---|
by WAB 60 | |
Form | Cantata |
Occasion | Name day |
Text | by Franz Ernst Marinelli |
Language | German |
Composed | 1 July 1855 St. Florian Abbey : |
Dedication | Friedrich Mayer |
Vocal | SATB choir, TTBB choir and TTBB vocal quartet |
Instrumental | 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 3 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones |
The Mayer Cantata,
History
Bruckner composed the cantata for the
The Mayer Cantata, composed one year after the Missa solemnis, was the penultimate large work composed by Bruckner during his stay in St. Florian. Five months later, three weeks before he moved to Linz, he composed the cantata Festgesang, WAB 15, "Farewell to St. Florian".[2][1]
The manuscript is stored in the archive of the St. Florian Abbey.[3] An excerpt of the cantata was first published in band II/2, pp. 230–239 of the Göllerich/Auer biography.[1] The cantata is put in Band XXII/1 No. 4 of the Gesamtausgabe.[4]
Text
The work is using a text by Franz Ernst Marinelli.
Auf, Brüder! auf, und die Saiten zur Hand! |
Let's go, brothers! and take the strings into our hands! Muse is already waving tenderly.She is calling you into the great land Of living and eternally enchanting tones. We will follow for what she is asking us to sing, A loving, reconciling spirit will teach us. This flows full of jubilation from an open throat As if the soul was dreaming it in the fields of Eden. It is probably love, it ties the ribbon of harmony around you in holy beauty, Approach then and offer its pledge to the hero of the day, you worthy sons. Hail to our father, whom we love, whose heart is beating with happiness, He, who carries the burden of the house, supported by his wise care. Hail to the supporter of beauty, hail to the most noble Maecenas, At whose side, loving and mild, the reconciling angels walk. He, who knows how to tune the roughness, and who commands the rigid form, Who is able to send the glance that delights us: Hail to him, the noble, brave, whose strength is like that of youth, Whose work refurbishes and expiates, whose heart is full of love.[5] |
Setting
The in total 169-
).The cantata is in three movements:
- Auf, Brüder! auf: men's choir and vocal quartet, horns and trombones (bars 1 to 27)
- Wohl ist's die Liebe: the vocal quartet a cappella (bars 28 to 69) - Langsam, gemütlich
- Heil unserm Vater: mixed choir, wind instruments (bars 70 to 169) - Heiter[1][3]
The cantata, the second of three larger-scale occasional compositions,[6] is Bruckner's first extended composition for large wind ensemble and choir. The first verse, which expresses a male point of view, introduced by a solo horn, is set for men's voices with instruments in a comparable register (horns and trombones). The text of the second movement, which projects a gentle, thoughtful mood, is sung with smaller forces a cappella. The words of the final stanza, which are highly celebratory, introduced by the trumpets, is using the whole tessitura of voices with a large set of wind instruments. The solo horn recalls the introductory motive, providing a musical unity. This cantata may be the first work, in which Bruckner's personal style is clearly recognisable.[3][7]
Discography
There is a single recording of the Mayer Cantate:
- Thomas Kerbl, Chorvereinigung, Weltliche Männerchöre – CD: LIVA 054, 2012 – in part 2 with organ colla parte, and in part 3 a 27-bar cut (bars 110-136)
References
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 (Available on IMSLP: Neue Gesamtausgabe, XXII/1. Kantaten und Chorwerke Teil 1: Nr. 1-5)
- 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
- Mayer Cantata, WAB 60: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Auf, Brüder! auf, und die Saiten zur Hand! D-Dur,WAB 60 Critical discography by Hans Roelofs (in German)