Vexilla regis (Bruckner)

Vexilla regis
Motet by Anton Bruckner

Key Phrygian mode
Catalogue WAB 51
Text Vexilla regis
Language Latin
Performed 15 April 1892 (1892-04-15): Vienna
Published 1892 (1892): Vienna
Vocal SATB choir

Vexilla regis (The royal banner), WAB 51, is the final motet written by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner.

History

Bruckner composed it on 9 February 1892.[1] The work is based on the Latin hymn Vexilla Regis by Venantius Fortunatus. It was first performed on Good Friday, 15 April 1892, and was published in the same year by Josef Weinberger, Vienna.[1] In the Nowak-Bauernfeind new edition (Band XXI/29 of the Gesamtausgabe) the motet was re-issued with the revised text of the hymn and an additional 4-bar Amen.[2]

Music

Bruckner put strophes 1, 6 and 7 of the text in a motet of 108 bars in Phrygian mode for mixed choir a cappella.

Alike he did in Christus factus est WAB 11 and Virga Jesse WAB 52, Bruckner used the Dresdner Amen on the words prodeunt (bars 5-8), unica (bars 41-44), and Trinitas (bars 77-80).[1]

Although it is in Phrygian mode the motet is characterized by Bruckner's typical modulations, often to rather distant keys[3] and the integration of diverse musical styles: Bruckner biographer Howie remarks that "the remarkable mixture of the old and the new in this strophic piece could perhaps be interpreted as an attempt to sum up [Bruckner's] life's work".[4] Its "bleaker and uncompromising" close is suited to the Good Friday story.[5]

Selected discography

The first recording of Bruckner's Vexilla regis occurred in 1931:

A selection among the about 40 recordings:

The large majority of the recordings are using the older score. Only a few recent recordings are using the score of the current edition of the Gesamtausgabe:

References

  1. 1 2 3 van Zwol, Cornelius (2012). Anton Bruckner – Leven en Werken. Thot. pp. 709–710. ISBN 90-686-8590-2.
  2. ↑ Gesamtausgabe – Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke
  3. ↑ M. Auer, pp. 82-83
  4. ↑ Howie, A. Crawford (2004). "Bruckner and the motet". In Williamson, John. The Cambridge companion to Bruckner. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-521-00878-5.
  5. ↑ Carver, Antony F. (February 2005). "Bruckner and the Phrygian Mode". Music and Letters. 86 (1): 74–99. doi:10.1093/ml/gci004.

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.