List of cantatas by Anton Bruckner explained

Anton Bruckner composed eight cantatas during his life, the earliest Vergißmeinnicht, in 1845, the last, Helgoland, in 1893.

Kronstorf and Sankt Florian

The five cantatas, composed between 1845 and 1855 during Bruckner's stay as schoolteacher's assistant in Kronstorf and as organist in Sankt Florian, were Name-day cantatas. These cantatas are put in Band XXII/1 of the German: Gesamtausgabe.^[1]

During his stay as schoolteacher's assistant in Kronstorf Bruckner composed his first cantata:

• Bruckner composed the cantata Musikalischer Versuch nach dem Kammer-Styl (Musical essay in chamber style), WAB 93, in D major for his teacher aggregation in May 1845.^{[2] [3]}
  • He made a second version to celebrate the name day of Alois Knauer, the parish priest of Kronstorf.^{[2] [3]}
  • He sent thereafter a third version, which he entitled (Do not forget me), to remind Friedrich Mayer of the promise to provide him with an employment in the St. Florian Abbey.^{[2] [4]}

During his stay as organist in Sankt Florian, Bruckner composed the following four name-day cantatas:

• Entsagen (Renunciation), WAB 14, is a cantata in B-flat major composed in on a text of Oskar von Redwitz's Amaranth for the name day of Michael Arneth, the prior of the St. Florian Abbey.^{[5] [6]}
• The Arneth Cantata (Hail father! To you on this noble celebration), WAB 61, is a cantata in D major composed in 1852 for the name day of Michael Arneth.^{[7] [8]}
  • In 1857, he made a shortened second version as, for the name day of Friedrich Mayer, the next prior of Abbey.^{[7] [9]}
  • In, a third version as was set for a German: Primitzfeier (celebration of the first Mass) by a newly ordained priest in Kremsmünster.^{[10] [11]}
• The Mayer Cantata (Let's go, brothers! and take the strings into our hands!), WAB 60, is a cantata in D major composed in 1855 for the name day of Friedrich Mayer.^{[12] [13]}
• The Festgesang Sankt Jodok sproß aus edlem Stamme (Festive song "Saint Judoc came from a noble house"), WAB 15, is a cantata in C major composed at the end of 1855 for the name day of Jodok Stülz, the dean of the St. Florian Abbey.^{[12] [14]}

Linz and Vienna

In the 1860s, during his stay in Linz, after the end of Sechter's and Kitzler's tuition, Bruckner composed the following two cantatas:

• The festive cantata German: Preiset den Herrn (Praise the Lord), WAB 16, is a religious cantata in D major composed in 1862 for the celebration of the laying of the foundation stone of the new Mariä-Empfängnis-Dom of Linz.^{[15] [16]}
• Germanenzug, WAB 70, is a secular, patriotic cantata in D minor composed in 1863–1864 on a text by August Silberstein for competition at the first German: Oberösterreichisch-Salzburgisches Sängerbundesfest.^{[17] [18]}

Thirty years later, during his stay in Vienna, Bruckner composed this last cantata:

• Helgoland, WAB 71, is a secular, patriotic cantata in G minor composed in 1893 on another text by August Silberstein to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Men's Choir of Vienna.^{[19] [20]}

These three cantatas are put in Band XXII/2 of the German: Gesamtausgabe.^[21]

Sources

• 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
• Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXII/2: Kantaten und Chorwerke II (1862–1893), Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Franz Burkhart, Rudolf H. Führer and Leopold Nowak (Editor), Vienna, 1987
• Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch., Salzburg, 1996. .
• Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner 1824-1896 - Leven en werken, uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012.

Notes and References

1. http://www.mwv.at/TextBruckner/Katalog/kantaten.htm Gesamtausgabe – Kantaten und Chorwerke mit Orchester
2. C. van Zwol, p. 711
3. U. Harten, pp. 296-297
4. U. Harten, p. 464
5. C. van Zwol, pp. 711-712
6. U. Harte, p. 145
7. C. van Zwol, p. 712
8. U. Harten, pp. 192-193
9. U. Harten, pp. 66-67
10. C. van Zwol, pp. 712-713
11. U. Harten, p. 192
12. C. van Zwol, p. 713
13. U. Harten, p. 66
14. U. Harten, pp. 151-152
15. C. van Zwol, pp. 713-714
16. U. Harten, pp. 152-153
17. C. van Zwol, p. 714
18. U. Harten, pp. 174-175
19. C. van Zwol, pp. 714-715
20. U. Harten, p. 193
21. http://www.mwv.at/TextBruckner/Katalog/kantaten.htm Gesamtausgabe – Kantaten und Chorwerke mit Orchester