Josef Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) was an Austrian
composer and organist best known for his symphonies and
sacred music, which includes Masses, Te Deum and
motets. The symphonies are considered emblematic of the
final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of
their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic
character, and considerable length. His compositions
helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing
to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and
roving harmonies.
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Josef Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) was an Austrian
composer and organist best known for his symphonies and
sacred music, which includes Masses, Te Deum and
motets. The symphonies are considered emblematic of the
final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of
their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic
character, and considerable length. His compositions
helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing
to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and
roving harmonies.
Unlike other musical radicals such as Richard Wagner
and Hugo Wolf, Bruckner showed respect, even humility,
before other famous musicians, Wagner in particular.
This apparent dichotomy between Bruckner the man and
Bruckner the composer hampers efforts to describe his
life in a way that gives a straightforward context for
his music. Hans von Bülow described him as "half
genius, half simpleton". Bruckner was critical of his
own work and often reworked his compositions. There are
several versions of many of his works.
His works, the symphonies in particular, had
detractors, most notably the influential Austrian
critic Eduard Hanslick and other supporters of Johannes
Brahms, who pointed to their large size and use of
repetition, as well as to Bruckner's propensity for
revising many of his works, often with the assistance
of colleagues, and his apparent indecision about which
versions he preferred. On the other hand, Bruckner was
greatly admired by subsequent composers, including his
friend Gustav Mahler.
"Christus factus est" (Christ became obedient), WAB 10,
is a sacred motet by Anton Bruckner, his second setting
of the Latin gradual Christus factus est, written in
1873. Several decades earlier, in 1844, he had composed
another piece on the same text as gradual for the Messe
für den Gründonnerstag (WAB 9). In 1884, Bruckner
composed a third, better known setting (WAB 11) for
choir a cappella. He composed the motet in 1873, and it
was first performed on 8 December 1873 in the Wiener
Hofmusikkapelle for the celebration of Mariä
Empfängnis (feast of the Immaculate Conception). The
manuscript, a copy of which is archived at the Austrian
National Library, was destroyed in 1945. On his
manuscript Bruckner wrote Besser ohne Violinen (better
without violins). According to R. Luna, this "would
mean that he conceived the work ideally for eight-part
choir with brief interventions of the trombones and
that he had written the strings colla parte to prevent
any intonation problems.
The 61-bar work in D minor is scored for eight-part
mixed choir, three trombones, two violins, and viola,
cello and double bass. The first section (bars 1–12),
a Dorian mode melody sung by the soprano and alto
voices in unison, which is accompanied by a
counterpoint of the first and second violins, ends on
"autem crucis". The second section (bars 13–21), a
fugato, modulates to B-flat major and ends on bars
20–21 in forte on "exaltavit illum". The third
section (bars 22–31), sustained by the strings and
the trombones, ends in a climax in A? major on "dedit
illi nomen". The fourth section (bars 31 61) begins in
pianissimo and in successive entries of the eight
voices – from the lowest till the highest vocal parts
– establishing a "pyramid" of sound based on an A?
pedal tone, which leads the a further climax in C
major. It is followed on bar 38 by a second "pyramid",
which follows the same procedure and ends in D major.
The coda on "quod est super" begins on bar 45 with a
third "pyramid", which is charged with a greater
dramatic effect, and ends on bars 51-53 with an a
cappella climax in D minor. The second part of the coda
(bars 53–61), sung a cappella, which is a clear
quotation of the coda of the Kyrie of the Mass in E
minor, ends in pianissimo in D major. "One has to value
this composition as one of the most expressive and
monumental works of Bruckner's sacred music…", was a
comment by the musicologist Leopold Nowak on his
impression of the work.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christus_factus_est,_WAB
_10).
Although originally composed for Mixed Chorus
(SSAATTBB), 3 Trombones, 2 Violins (or String Quintet:
2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Bass), I created this
Interpretation of "Christus factus est" (Christ became
obedient WAB 10) in D Minor for Winds (Flute, Oboe,
French Horn & Bassoon) and Strings (2 Violins, Viola &
Cello).