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. (+)
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.
Zur Vermählungsfeier ("For the wedding ceremony"), WAB
54, is a wedding song composed by Anton Bruckner on 27
November 1878. He composed the setting for the wedding
ceremony of his landlord Anton Ölzelt Ritter von Newin
with Amalie Edler von Wieser. The piece was intended to
be performed during the ceremony in the church of the
Klosterneuburg Abbey. However, the ceremony did not
occur, because the groom was a Protestant. The original
manuscript is stored in the archive of the Gesellschaft
der Musikfreunde in Vienna. It was first published in
the yearbook of the Klosterneuburg Abbey (Vienna &
Leipzig) in 1910. It has been re-edited by Wöss in
1921 together with the Ave Regina caelorum, WAB 8. It
is put in Band XXIII/2, No. 30 of the Gesamtausgabe.
It is not known when the piece was performed first. A
performance by the Hilliard Ensemble occurred on 15
September 1993 during the 20th Brucknerfest.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zur_Verm%C3%A4hlungsfeie
r,_WAB_54).
Although originally created for Male Chorus (TTBB), I
created this Interpretation of "Zur Vermählungsfeier"
("For the wedding ceremony WAB 54) in D Major for
String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC