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.
Der Abendhimmel ("The evening sky"), WAB 56, is a song
composed by Anton Bruckner in 1866. It is the second
setting of the work. In 1862, Bruckner had already
composed a first setting of the song for men's voice
quartet. Bruckner composed this second setting "evening
song" Der Abendhimmel on 6 December 1866. He used again
the text of Joseph Christian von Zedlitz, which he had
already used for the first setting in 1862. Bruckner
dedicated the song to Niederösterreichischer
Sängerbund (singers association of Lower Austria). The
piece was performed first by the Wiener
Männergesang-Verein (men's singer society of Vienna)
on 17 December 1898.
The original manuscript is stored in the archive of
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. It was first
issued as Zwei Männerchöre by Doblinger, Vienna in
1902 together with the Vaterlandslied, WAB 92 "O
könnt' ich dich beglücken". The work is issued in
Band XXIII/2, No. 19 of the Gesamtausgabe.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Abendhimmel,_WAB_56)
.
Although originally created for Male Chorus (TTBB), I
created this Interpretation of Der Abendhimmel ("The
evening sky" WAB 56) for Viola Trio & Cello.
SHEET MUSIC