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).