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 55, is a song
composed by Anton Bruckner in 1862. Bruckner composed
this first setting of "evening song" Der Abendhimmel in
January 1862. He used for the composition a text of
Joseph Christian von Zedlitz, which he would also use
for a second setting of the song in 1866. Bruckner
dedicated the song to the men's quartet Anton Munsch
[Anton Munsch (1st tenor), Anton Stiefler (2nd tenor),
Eduard Benoni (1st bass) and Mathias Weissmann (2nd
bass)]. The piece was performed first in a
transcription for men's choir by the Liedertafel
Frohsinn on 4 July 1900. The commentator of the Linzer
Zeitung (7 July 1900) wrote over a eine herrliche
Schöpfung unseres heimischen Meisters Dr. Anton
Bruckner (a wonderful composition of our national
master Dr. Anton Bruckner). The original manuscript is
stored in the archive of Österreichische
Nationalbibliothek. It was first issued in Band III/2,
pp. 18–20 of the Göllerich/Auer biography. It is
issued in Band XXIII/2, No. 15 of the Gesamtausgabe.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Abendhimmel,_WAB_55)
.
Although originally created for Male Chorus (TTBB), I
created this Interpretation of Der Abendhimmel ("The
evening sky" WAB 55) for Viola Trio & Cello.
SHEET MUSIC