Josef Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) was an Austrian
composer, organist, and music theorist best known for
his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first
are considered emblematic of the final stage of
Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich
harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and
considerable length. Bruckner's compositions helped to
define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to their
dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving
harmonies.
Locus iste ...(+)
Josef Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) was an Austrian
composer, organist, and music theorist best known for
his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first
are considered emblematic of the final stage of
Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich
harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and
considerable length. Bruckner's compositions helped to
define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to their
dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving
harmonies.
Locus iste (This place), WAB 23, is a sacred motet
composed by Anton Bruckner in 1869. The text is the
Latin gradual Locus iste for the annual celebration of
a church's dedication. The incipit, Locus iste a Deo
factus est, translates to "This place was made by God".
Bruckner set it for four unaccompanied voices, intended
for the dedication of the Votivkapelle (votive chapel)
at the New Cathedral in Linz, Austria, where Bruckner
had been a cathedral organist. It was the first motet
that Bruckner composed in Vienna. It was published in
1886, together with three other gradual motets.
Bruckner composed Locus iste on 11 August 1869. It was
intended for the dedication ceremony of the
Votivkapelle (votive chapel) at the New Cathedral in
Linz, Austria. The New Cathedral was under construction
since 1862, and the Votivkapelle was completed in 1869
as its first section. At that time Bruckner lived in
Vienna, teaching at the Vienna Conservatory as a
professor of harmony and counterpoint, and at the
Vienna University as a part-time lecturer from 1876. He
had a strong connection to the Old Cathedral of Linz,
where he had been the organist from 1855 to 1868. He
had already been commissioned by Bishop Franz-Josef
Rudigier to compose a Festive Cantata for the laying of
the foundation stone of the new cathedral, and composed
Preiset den Herrn (Praise the Lord) on a text by
Maximilian Pammesberger, which was performed on 1 May
1862 on the building site.
The motet is marked Allegro moderato and begins calmly
in homophony. Max Auer notes that the beautiful work
has touches with Mozart's Ave verum. A. Crawford Howie
notes further that the work "begins with Mozartian
phrases, but soon introduces characteristic Brucknerian
progressions". The repeat of the first line, beginning
one step higher, is marked mf, confirming "a Deo factus
est" higher and stronger, then repeating it softly. The
bass begins each "a Deo factus est". Musicologist
Anthony Carver notes here as in many of Bruckner's
motets the "isolation of the bass part at structurally
important points". The bass also begins the second line
with a new rising motif, marked f; the upper voices
follow in homophony. The line is repeated as a sequence
a whole tone higher, marked ff. After a pause of half a
bar, the tenor alone begins in sudden pp the middle
section on a repeated note, imitated by soprano and
alto. Throughout the section, only the upper voices,
without a bass foundation, sing in chromaticism,
beginning in undefined tonality. In a gradual
crescendo, the intensity is heightened, but only to mf.
Iso Camartin notes in an article dedicated to the work
in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung: das unanfechtbare
Geheimnis (the irreproachable mystery) appears as
unfassbar (incomprehensible) and beunruhigend
(disturbing), described by Ryan Turner as
"transparently chromatic".
After another rest of half a bar, the first line is
repeated. Instead of the last "factus est", the word
"Deo" is extended to the only melisma of the otherwise
austere, strictly syllabic composition. The author of
the program notes for an Oratorio Society of New York
CD that includes the motet writes that the melisma
"spins an ethereal spell". It leads to a long general
pause, achieved "by carefully measuring out five
beats", before "a Deo, Deo factus est" is repeated a
final time, concluding "peacefully and serenely". The
author of the Oratorio Society notes concludes by
stating that "Locus iste is a hauntingly beautiful work
reminiscent of the quiet chapel it honored". Writing
for Gramophone, Malcolm Riley called it "sublime (and
deceptively difficult)".
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locus_iste_(Bruckner))
Although originally composed for Voice (SATB), I
created this arrangement of the Locus iste (WAB 23) for
Winds (Flute, Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon) and Strings
(2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC