Te Deum (Bruckner)
Encyclopedia
The Te Deum in C major WAB 45 by Anton Bruckner
is a setting of the early Christian Te Deum
hymn text for chorus
, soloists and orchestra
, and organ
ad libitum. The composer dedicated the piece "to God in gratitude for having safely brought me through so much anguish in Vienna."
The chorus consists of soprano
s, alto
s, tenor
s and basses
, while the orchestra consists of 2 flute
s, 2 oboe
s, 2 clarinet
s (in A), 2 bassoon
s, 4 horn
s in F, 3 trumpet
s in F, alto, tenor and bass trombone
s, contrabass tuba
, timpani
in C and G, and string
s.
The setting is in five movements, which is not the number chosen by many other composers. (However, there is no standard: e.g. Joseph Haydn
's is in one movement, Michael Haydn
's is in four movements and Hector Berlioz
's is in six.)
Bruckner had criticised Berlioz's Te Deum
for not being properly "ecclesiastical," in part because the performance Bruckner attended did not take place in a church. Bruckner started work on his own Te Deum some time before May 1881, but mostly focused his attention on his Symphony No. 6
. It wasn't until after finishing (or being close to finishing) his Symphony No. 7
that Bruckner resumed work on his Te Deum, finishing it on March 7, 1884. A melody used for the words "non confundar" (in the final movement) is remarkably similar to the main theme of the second movement of Bruckner's Symphony No. 7.
It was first published in 1885 by Theodore Rättig, who paid Bruckner 50 gulden
, "the only money he ever earned as a composer in the whole of his life." Another important difference with Bruckner's other first publications is that there are few differences between it and the original manuscript, with no recomposition from the Schalk brothers. The Te Deum was premiered "in the small Musikvereinsaal in Vienna on May 2, 1885" with soloists "Frau Ulrich-Linde, Emilie Zips, Richard Exleben, and Heinrich Gassner, with the choir of the Wiener Akademischer Richard Wagner Verein," and "Robert Erben and Joseph Schalk
" substituting for the orchestra on two pianos. Hans Richter
conducted the first performance with full orchestra on January 10, 1886. After that there were almost thirty more performances within Bruckner's lifetime; the last performance Bruckner attended was conducted by Richard von Perger at the suggestion of Johannes Brahms
. On his copy of the score, Gustav Mahler
crossed out "for chorus, solos, and orchestra, organ ad libitum" and wrote "for the tongues of angels, heaven-blest, chastened hearts, and souls purified in the fire!"
In the 1890s Bruckner was aware that he might not live to finish his Symphony No. 9
, and some commentators have suggested that the Te Deum could be used as a finale. However, Robert Simpson
believed that not "even in the poor state of health and mind of his last few months of his life, [would Bruckner have] considered the use of the C major Te Deum as finale to a D minor symphony to be more than a makeshift solution," and that the link to the Te Deum was simply a matter of self-quotation more than anything else.
During the Nazi era, Bruckner's Te Deum and Psalm 150
were ignored, because their existence contradicted the Nazi myth that exposure to Richard Wagner
's music had freed Bruckner from ties to the church. It wasn't until after the war that Eugen Jochum
brought attention to Bruckner's Te Deum and other sacred music, conducting several concerts and recordings. Herbert von Karajan
soon followed suit, and today there are several recordings of the Te Deum.
The first recording, was by Felix Gatz with the Bruckner-Chor & the Staatskapelle Berlin in 1927: 78 rpm disc Decca 25159 (only parts 1 & 2)
Some other historic recording are:
Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
is a setting of the early Christian Te Deum
Te Deum
The Te Deum is an early Christian hymn of praise. The title is taken from its opening Latin words, Te Deum laudamus, rendered literally as "Thee, O God, we praise"....
hymn text for chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, soloists and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, and organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
ad libitum. The composer dedicated the piece "to God in gratitude for having safely brought me through so much anguish in Vienna."
The chorus consists of soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
s, alto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
s, tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
s and basses
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
, while the orchestra consists of 2 flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, 2 clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s (in A), 2 bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, 4 horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s in F, 3 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s in F, alto, tenor and bass trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, contrabass tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
, timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
in C and G, and string
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
s.
The setting is in five movements, which is not the number chosen by many other composers. (However, there is no standard: e.g. Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
's is in one movement, Michael Haydn
Michael Haydn
Johann Michael Haydn was an Austrian composer of the classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn.-Life:...
's is in four movements and Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's is in six.)
- "Te Deum laudamus..." Allegro moderato, common timeCommon Time"Common Time" is a science fiction short story written by James Blish. It first appeared in the August 1953 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and has been reprinted several times: in the 1959 short-story collection Galactic Cluster; in The Testament of Andros ; in The Penguin Science Fiction...
, C majorC majorC major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor.... - "Te ergo quaesumus..." Moderato, common time, F minorF minorF minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. The harmonic minor raises the E to E. Its key signature has four flats ....
- "Aeterna fac cum Sanctis..." Allegro. Moderato. Feierlich, mit Kraft, common time, D minorD minorD minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In the harmonic minor, the C is raised to C. Its key signature has one flat ....
- "Salvum fac populum..." Moderato, common time, F minor
- "In Te, Domine speravi..." Mäßig bewegt, common time, C major
Bruckner had criticised Berlioz's Te Deum
Te Deum (Berlioz)
The Te Deum by Hector Berlioz was completed in 1849. It, like the earlier and more famous Grande Messe des Morts, is one of Berlioz's "architectural" works...
for not being properly "ecclesiastical," in part because the performance Bruckner attended did not take place in a church. Bruckner started work on his own Te Deum some time before May 1881, but mostly focused his attention on his Symphony No. 6
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
Symphony No. 6 in A major by Austrian composer Anton Bruckner is a work in four movements composed between September 24, 1879 and September 3, 1881 and dedicated to his landlord, Dr. Anton van Ölzelt-Newin. Though it possesses many characteristic features of a Bruckner symphony, it differs the...
. It wasn't until after finishing (or being close to finishing) his Symphony No. 7
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in E major is one of his best-known symphonies. It was written between 1881 and 1883 and was revised in 1885. It is dedicated to Ludwig II of Bavaria. The premiere, given under Arthur Nikisch and the Gewandhaus Orchestra in the opera house at Leipzig on 30...
that Bruckner resumed work on his Te Deum, finishing it on March 7, 1884. A melody used for the words "non confundar" (in the final movement) is remarkably similar to the main theme of the second movement of Bruckner's Symphony No. 7.
It was first published in 1885 by Theodore Rättig, who paid Bruckner 50 gulden
Austro-Hungarian gulden
The Gulden or forint was the currency of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire between 1754 and 1892 when it was replaced by the Krone/korona as part of the introduction of the gold standard. In Austria, the Gulden was initially divided into 60 Kreuzer, and in Hungary, the...
, "the only money he ever earned as a composer in the whole of his life." Another important difference with Bruckner's other first publications is that there are few differences between it and the original manuscript, with no recomposition from the Schalk brothers. The Te Deum was premiered "in the small Musikvereinsaal in Vienna on May 2, 1885" with soloists "Frau Ulrich-Linde, Emilie Zips, Richard Exleben, and Heinrich Gassner, with the choir of the Wiener Akademischer Richard Wagner Verein," and "Robert Erben and Joseph Schalk
Joseph Schalk
Joseph Schalk was an Austrian conductor, musicologist and pianist. His name is often given as Josef Schalk....
" substituting for the orchestra on two pianos. Hans Richter
Hans Richter (conductor)
Hans Richter was an Austrian orchestral and operatic conductor.-Biography:Richter was born in Raab , Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother was opera-singer Jozsefa Csazenszky. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory...
conducted the first performance with full orchestra on January 10, 1886. After that there were almost thirty more performances within Bruckner's lifetime; the last performance Bruckner attended was conducted by Richard von Perger at the suggestion of Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
. On his copy of the score, Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
crossed out "for chorus, solos, and orchestra, organ ad libitum" and wrote "for the tongues of angels, heaven-blest, chastened hearts, and souls purified in the fire!"
In the 1890s Bruckner was aware that he might not live to finish his Symphony No. 9
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 in D minor is the last Symphony upon which he worked, leaving the last movement incomplete at the time of his death in 1896. The symphony was premiered under Ferdinand Löwe in Vienna in 1903, after Bruckner's death...
, and some commentators have suggested that the Te Deum could be used as a finale. However, Robert Simpson
Robert Simpson (composer)
Robert Simpson was an English composer and long-serving BBC producer and broadcaster.He is best known for his orchestral and chamber music , and for his writings on the music of Beethoven, Bruckner, Nielsen and Sibelius. He studied composition under Herbert Howells...
believed that not "even in the poor state of health and mind of his last few months of his life, [would Bruckner have] considered the use of the C major Te Deum as finale to a D minor symphony to be more than a makeshift solution," and that the link to the Te Deum was simply a matter of self-quotation more than anything else.
During the Nazi era, Bruckner's Te Deum and Psalm 150
Psalm 150 (Bruckner)
Anton Bruckner's Psalm 150, WAB 38, is a setting of Psalm 150 for mixed chorus, soprano soloist and orchestra written in 1892.Richard Heuberger asked Bruckner for a festive hymn to celebrate an opening, but Bruckner did not deliver the piece in time for Heuberger's purpose. The setting was...
were ignored, because their existence contradicted the Nazi myth that exposure to Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's music had freed Bruckner from ties to the church. It wasn't until after the war that Eugen Jochum
Eugen Jochum
Eugen Jochum was an eminent German conductor.Born in Babenhausen, near Augsburg, Germany, Jochum studied the piano and organ in Augsburg until 1922. He then studied conducting in Munich...
brought attention to Bruckner's Te Deum and other sacred music, conducting several concerts and recordings. Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
soon followed suit, and today there are several recordings of the Te Deum.
Discography
There are more than 100 recordings of Bruckner's Te Deum, mainly together with a symphony or another choral work.The first recording, was by Felix Gatz with the Bruckner-Chor & the Staatskapelle Berlin in 1927: 78 rpm disc Decca 25159 (only parts 1 & 2)
Some other historic recording are:
- Eugen Jochum, Chor und Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, 1950: 78 rpm disc Polydor 72020-1; transferred later to LP: DG 16002, and CD: Forgotten Records fr 227/8 (with Symphony No. 7)
- Herbert von Karajan, Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien and Wiener Symphoniker, 1952: LP: Melodram DSM B01; transferred to CD: Arkadia CDGI 705.2 (mit Symphony No. 8)
- Bruno Walter, Westminster Choir, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, 1953: LP: Columbia ML6EYE 4980; transferred later to CD: CD: Sony SMK 64 480