The Magnificat WAB

Werkverzeichnis Anton Bruckner

The Werkverzeichnis Anton Bruckners is a thematic catalogue of the music of Anton Bruckner compiled by Renata Grasberger. Grasberger did not include any unfinished compositions nor lost works. Lost works, sketches, etc. were added afterwards...

 24 by Anton Bruckner

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 Magnificat

Magnificat

The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...

 for vocal soloists, 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...

, 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...

 written in 1852. It was premiered in Sankt Florian

Sankt Florian

Sankt Florian is a town in Upper Austria, Austria. It is 10 miles from Linz, with a population of 5,500 and an elevation of 296 meters above sea level.-St. Florian's Priory and basilica:...

, as Bruckner had specifically composed it for the Vesper service of the church there. The work "remained in the repertoire of the monastery for at least the next few years."

The quartet of vocal soloists consists of a 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...

, an 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,...

, a 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...

, and a bass

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 choir consists of sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses. The orchestra consists of 2 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 B-flat, 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...

, and strings

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...

 without viola

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

s. The organ supplies figured bass

Figured bass

Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords, and non-chord tones, in relation to a bass note...

. The setting is in B-flat major at a tempo of Allegro moderato.

The first verse ("Magnificat") is sung by the soprano soloist. The next verses are sung as an Arioso

Arioso

In classical music, arioso is a style of solo opera singing between recitative and aria. Literally, arioso means airy. The term arose in the 16th century along with the aforementioned styles and monody. It is commonly confused with recitativo accompagnato....

 alternatingly by the soloists and the choir.
The setting is followed by a Gloria Patri, starting by an unison

Unison

In music, the word unison can be applied in more than one way. In general terms, it may refer to two notes sounding the same pitch, often but not always at the same time; or to the same musical voice being sounded by several voices or instruments together, either at the same pitch or at a distance...

 on "Gloria Patri", the retake of the melody of the first verse on "Sicut erat", and concludes with "a final fugal

Fugue

In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....

 Amen."

The influence of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 is revealed through comparison to Mozart's Vespers K. 321 and K. 339.

Discography

There are only two recordings of this work:

• The LP-recording of 1984 of the Monteverdi Choir
  Monteverdi Choir
  The Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1964 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the Monteverdi Vespers in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. A specialist Baroque ensemble, the Choir has become famous for its stylistic conviction and extensive repertoire, encompassing music from the early...
  
   with the Israel Chamber Orchestra
  Israel Chamber Orchestra
  The Israel Chamber Orchestra is an Israeli orchestra based in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Primary funding comes from the Israel Ministry of Education and the Tel Aviv Jaffa Municipality....
  
  , conducted by Jürgen Jürgens, at Dormition Abbey in Jerusalem, has recently been transferred to CD:
  CD - Music of the St. Florian Period (1845-1855), BSVD-0109, 2011
• Anton Bruckner in St. Florian – Requiem & Motetten, Franz Farnberger conducting the Instrumentalensemble St. Florian and the St. Florianer Sängerknaben - CD Studio SM D2639 SM 44, 1997