''Abendlied'' (Evening song),
Op. 69/3, is a sacred
motet by
Josef Rheinberger
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (17 March 1839 – 25 November 1901) was a Liechtensteiner organist and composer, residing in Bavaria for most of his life.
Life
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, whose father was the treasurer for Aloys II, Prince of Liech ...
for a six-part mixed choir (
SSATTB). It has been regarded as his best-known sacred composition.
He wrote the first version in 1855 at the age of 15.
The text is a verse from the biblical narration of the
Road to Emmaus appearance
According to the Gospel of Luke, the road to Emmaus appearance is one of the early post-resurrection appearances of Jesus after his crucifixion and the discovery of the empty tomb. Both the meeting on the road to Emmaus and the subsequent suppe ...
according to in
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...
's German version of the bible:
Rheinberger wrote a first version on 9 March 1855, one month before Easter and two weeks before his 16th birthday. At age 24, he revised the motet, for example eliminating repetition of notes and changing the marking. He published it in 1873 by
N. Simrock in Berlin as No. 3 of his Opus 69, ''Drei geistliche Gesänge für gemischten Chor'' (Three sacred songs for mixed choir, the others being ''Morgenlied'' (morning song), on a poem by
Hoffmann von Fallersleben
August Heinrich Hoffmann (, calling himself von Fallersleben, after his hometown; 2 April 179819 January 1874) was a German poet. He is best known for writing "Das Lied der Deutschen", whose third stanza is now the national anthem of Germany, an ...
, and ''Dein sind die Himmel'' (Yours are the Heavens) after .
A Latin version ("Mane nobiscum quoniam advesperascit, inclinata est iam dies") was written in 1878 for a performance on
Easter Monday of 1878 at the
Allerheiligen-Hofkirche
The Allerheiligen-Hofkirche (Court Church of All Saints) is a church in the Munich Residenz (the royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs) designed by Leo von Klenze and built between 1826 and 1837. The church was badly damaged from bombing during W ...
in Munich, which only permitted Latin for liturgical singing. It was published by
Carus-Verlag
Carus-Verlag is a German music publisher founded in 1972 and based in Stuttgart.
Carus was founded by choral conductor Günter Graulich and his wife Waltraud with an emphasis on choral repertoire. The catalogue currently includes more than 26,00 ...
. Carus published a recording titled ''Abendlied'', a collection of sacred vocal music by Rheinberger, performed by the
Vancouver Cantata Singers
The Vancouver Cantata Singers (VCS) is an auditioned Canadian choir in Vancouver, British Columbia, founded in 1959 by organist and conductor Hugh McLean.Vancouver Cantata Singerswas first formed under the name the Philharmonic Choir in 1958 as a ...
conducted by
James Fankhauser.
The music in
F major
F major (or the key of F) is a major scale based on F, with the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative minor is D minor and its parallel minor is F minor.
The F major scale is:
:
F major is the ...
is marked ''Andante molto''. The text is mostly sung syllabically.
The three upper voices begin with a F major chord, held for three beats on "Bleib" (Bide) and repeated for "bei" (with), changing to an A minor chord on "uns" (us), when the lower three voices begin a similar pattern.
References
External links
*
Abendlied, Op. 69, No. 3 (Josef Rheinberger)ChoralWiki
(in German) wagners.ag.vu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abendlied Rheinberger
Motets
1855 compositions