' ("The evening sky"), WAB 55, is a song composed by

Anton Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 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-Germ ...

in 1862.

History

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 nton Munsch (1st tenor), Anton Stiefler (2nd tenor), Eduard Benoni (1st bass) and Mathias Weissmann (2nd bass)U. Harten, p. 41C. Howie, Chapter III, p. 90 The piece was performed first in a transcription for men's choir by the Liedertafel ''Frohsinn'' on 4 July 1900. The commentator of the ' (7 July 1900) wrote over a ' (a wonderful composition of our national master Dr. Anton Bruckner). The original manuscript is stored in the archive of '' Österreichische Nationalbibliothek''.C. van Zwol, pp. 723-724 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 – Weltliche Chöre
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Text

''Der Abendhimmel'' is using a text of Joseph Christian von Zedlitz.

Music

The 38-

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

long work in 6/8 is in

A-flat major A-flat major (or the key of A-flat) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats. The A-flat major scale is: : Its relative minor is F minor. Its parallel minor, A-flat minor, ...

. It is scored for quartet ''a cappella''.

Discography

There are two recordings of ''Der Abendhimmel'', WAB 55: *

Guido Mancusi Guido Mancusi (born 14 June 1966) is an Austrian-Italian conductor and composer. Life Born in Portici near Naples, Mancusi was the son of the Neapolitan conductor Enrico Mancusi and the Viennese singing teacher Ines Mancusi and grew up in Naples ...

, Chorus Viennensis, ''Musik, du himmlisches Gebilde!'' – CD: ORF CD 73, 1995 * Thomas Kerbl, Quartet of the Männerchorvereinigung Bruckner 08, ''Anton Bruckner – Männerchöre'' – CD: LIVA 027, 2008

References

Sources

* August Göllerich, ''Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild'', – posthumous edited by Max Auer by G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1932 * ''Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXIII/2: Weltliche Chorwerke (1843–1893)'', Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Angela Pachovsky and Anton Reinthaler (Editor), Vienna, 1989 * Uwe Harten, ''Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch''. , Salzburg, 1996. . * Cornelis van Zwol, ''Anton Bruckner 1824–1896 – Leven en werken'', uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012. * Crawford Howie, ''Anton Bruckner - A documentary biography'', online revised edition

External links

* *
''Der Abendhimmel'' As-Dur, WAB 55
– Critical discography by Hans Roelofs * A live performance (20 February 2022) by Y Kawaguchi by overdubbing his voice
''Der Abendhimmel''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abendhimmel, Der Weltliche Chorwerke by Anton Bruckner 1862 compositions Compositions in A-flat major