The cantata ' (Renunciation),
WAB 14, is a
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of ...
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 .
History
Bruckner composed the cantata for the
name-day
In Christianity, a name day is a tradition in many countries of Europe and the Americas, among other parts of Christendom. It consists of celebrating a day of the year that is associated with one's baptismal name, which is normatively that of a ...
of Michael Arneth, the prior of the
St. Florian Abbey. The piece was intended to be performed on Arneth's name-day. It is not known when it was performed.
[C. van Zwol, pp. 711-712]
Why Bruckner has chosen this unsound text for the name-day of his Maecenas remains unexplained. Perhaps he has put so into music his resignation following his father's death or Aloisia Bogner's refusal of his proposal of marriage.
[The 16-year old Aloisia Bogner, alias Louise or Luise Bogner, was the older daughter of Michaël Bogner, by whom Bruckner had a living accommodation. Bruckner composed for her the lieder ''Der Mondabend'' and ''Frühlingslied'', and the piano works Four ''Lancier-Quadrille'', WAB 120, and ''Steiermärker'', WAB 122.][U. Harten, p. 145]
The manuscript is stored in the archive of the
St. Florian Abbey. A facsimile of the cantata was first issued in band II/2, pp. 47–58 of the Göllerich/Auer biography. The cantata was thereafter issued by Ludwig Daxsperger in 1956.
It is put in Band XXII/1 No. 2 of the '.
[Gesamtausgabe – Kantaten und Chorwerke mit Orchester](_blank)
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Text
The work is based on the poem ''Amaranth'' by Oskar von Redwitz.
:
Setting
The 126-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 B major
B major (or the key of B) is a major scale based on B. The pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A are all part of the B major scale. Its key signature has five sharps. Its relative minor is G-sharp minor, its parallel minor is B minor, and its ...
is scored for choir or quartet, soprano or tenor soloist, and organ (or piano).[C. Howie, Chapter II, pp. 22] in ABA′ form:O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden
O, or o, is the fifteenth Letter (alphabet), letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in ...
''".
The expressive middle section, a solo for soprano or tenor in F major, is with large intervals and strong modulation. The contrapuntal accompaniment by the organ (or piano) has some reminiscences of the baroque opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
.
References
Sources
* August Göllerich
August Göllerich (2 July 185916 March 1923) was an Austrian pianist, conductor, music educator and music writer. He studied the piano with Franz Liszt, who made him also his secretary and companion on concert tours. Göllerich is known for study ...
, ''Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild'', – posthumous edited by Max Auer by G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1932
* Uwe Harten
Uwe Harten (born 16 August 1944) is a German musicologist, who works in Austria.
Life
Born in , Harten grew up in Hamburg, where he was a boy soprano at the Staatsoper. He took over the roles of a child. In Hamburg he also began his studies of ...
, ''Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch''. , Salzburg, 1996.
* ''Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXII/1: Kantaten und Chorwerke I (1845–1855)'', Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Franz Burkhart, Rudolf H. Führer and Leopold Nowak (Editor), Vienna, 1987 (Available on IMSLP
Neue Gesamtausgabe, XXII/1. Kantaten und Chorwerke Teil 1: Nr. 1-5
* 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
*
*
Critical discography by Hans Roelofs
* A life recording by the Coro "De Musica Antiqua" de Salamanca with Maria Espada (soprano) can be heard on Youtube
Bruckner - Entsagen
{{Authority control
Cantatas by Anton Bruckner
1851 cantatas
Compositions in B-flat major