''Geistliche Gesänge'' (''Sacred songs''), Op.

110 110 may refer to: *110 (number), natural number *AD 110, a year *110 BC, a year *110 film, a cartridge-based film format used in still photography *110 (MBTA bus), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority bus route *110 (song), 2019 song by Capi ...

, are three

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

s by

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University ...

. He composed them between 1909 and 1912: * No. 1: Mein Odem ist schwach (My spirit is weak), 1909 * No. 2: Ach Herr, strafe mich nicht! (O Lord, chasten me not), 1910 * No. 3: O Tod, wie bitter bist du (O death, how bitter are you), 1912

Mein Odem ist schwach

Reger composed the first motet for an eight-part choir ( SSAATTBB) in

Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 25,000 (2021).

in July 1909. He dedicated it "Dem Thomanerchor und seinem Dirigenten Gustav Schreck" (To the

Thomanerchor The Thomanerchor (English: St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig) is a boys' choir in Leipzig, Germany. The choir was founded in 1212. The choir comprises about 90 boys from 9 to 18 years of age. The members, called ''Thomaner'', reside in a boarding scho ...

and its conductor

Gustav Schreck Gustav Ernst Schreck (born 8 September 1849 in Zeulenroda; died 22 January 1918 in Leipzig) was a German music teacher, composer and choirmaster of St. Thomas School, Thomasschule zu Leipzig, in Leipzig from 1893 to 1918. Life Schreck was born ...

). The text is taken from the

Book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...

( ). The score and parts were printed in September that year by

Bote & Bock Bote & Bock is a German publishing house founded in Berlin in 1838 by Eduard Bote and Gustav Bock (1813-1863). The first Gustav Bock was a musically gifted publisher with an eye for opera. Eduard Bote withdrew from the business in 1847, after the ...

in Berlin, including a translation to English by Mrs. Bertram Shapleigh. The motet was first performed on 13 November 1909 by the Thomanerchor, conducted by Kurt Kranz.

Ach, Herr, strafe mich nicht

Reger composed the second motet for an eight-part choir ( SSAATTBB) in Leipzig and

Tegernsee Tegernsee is a town in the Miesbach district of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the shore of Lake Tegernsee, which is 747 m (2,451 ft) above sea level. A spa town, it is surrounded by an alpine landscape of Upper Bavaria, and has an e ...

in July and August 1911. His dedication reads "Der Musikalischen Gesellschaft in Dortmund und ihrem Dirigenten Carl Holtschneider" (To the Musical Association in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

and their conductor Carl Holtschneider). The text is taken from the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

. The score and parts were printed in October that year by Bote & Bock. The motet was first performed on 13 December 1913 in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

by the Städtischer Gesangverein (Municipal Singing Association), conducted by

Fritz Busch Fritz Busch (13 March 1890 – 14 September 1951) was a German conductor. Busch was born in Siegen, Westphalia, to a musical family, and studied at the Cologne Conservatory. After army service in the First World War, he was appointed to senior p ...

O Tod, wie bitter bist du

Reger composed the third motet for a five-part choir ( SSATB) in Leipzig in July 1912. The text is taken from the Book

Ecclesiasticus The Book of Sirach () or Ecclesiasticus (; abbreviated Ecclus.) is a Jewish work, originally in Hebrew, of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 BC, written by the Judahite scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his fa ...

(''Jesus Sirach''). Reger dedicated the work to Lili Wach. The score and parts were printed in October that year by Bote & Bock in Berlin, supplying also an anonymous translation to English. The motet was first performed on 10 November 1912 by the church choir of St. Lukas in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

, conducted by Georg Stolz.

References

Bibliography

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External links

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Mein Odem ist schwach, Op. 110, No. 1 (Max Reger)
ChoralWiki {{DEFAULTSORT:Geistliche Gesange Motets by Max Reger