Anton Bruckner's Psalm 150, WAB 38, is a

setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...

Psalm 150 Psalm 150 is the 150th and final psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Praise ye the . Praise God in his sanctuary". In Latin, it is known as "Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius". In Psalm 150, the psalmist ...

for mixed chorus, soprano soloist and orchestra written in 1892.

History

Richard Heuberger asked Bruckner for a festive hymn to celebrate the opening of the exposition ' on 7 May 1892, but Bruckner did not deliver the piece in time for Heuberger's purpose. The work was premiered in the Musikvereinsaal in Vienna on 13 November 1892, with the and the soprano soloist Henriette Standthartner and

Wilhelm Gericke Wilhelm Gericke (April 18, 1845 – October 27, 1925) was an Austrian-born conductor and composer who worked in Vienna and Boston. He was born in Schwanberg, Austria. Initially he trained in Graz to be a schoolmaster. This didn't work out, thoug ...

conducting.C. van Zwol, pp. 698–699 The concert also included a Schubert overture and Liszt's Piano Concerto in E-flat major, followed by Richard Strauss' ''

Wandrers Sturmlied ''Wanderer's Storm Song'' (german: Wandrers Sturmlied), Op. 14, TrV 131, is a choral work for choir and orchestra written by Richard Strauss in 1884, based on a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe of the same title. Composition history The piece ...

'' and Mendelssohn's ''Loreley''.U. Harten, p. 345 The manuscript, which was dedicated to Wilhelm Ritter von Hartel, is stored in the archive of the

Austrian National Library The Austrian National Library (german: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of V ...

. It was first issued in November 1892 with another dedication to , by , as well as a vocal and piano reduction score by Cyrill Hynais. The work is issued by in volume XX/6 of the '.

Text

(Exhortation for praising God)

Setting

Bruckner's Psalm 150 in C major is scored for choir and soprano soloist, and orchestra (2 flutes, 2

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

s, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4

horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

s, 3

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

s, 3

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

s (alto, tenor and bass),

contrabass tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

, and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

). Unlike the other psalm settings composed some 40 years earlier, for which he used a German-language Bible approved by the Catholic Church, Bruckner used this time the German-language

Luther Bible The Luther Bible (german: Lutherbibel) is a German language Bible translation from Latin sources by Martin Luther. The New Testament was first published in September 1522, and the complete Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments with Apocry ...

for the text. The 247-

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 piece starts out in C major,

alla breve ''Alla breve'' also known as cut time or cut common timeis a musical meter notated by the time signature symbol (a C with a vertical line through it), which is the equivalent of . The term is Italian for "on the breve", originally meaning th ...

, with a tempo marking of ' (More slowly! Festive, strong) as the choir sings "''Hallelujah''" several times before moving on to the second line of the psalm. At rehearsal letter , marked ' (more moving), begins the listing of instruments with which to praise God. At , ' (More slowly) follows "'" At , with a return to the initial tempo, Bruckner repeats the opening "Hallelujahs", but at (bar 165) follows with "a complex fugue"D. Watson, p. 96 starting with the words "'" once again ' (Slowly). Another return to the initial tempo at marks the beginning of the coda with the words "'". The theme of the fugue is related to that of the fugue of Bruckner's fifth symphony and that of the Adagio of his ninth symphony. The last time Bruckner improvised at the organ, he used melodies from this psalm setting. Psalm 150 "shares both the key and the triumphant mood of rapturous exaltation of the ."

Selected discography

The first recording (c. 1950) was by

Henry Swoboda Henry Swoboda (October 29, 1897 – August 13, 1990) was a Czechoslovakian conductor and musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and ...

with the and the , LP: Westminster WAL 201 (with Symphony No. 6 and

Psalm 112 Psalm 112 is the 112th psalm of the biblical Book of Psalms, a psalm "in praise of the virtuous". This psalm, along with Psalm 111, is acrostic by phrase, that is, each 7-9 syllable phrase begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order. Psal ...

). Swoboda's historical performances of Psalms 112 & 150 and Richard Strauss' ''

'' have been recently transferred to CD by Klassic Haus Restorations."Bruckner Psalms 112 & 150; Strauss ''Sturmlied''"
Klassic Haus Restorations Among the ten other recordings, Hans Roelofs selects the following four recordings: *

Eugen Jochum Eugen Jochum (; 1 November 1902 – 26 March 1987) was a German conductor, best known for his interpretations of the music of Anton Bruckner, Carl Orff, and Johannes Brahms, among others. Biography Jochum was born to a Roman Catholic family in ...

, Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin and

Berliner Philharmoniker The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

, 1965, LP: DG SLPM 139137/8 (with Symphony No. 7). This recording, which has been transferred to CD as part of the 4-CD box set DG 423 127-2, remains according to Hans Roelofs the reference. * Daniel Barenboim,

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...

& Chorus, 1979, LP: DG 2707 116. This recording has been transferred to CD: DG 437 250-2 (with Symphony No. 0 and

Helgoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

). It is more widely available as part of a ten-CD set DG 477 8903 containing Symphonies 0-9, the

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Ch ...

, and

. * Matthew Best, Corydon Singers & Orchestra, 1992, CD: Hyperion CDA66599 (with Mass No. 3) *

Helmuth Rilling Helmuth Rilling (born 29 May 1933) is a German choral conductor and an academic teacher. He is the founder of the Gächinger Kantorei (1954), the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (1965), the Oregon Bach Festival (1970), the Internationale Bachakademie ...

Gächinger Kantorei Gächinger Kantorei (Gächingen Chorale) is an internationally known German mixed choir, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1954 in Gächingen (part of St. Johann close to Reutlingen) and conducted by him until 2013, succeeded by Hans-Christoph Radema ...

and

Bach-Collegium Stuttgart Bach-Collegium Stuttgart is an internationally known German instrumental ensemble, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1965 to accompany the Gächinger Kantorei in choral music with orchestra. Its members are mostly orchestra musicians from Germany and ...

, 1996, CD:

Hänssler Classic Hänssler-Verlag is a German music publishing house founded in 1919 as Musikverlag Hänssler by Friedrich Hänssler Senior (died 1972) to publish church music. The company is now based in Holzgerlingen. Since 1972 Hänssler Verlag has also publis ...

98.119 (with Mass No. 2 and the

)

References

Sources

* , ''Anton Bruckner als Kirchenmusiker'', Gustav Bosse Verlag, Regensburg, 1927, * ''Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XX/6: Psalm 150 (1892)'', Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, (editor), Vienna, 1964 * Elisabeth Meier, "An 'inner' biography of Bruckner", ''Bruckner Studies'' edited by Timothy L. Jackson and Paul Hawkshaw, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997 * Nicholas Rast, "A checklist of Essays and Reviews by

Heinrich Schenker Heinrich Schenker (19 June 1868 – 14 January 1935) was a Galician-born Austrian music theorist whose writings have had a profound influence on subsequent musical analysis. His approach, now termed Schenkerian analysis, was most fully ex ...

", ''

Music Analysis Musical analysis is the study of musical structure in either compositions or performances. According to music theorist Ian Bent, music analysis "is the means of answering directly the question 'How does it work?'". The method employed to answe ...

'', 7 no. 2, Blackwell Publishing, 1988 * Derek Watson, ''Bruckner'', J. M. Dent & Sons, London, 1975 *

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''. Residenz Verlag, Salzburg, 1996. . * , ''Anton Bruckner – Leven en Werken'', Thot, Bussum (Netherlands), 2012.

External links

''Psalm 150'' C-Dur, WAB 38
Critical discography by Hans Roelofs * * , Stephen Blackwelder with the DePaul Community Chorus and the Oistrach Symphony Orchestra (2012) * , Donald P. Jenkins with the Colorado Springs Chorale and Philharmonic (2014) {{Authority control Psalms by Anton Bruckner Choral compositions 1892 compositions Music with dedications Compositions in C major