(At midnight), WAB 89, 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 1864.

History

Bruckner composed the song on a text of Robert Prutz on 12 April 1864, for the Linz Liedertafel ''Sängerbund'' (the rival of Liedertafel ''Frohsinn''). The piece was performed on 11 December 1864 by ''Sängerbund'' in the ''Redoutensaal'' under Bruckner's baton.C. van Zwol, p. 724C. Howie, Chapter III, p.88 The work, of which the original manuscript is stored in the '' Österreichische Nationalbibliothek'',U. Harten, p. 454 was first issued by

Viktor Keldorfer Viktor Josef Keldorfer (14 April 1873 – 28 January 1959) was an Austrian conductor of male voice choirs, in particular from 1922 to 1954 of the ''Wiener Schubertbund'', and was a chairman of choir associations. Life Keldorfer was born in Salzbur ...

(

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-base ...

) in 1911, together with the other setting ( ''Um Mitternacht'', WAB 90) and the other "midnight-song" ''Mitternacht'', WAB 80. It is issued in Band XXIII/2, No. 17 of the .Gesamtausgabe – Weltliche Chöre
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Text

''Um Mitternacht'' uses a text by Robert Prutz.

Music

The 56-

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 F minor is scored for choir, alto soloist and piano. In strophe 1 the F-minor key forms the mystic background, from which the men's choir, accompanied by

pedal point In music, a pedal point (also pedal note, organ point, pedal tone, or pedal) is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign (i.e. dissonant) harmony is sounded in the other parts. A pedal point sometimes function ...

s and unison lines of the piano, emerges in

open fifth In music theory, a perfect fifth is the musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so. In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval from the first to the last of five ...

s. Strophes 2 and 3 are sung by the alto soloist with accompaniment of the choir. In strophe 4 the melody of strophe 1 is sung again by the choir and the soloist. Bars 14-16 (end of strophe 1) and 27-34 (strophe 3) are sung ''a cappella''. The song is ending pianissimo with the piano alone. In the first issue of 1911, Keldorfer wrote "" (The enchantment of the poetry of the moonlight has apparently captivated fully Bruckners sensible nature. In the ban of such dreamily mystic feelings he composed three 'midnight-choirs').

Discography

, WAB 89, is one of the most popular Bruckner's ''Weltliche Chorwerke''. The first recording of , WAB 89, was by Robert Kühbacher with the Wiener Sängerknaben and Robert Kühbacher (Piano) in 1955 – LP: Philips N 00726 R A selection of the about 10 other recordings: * Hubert Günther, Ingrid Günther (alto), Männergesangverein Concordia Hamm, Willy Nölling (piano), ''Musik im Schloss'' – LP: Garnet G 40 107, c. 1976 *

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 ...

, Julia Bernheimer (alto), Chorus Viennensis, Walter Lochmann (piano), ''Musik, du himmlisches Gebilde!'' – CD: ORF CD 73, 1995 * Thomas Kerbl, Katrin Wundsam (alto), Männerchorvereinigung Bruckner 08, Mariko Onishi (piano), ''Anton Bruckner – Männerchöre'' – CD: LIVA027, 2008 * Jan Schumacher,

Alison Browner Alison Margaret Browner (born 22 September 1957) is an Irish mezzo-soprano opera singer. Life Born in Dublin, Ireland, Browner graduated in Music at Trinity College (Dublin), Trinity College with Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Arts while she a ...

(mezzo-soprano), Camerata Musica Limburg, Andreas Frese (piano) ''Serenade. Songs of night and love'' – CD: Genuin GEN 12224, 2011

References

Sources

* ''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 * Cornelis van Zwol, ''Anton Bruckner 1824–1896 – Leven en werken'', uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012. * Uwe Harten, ''Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch''. , Salzburg, 1996. . * Crawford Howie, ''Anton Bruckner - A documentary biography'', online revised edition

External links

*
''Um Mitternacht'' f-Moll, WAB 89
– Critical discography by Hans Roelofs * Can be heard on YouTube: ** The performance by the Wiener Sängerknaben (1955)
''Um Mitternacht'' (WAB 89)
** A performance by Esteban Urzelai with the Suhar Choir
''Um Mitternacht'' (WAB 89)
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Um Mitternacht'', WAB 89 Weltliche Chorwerke by Anton Bruckner 1864 compositions Compositions in F minor