' (Midnight), WAB 80, is a

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

composed by

Anton Bruckner Joseph Anton Bruckner (; ; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer and organist best known for his Symphonies by Anton Bruckner, symphonies and sacred music, which includes List of masses by Anton Bruckner, Masses, Te Deum (Br ...

in 1869.

History

Bruckner composed the song on a text of Joseph Mendelssohn in November 1869, for the 25th anniversary of Linz Liedertafel ''Frohsinn''. The piece was performed on 15 May 1870 by ''Frohsinn'' in the ' in

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

.C. van Zwol, p. 726U. Harten, p. 289C. Howie, Chapter III, p.81 The work, of which the original manuscript is stored in the archive of Liedertafel ''Frohsinn'', was first issued by Doblinger in 1903. It was reissued in 1911 by Viktor Keldorfer (

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is an Austrian classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, it originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market. The firm soon expanded to become one of t ...

), together with the two other Bruckner's "midnight-songs" (''Um Mitternacht'', WAB 89 and WAB 90). The song is issued in Band XXIII/2, No. 25 of the '.Gesamtausgabe – Weltliche Chöre
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Text

''Mitternacht'' uses a text by Joseph Mendelssohn.

Music

The 84-

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

long work in

A-flat major A-flat major is a major scale based on A♭ (musical note), A, with the pitches A, B♭ (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D♭ (musical note), D, E♭ (musical note), E, F (musical note), F, and G (musical note), G. Its key signature has fou ...

is scored for choir, tenor soloist and piano. Strophe 1 is sung by the choir with an

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from the Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces inc ...

of the piano. In strophe 2, bars 49-58 ('), the soloist is singing with accompaniment of the choir and

unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

lines of

sixteenth note Figure 1. A 16th note with stem facing up, a 16th note with stem facing down, and a 16th rest. Figure 2. Four 16th notes beamed together. In music, a 1/16, sixteenth note ( American) or semiquaver (British) is a note played for half the d ...

s of the piano. The piece is ending pianissimo.

Discography

''Mitternacht'', WAB 80, is one of the most popular Bruckner's ''Weltliche Chorwerke''. The first recording of ''Mitternacht'' was by Willi Schell with the Cronenberger Männerchor in 1956 – 45 rpm: Tonstudio Wolfgang Jakob (Dortmund) A selection of the other recordings: * Walther Schneider, Josef Traxel (tenor), Stuttgarter Liederkranz, Hubert Giesen (piano) – LP: Odeon O/STO 41453, 1961 *

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 ...

Herbert Lippert Herbert Lippert (born 7 October 1957) is an Austrian operatic tenor. Life Born in Linz, Lippert was a soloist with the Vienna Boys' Choir, studied music teaching at the University of Vienna and graduated with distinction. As a member of the ense ...

(tenor),

Chorus Viennensis Chorus Viennensis is a male choir associated with the Vienna Boys Choir. It was founded in 1952. The choir has won the Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor ...

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

Christoph Prégardien Christoph Prégardien (born 18 January 1956) is a German lyric tenor whose career is closely associated with the roles in Mozart operas, as well as performances of Lieder, oratorio roles, and Baroque music. He is well known for his performances a ...

(tenor), 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 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. . * Crawford Howie, ''Anton Bruckner - A documentary biography'', online revised edition

External links

* *
''Mitternacht'' As-Dur, WAB 80
– Critical discography by Hans Roelofs * These performances of ''Mitternacht'' can be heard on YouTube: ** Dritan Luca with the Wiener Staatsopernchor (2007):
''Mitternacht''
** Stojan Kuret with the Vokalna akademija of Ljubljana (2020)
Anton Bruckner, ''Mitternacht'' WAB 80
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Mitternacht'', WAB 80 Weltliche Chorwerke by Anton Bruckner 1869 compositions Compositions in A-flat major