Ave Maria, WAB 7


Ave Maria, WAB 7, is a setting of the Latin prayer Ave Maria by Anton Bruckner.

History

When staying in Wels during the summer of 1881 Bruckner met Luise Hochleitner, a singer with a beautiful alto voice. Bruckner promised to dedicate to her an Ave Maria. The work, which was composed on 5 February 1882, —almost 20 years after his more famous motet— is for alto solo voice and keyboard.
The original manuscript is lost, but there are fair copies of it at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek and the Abbey of Kremsmünster. The work was published in 1902 as an appendix to No. 13 of the Neue Musikzeitung, Stuttgart. The first public performance occurred during a concert of the Wiener Akademischer Wagner-Verein on 5 February 1903 by Gisella Seehofer, who then also premiered Bruckner's Wie bist du, Frühling, gut und treu and Im April. The motet is put in Band XXI/29 of the Gesamtausgabe.

Setting

The 81-bar demanding work, scored in F major, requires a singer with a two-octave broad tessitura.
Alike the two earlier settings of Ave Maria the name Jesus is sung thrice. It is followed by an instrumental interlude and goes then on with the second part, which quotes the 20-year earlier setting. Thereafter Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae is sung pianissimo in unison. After a repeat of Sancta Maria, it is ending by a two-octave descending arpeggio on Amen and a short instrumental postlude.

Selected discography

The first recording was:
In the majority of the about 20 recordings the singer is skipping the lower octave of the Amen. A selection among the few recordings, in which the singer is doing it faithfully: