Festive Cantata (Bruckner)


The Fest-Kantate Preiset den Herrn, WAB 16, is a festive cantata composed by Anton Bruckner in 1862 for the celebration of the laying of the foundation stone of the new Mariä-Empfängnis-Dom of Linz.

History

To celebrate the laying of the foundation stone of the new Mariä-Empfängnis-Dom of Linz, bishop Franz-Josef Rudigier asked Bruckner for a cantata. Bruckner responded enthusiastly with the composition of the Festive Cantata Preiset den Herrn on a text of the theologian Maximilian Pammesberger.
On 1 May 1862 the foundation stone was laid. To celebrate the event the cantata was performed by the choir Frohsinn, invited guest singers and the brass band of the Infantry Regiment Freiherr von Bamberg No. 13 under the baton of Engelbert Lanz.
The manuscript of the cantata is stored in the archive of the Episcopacy of Linz. A facsimile was first published in volume III/2, pp. 197–216 of the Göllerich/Auer biography. A choir and piano score has been issued by Doblinger in 1955. It is published in volume XXII/2 no. 6 of the Gesamtausgabe.
The Festive Cantata, WAB 16, is the first notable religious work that Bruckner composed after his strenuous study period by Sechter. It will be followed one year later by Psalm 112, and again one year later by the secular cantata Germanenzug and the first great mass, Mass No. 1 in D minor.

Text

The cantata uses a text of the theologian Maximilian Pammesberger.

Setting

The 241-bar long work in D major for men's chorus, male solo quartet, bass soloist, and wind band, is composed of eight short parts:
  1. Opening choir: "Preiset den Herrn", D major veering to F minor - Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell
  2. Aria: "Taue deine Kraft und Stärke", A major veering to F major - Solo quartet a cappella, choir repeat with woodwinds - Langsam, bittend
  3. Bridging choir: "Preiset den Herrn", D major - Bewegt, nicht zu schnell
  4. Arioso: "Aus der Erde Schoß", G major - Bass soloist - Langsam, nicht schleppend
  5. Aria: "Das ist der Unbefleckten Haus", E major - Solo quartet a cappella with internal repetition – Langsam bewegt
  6. Prelude by reed instruments, E major veering to G major
  7. Chorale: "Des Landes Stämme wallen fromm", a cappella, G major
  8. Final choir "Preiset den Herrn", D major - Bewegt, nicht zu schnell
Total duration: 10 to 13 minutes.
The opening choir with its starting octave leap in unison, as in the Overture in G minor, and its reminiscence to the "Hallelujah" chorus from Händel’s Messiah - on which Bruckner often made improvisations - is majestic and solemn. It thereafter evolves in a fugato on "Grund und Eckstein bist du, o Herr". To bind the work together the solemn opening choir is repeated twice, in the third and eight parts.

Selected discography

A commercial recording in full accordance with the original score edited by the critical Gesamtausgabe is still awaited.
Out of the seven commercial recordings, Fiala's live performance - with trombones colla parte during the choir repeat of part 2 - is the most in accordance with the original score. Kerbl's live recording - with organ colla parte for a cappella parts 2, 5 and 7 - is, according to Hans Roelofs, also a convincing performance.
The Festive Cantata has undergone several adaptations: for choir, only with organ accompaniment, for mixed choir with a different text...
The two recordings by Track follow his own adaptations, one for male-voice choir, the other as Festkantate zur Weihnacht for mixed choir with Herbert Vogg’s text "Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe".