One year earlier, Bruckner had already composed another, shorter patriotic work, Der deutsche Gesang, that was premiered at the First German Academic Song Festival in Salzburg in June 1892. Helgoland was composed in April 1893 for the Men's Choir of Vienna to celebrate its 50th birthday. The text was written by August Silberstein, who had already provided poems set to music by Bruckner. The setting was a case of interest, as the Frisian island of Heligoland had just been given to Germany in 1890 by Great Britain. Helgoland was conducted on 8 October 1893 by the Men's Choir of Vienna and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Eduard Kremser's baton in the Winterreitschule of the Hofburg Palace. Bruckner legated the manuscript to the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. The work was first published as vocal and piano reduction score by Cyrill Hynais in 1893. The vocal and orchestral score was posthumously issued by Doblinger, Vienna in 1899. It is put in Band XXII/2 No. 8 of the Gesamtausgabe.
The 317-bar long composition in G minor, scored for TTBB| male choir and orchestra, is set as a three-part sonata form with coda. The piece is full of strength and enthusiasm, and carries the mark of Wagner's influence. The orchestral introduction depicts already the atmosphere of storm and fate, which hangs over the text. The first part depicts the approach of the enemies and the announcement of the prayer, the mid-part depicts the invocation of the deity, and the third part depicts the storm and the sinking of the enemies. The coda on the last verse "O Herrgott, dich preiset frei Helgoland!, with a cymbal crash near the end, is a hymn to the deity. Duration: about 13 minutes.
Discography
Helgoland is seldom played presumably because of the text, a poem with German patriotic content, but also the high requirements, i.e., a symphonic orchestra and a professional men's choir. Fritz Oeser made an adaptation of the work for mixed choir and orchestra, and put on it a new text „Dröhne, du Donner“, so that the work would be performed more often. However, no recording of this adaptation is available as yet. Many noted Brucknerian conductors have neglected to record the work, although Daniel Barenboim has done it twice, at the time of his playing the symphonies of Bruckner with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. There are four commercial recordings of the work:
Wyn Morris, Symphonica of London and Ambrosian Chorus – LP: Symphonica SYM 11, 1977; transferred to CD: IMP PCD 1042, 1993; CD: Klassic Haus KHCD-2012-043, 2012
Alberto Hold-Garrido, Choruses for Male Voices and Orchestra, Lund University Student Singers and Malmö Opera Orchestra – CD: Naxos 8572871, 2012
A not-issued recording by Takashi Asahina can be heard on John Berky's website: Other not-issued recodings by among others, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and Neeme Järvi are stored in the Bruckner Archive.
