The original manuscript is lost, but the score dedicated to Traumihler is stored in the archive of the St. Florian Abbey. Copies are also stored in the Kremsmünster Abbey and the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.[1] The motet was edited first by Johann Groß, Innsbruck in 1893.[1] It is put in volume XXI/19 of the Gesamtausgabe.[2]
Music
The 52-bar long motet in F major is scored SATB choir and S and A soloists, organ and cello (continuo). It begins in Andante with a fugato.[3] The fugato is ending on bar 8 with the by Haas so-called Marien-Kadenz (cadence on the word "Maria"), which Bruckner will recall in the first movement of the Study Symphony in F minor[4] and in the Adagio of the later Symphony No. 3.[5][6] On the next bar the alto soloist is singing "gratia plena" and on bar 13 the soprano soloist is going on with "benedicta tu". On bars 18-22 the score is slowing down to Adagio, during which the choir is singing three times "Jesus". Bruckner will repeat this three times "Jesus" in his next two settings of the Ave Maria.[1] The second part of the motet is sung by the choir (bars 23-52). The score, which goes back to Andante, begins with "Sancta Maria", sung in canon and ends with the beginning motif.[3]
Selected discography
The first recording of Bruckner's Ave Maria (WAB 5) was by Hubert Gunther with the Rheinische Singgemeinschaft in c. 1976 (LP: Garnet G 40 107). Farnberger's recording with the St. Florianer Sängerknaben, which was recorded in the St. Florian Abbey, provides the listener with a whiff of authenticity.
A selection of the about 10 recordings:
Martin Flämig, Dresdner Kreuzchor, Ave Maria – Anton Bruckner: Geistliche Chöre-Motets – CD: Capriccio 10 081, 1985
Joseph Pancik, Prager Kammerchor, Anton Bruckner: Motetten / Choral-Messe – CD: Orfeo C 327 951 A, 1993
Sigvards Klava, Latvian Radio Choir, Musica Sacra – CD: Campion Records RRCD 1341, 1996
Franz Farnberger, St. Florianer Sängerknaben, Anton Bruckner in St. Florian – Requiem & Motetten CD: Studio SM D2639 SM 44, 1997
Dan-Olof Stenlund, Malmö Kammarkör, Bruckner: Ausgewählte Werke - CD: Malmö Kammarkör MKKCD 051, 2004
Petr Fiala, Czech Philharmonic Choir, Anton Bruckner: Motets - CD: MDG 322 1422-2, 2006
^Thomas Röder, Auf dem Weg zur Bruckner-Symphonie:Untersuchungen zu den ersten beiden Fassungen von Anton Bruckners Dritter Symphonie, supplement to the Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, No. 26, Steiner, Stuttgart, 1987, p. 132 – ISBN978-3-515-04560-5
Max Auer, Anton Bruckner als Kirchenmusiker, G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1927
Anton Bruckner - Sämtliche Werke, Band XXI: Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke, Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Hans Bauernfeind and Leopold Nowak (Editor), Vienna, 1984/2001
Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner 1824-1896 - Leven en werken, uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012. ISBN978-90-6868-590-9