Tantum ergo, WAB 44

1854 motet composed by Anton Bruckner

Tantum ergo
Motet by Anton Bruckner
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
Key	B-flat major
Catalogue	WAB 44
Form	Hymn
Text	Tantum ergo
Language	Latin
Composed	c. 1854 (c. 1854): St. Florian
Published	1932 (1932): Regensburg
Vocal	SATB choir
Instrumental	2 violins, 2 trumpets, organ

Tantum ergo ("Let us raise"), WAB 44, is the last of eight settings of the hymn Tantum ergo composed by Anton Bruckner in c. 1854.

History

Bruckner composed the motet in c. 1854 during his stay in St. Florian Abbey. The original manuscript is lost. An autograph voice score is stored in the archive of the abbey.^[1]

The motet was first published in band II/2, pp. 256–258 of the Göllerich/Auer biography.^[1] It is put in Band XXI/18 of the Gesamtausgabe.^[2]

Music

The work of 29 bars in B-flat major, as edited in the current Gesamtausgabe,^[2] is scored for SATB choir, 2 violins, 2 trumpets and organ.^[1]

On 25 June 2017 a new edition of the score by Cohrs, prepared for the Anton Bruckner Urtext Gesamtausgabe,^[3] with "reconstructed parts " of viola, cello and contrabass, and adding of timpani has been premiered by Łukasz Borowicz with the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.^[4]

Discography

There are only three recordings of this last setting of Tantum ergo:

Richard Proulx, Cathedral Singers and Chamber Orchestra, Rediscoverd Masterpieces – CD: GIA 515, 1998
Thomas Kerbl, Chorvereinigung Bruckner 09, Anton Bruckner Chöre/Klaviermusik – CD: LIVA 034, 2009
Łukasz Borowicz, RIAS Kammerchor, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Raphael Alpermann (Organ), Anton Bruckner – Missa solemnis – CD: Accentus ACC 30429, 2017 (Cohrs edition)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c C. van Zwol, p. 701.
^ ^a ^b Gesamtausgabe - Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke
^ The Anton Bruckner Urtext Gesamtausgabe
^ 27.05.2017: Neue Bruckner Urtext Ausgabe in Berlin

Sources

August Göllerich, Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild, c. 1922 – posthumous edited by Max Auer by G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1932
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. ISBN 978-90-6868-590-9

External links

Tantum ergo, WAB 44: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
Free scores for Tantum ergo, WAB 44 in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
Tantum ergo B-Dur, WAB 44 Critical discography by Hans Roelofs (in German)

Anton Bruckner

List of compositions

Symphonies

Symphonies (1863–1896)
Symphony in F minor (1863)
No. 1 in C minor (1866/1891)
Symphony in D minor (1869)
No. 2 in C minor (1872/1877)
No. 3 in D minor (1873/1877/1889)
No. 4 in E♭ major (Romantic; 1874/1878–1880/1888)
No. 5 in B♭ major (1876)
No. 6 in A major (1881)
No. 7 in E major (1883)
No. 8 in C minor (1887/1890)
No. 9 in D minor (1896) (unfinished)

Other orchestral

Four Orchestral Pieces (1862)
Overture in G minor (1862–1863)
March in E-flat major (1865)
Symphonisches Präludium (1876)

Sacred works

Masses	Masses (1842–1868) Windhaager Messe (1842) Kronstorfer Messe (1843) Messe für den Gründonnerstag (1844–1845) Requiem in D minor (1849) Missa solemnis (1854) Mass No. 1 in D minor (1864) Mass No. 2 in E minor (1866/1882) Mass No. 3 in F minor (1868/1883/1893)
Cantatas	Psalm settings (1852–1892) Psalm 114 (1852) Magnificat (1852) Psalm 22 (c. 1852) Psalm 146 (c. 1856) Festive Cantata: Preiset den Herrn (1862) Psalm 112 (1863) Te Deum (1881–1884) Psalm 150 (1892)
Motets	Motets (c. 1835–1892) Pange lingua (c. 1835/1891) Libera me (c. 1843) Asperges me (1843–1844) Two Asperges me (1844–1845) Tantum ergo (1845) Tantum ergo (1845–1846) Dir, Herr, dir will ich mich ergeben (c. 1845) O Du liebes Jesu-Kind (1845–1846) Herz Jesu-Lied (1845–1846) Four Tantum ergo (1846/1888) Tantum ergo (1846/1888) In jener letzten der Nächte (c. 1848) Two Totenlieder (1852) Libera me (1854) Tantum ergo (c. 1854) Ave Maria (1856) Ave Maria (1861) Afferentur regi (1861) Pange lingua (1868) Inveni David (1868) Iam lucis orto sidere (1868/1886) Locus iste (1869) Christus factus est (1873) Tota pulchra es (1878) Os justi (1879) Ave Maria (1882) Christus factus est (1884) Salvum fac populum tuum (1884) Veni Creator Spiritus (c. 1884) Ecce sacerdos magnus (1885) Virga Jesse (1885) Ave Regina caelorum (c. 1886) Vexilla regis (1892)
Other works	Organ works (1835–1890) Two Aequali (1847)

Secular vocal

Cantatas	Cantatas (1845–1893) Vergißmeinnicht (1845) Entsagen (c. 1851) Arneth Cantata: Heil Vater! Dir zum hohen Feste (1852) Mayer Cantata: Auf Brüder! auf (1855) Festgesang: Sankt Jodok sproß (1855) Germanenzug (1865) Helgoland (1893)
Lieder	Lieder (1850–1882) Der Mondabend (c. 1850) Frühlingslied (1851) Wie bist du, Frühling, gut und treu (1856) Herbstkummer (1864) Im April (c. 1865) Mein Herz und deine Stimme (1868) Volkslied (1882)
Choral works	Weltliche Chorwerke (1843–1893) An dem Feste (1843) Das Lied vom deutschen Vaterland (c. 1845) Ständchen (c. 1846) Der Lehrerstand (c. 1847) Sternschnuppen (c. 1848) Das edle Herz (c. 1851) Die Geburt (1852) Vor Arneths Grab (1854) Laßt Jubeltöne laut erklingen (1854) Des Dankes Wort sei mir vergönnt (at the latest 1855) Das edle Herz (1857) Am Grabe (1861) Du bist wie eine Blume (1861) Der Abendhimmel (1862) Herbstlied (1864) Um Mitternacht (1864) Trauungschor (1865) Der Abendhimmel (1866) Vaterlandslied (1866) Vaterländisch Weinlied (1866) Mitternacht (1869) Nachruf (1877) Das hohe Lied (1876–1879) Abendzauber (1878) Zur Vermählungsfeier (1878) Sängerbund (1882) Volkslied (1882) Trösterin Musik (1886) Um Mitternacht (1886) Träumen und Wachen (1890) Der deutsche Gesang (1892) Tafellied (1893)