• Source: Mitternacht, WAB 80

Mitternacht (Midnight), WAB 80, is a song composed by Anton Bruckner in 1869.




History


Bruckner composed the song on a text of Joseph Mendelssohn in November 1869, for the 25th anniversary of Linz Liedertafel Frohsinn. The piece was performed on 15 May 1870 by Frohsinn in the Volksfesthalle in Linz.
The work, of which the original manuscript is stored in the archive of Liedertafel Frohsinn, was first issued by Doblinger in 1903. It was reissued in 1911 by Viktor Keldorfer (Universal Edition), together with the two other Bruckner's "midnight-songs" (Um Mitternacht, WAB 89 and WAB 90). The song is issued in Band XXIII/2, No. 25 of the Gesamtausgabe.




Text


Mitternacht uses a text by Joseph Mendelssohn.




Music


The 84-bar long work in A-flat major is scored for TTBB choir, tenor soloist and piano. Strophe 1 is sung by the choir with an ostinato of the piano. In strophe 2, bars 49-58 (Mir ist das Herz so andachtschwer), the soloist is singing with accompaniment of the choir and unison lines of sixteenth notes of the piano. The piece is ending pianissimo.




Discography


Mitternacht, WAB 80, is one of the most popular Bruckner's Weltliche Chorwerke. The first recording of Mitternacht was by Willi Schell with the Cronenberger Männerchor in 1956 – 45 rpm: Tonstudio Wolfgang Jakob (Dortmund)
A selection of the other recordings:

Walther Schneider, Josef Traxel (tenor), Stuttgarter Liederkranz, Hubert Giesen (piano) – LP: Odeon O/STO 41453, 1961
Guido Mancusi, Herbert Lippert (tenor), Chorus Viennensis, Walter Lochmann (piano), Musik, du himmlisches Gebilde! – CD: ORF CD 73, 1995
Thomas Kerbl, Männerchorvereinigung Bruckner 08, Mariko Onishi (Piano), Anton Bruckner – Männerchöre – CD: LIVA027, 2008
Jan Schumacher, Christoph Prégardien (tenor), Camerata Musica Limburg, Andreas Frese (Piano) Serenade. Songs of night and love – CD: Genuin GEN 12224, 2011




References






Sources


Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXIII/2: Weltliche Chorwerke (1843–1893), Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Angela Pachovsky and Anton Reinthaler (Editor), Vienna, 1989
Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner 1824–1896 – Leven en werken, uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012. ISBN 978-90-6868-590-9
Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. Residenz Verlag, Salzburg, 1996. ISBN 3-7017-1030-9.
Crawford Howie, Anton Bruckner - A documentary biography, online revised edition




External links


Mitternacht, WAB 80: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
Free scores for Mitternacht, WAB 80 in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
Mitternacht As-Dur, WAB 80 – Critical discography by Hans Roelofs (in German)
These performances of Mitternacht can be heard on YouTube:
Dritan Luca with the Wiener Staatsopernchor (2007): Mitternacht
Stojan Kuret with the Vokalna akademija of Ljubljana (2020): Anton Bruckner, Mitternacht WAB 80

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Mitternacht, WAB 80
• Um Mitternacht, WAB 90
• Um Mitternacht, WAB 89
• 1869 in music
• List of secular choral works by Anton Bruckner
• Abendzauber, WAB 57
• Symphony No. 5 (Bruckner)
• Te Deum (Bruckner)
• Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
• List of compositions by Anton Bruckner