The Windhaager Messe, WAB 25, is a missa brevis composed by Anton Bruckner in 1842.
History
Bruckner composed the
Windhaager Messe (WAB 25) in 1842, while he was a schoolteacher's assistant in Windhaag.
It was first believed that it was composed for Maria Jobst, the Contralto soloist in the Windhaag church choir.[K. W. Kinder, pp. 2-5][U. Harten, p. 282] It is now stated that it was composed for her younger sister, Anna.[C. van Zwol, p. 700][C. Howie, Chapter I, pp. 24-25]
The work, the manuscript of which is stored in the archive of Wels, was first published in band I, pp. 173–189 of the Göllerich/Auer biography. It is edited in Band XXI/2 of the Gesamtausgabe.[ Gesamtausgabe - Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke]
Setting
The
Windhaager Messe is a
Missa brevis in
C major for
alto solo, two
Natural horn and organ.
The work is divided into six parts:
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Kyrie, C major
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Gloria, C major
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Credo, C major
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Sanctus, C major
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Sanctus, E-flat major
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Agnus Dei, C major
Total duration: 8 to 10 minutes.
The work employs a text compressed to the absolute minimum and is predominantly Homophony in texture – often close to plainchant as, for example, the initial phrase of the Kyrie and the Credo[J. Williamson, p. 43][R. Haas, pp. 40–41] The use of horns "adds a warm, familiar timbre to music, and helps to clarify the harmony".
As in the Landmesse tradition,[ Österreichisches Musiklexicon online: Landmesse] the Gloria and the Credo employ only a portion of the extensive text usually associated with these sections of the Mass.
The short Sanctus presents the most extensive horn parts in the work. The Benedictus, in E major, is more melodic and uses a much less syllabic text setting than the rest of the work. The final notes of the Agnus Dei recall the closing of the Credo – a small, but effective touch of musical integration.[H. Schäfer, pp. 188-189]
Bruckner’s designation of this composition as a Choral-Messe referred to its simple, hymn-like style.[M. Auer, p. 48]
...the attention lavished to this modest work is justified, not merely because it was Bruckner's first extended composition, but also because of its interesting and prophetic musical ideas.
Use in the modern liturgy
To make the
Windhaager Messe usable for Eucharist celebration Kajetan Schmidinger and
Joseph Messner made in
C. 1927 an arrangement for
mixed choir with revised
Gloria and
Credo, and accompaniment by organ, horns and
string quintet.
[ Messe in C-dur, arrangement for mixed choir][ Roelofs' critical discography of the Windhaager Messe]
Selected discography
Original setting
A selection among the recordings of the original setting of the Mass:
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Wolfgang Riedelbauch, Ingeborg Ruß (alto), Anton Bruckner - Psalm 146 and Windhaager Messe – LP: Colosseum SM 548, 1972.
Transferred to CD, together with the historical recording of the "nullified" Symphony in D minor by Hortense von Gelmini: Klassic Haus KHCD 2012-007, 2012
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Ulrich Köbl, Cornelia Wulkopf (alto), Sakrale Waldhornmusik – CD: Ars FCD 368 304,
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Rupert Gottfried Frieberger, Sigrid Hagmüller (alto), Anton Bruckner – Oberösterreichische Kirchenmusik – Fabian Records CD 5112, 1995
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Bernhard Prammer, Elisabeth Mayer (alto), Kammermusikalische Kostbarkeiten von Anton Bruckner – CD: Weinberg Records SW 01 036-2, 1996
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Valeri Polyansky, Ludmila Kunetsova (mezzo-soprano), Bruckner - Mass in C major, Mass No. 2 in E minor – Chandos CD CHAN 9863, 1998
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Matthias Giesen, Günther Groissböck (bass), In Te Domine Speravi – Gramola CD 99327, 2024
Schmidinger & Messner's arrangement
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Svetlana Girba, KHG-Chor Karlsruhe, Ralph Hammer (organ), Musica sacra – CD issued by the choir, 1999
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Barbara Kling, Ottilia Cappella, Himmelswege - Lieder vom Leben und von der Liebe – CD: EOS LC 28574, 2019
Sources
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August Göllerich, Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild, – posthumous edited by Max Auer by G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1932
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Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXI: Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke, Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Hans Bauernfeind and Leopold Nowak (Editor), Vienna, 1984/2001
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Max Auer, Anton Bruckner. Sein Leben und Werk. Amalthea-Verlag, Vienna, c. 1950
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Robert Haas, Anton Bruckner, 2nd print (Reprint der Ausgabe Athenaion, Potsdam, 1934), Laaber Verlag, Regensburg, 1980.
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Hansjürgen Schäfer, Anton Bruckner. Ein Führer durch Leben und Werk. Henschel Verlag, Berlin, 1996.
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Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. , Salzburg, 1996. .
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Keith William Kinder, The Wind and Wind-Chorus Music of Anton Bruckner, Greenwood Press, Westport CT, 2000. .
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John Williamson, The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004.
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Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner - Leven en Werken, Uit. Thot, Bussum, NL, 2012.
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Crawford Howie, Anton Bruckner - A documentary biography, online revised edition
External links
Live performances can be heard on YouTube
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Original setting
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Gabriele Holzner (alto soloist), Josefin Bergmayr-Pfeiffer and Sophie Arzt (horns), Maria Kürner (organ) – Pfarrkirche Ansfelden, 10 November 2019: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus & Benedictus, Agnus Dei
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Gabriela Thierry (mezzo-soprano), Alejandro Duprat Esperón (horn), Alejandro Giacomán (organ) – 2020 Bruckner – Mass in C, 2020
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Schmidinger & Messner's arrangement
