Helgoland | |
---|---|
by Anton Bruckner | |
![]() The composer, c. 1890/1895 | |
Key | G minor |
Catalogue | WAB 71 |
Form | Patriotic cantata |
Dedication | Men's Choir of Vienna |
Performed | 8 October 1893 : Hofburg Palace, Vienna |
Published | 1893 | (vocal and piano score)
Recorded | 1977Wyn Morris, Ambrosian Male Voice Chorus and Symphonica of London | –
Movements | 7 |
Vocal | TTBB choir |
Instrumental | Orchestra |
Helgoland, WAB 71, is a secular, patriotic cantata for male choir and orchestra, composed by Anton Bruckner in 1893. Since Bruckner did not complete the 9th symphony, Helgoland is his last complete work.
One year earlier, Bruckner had already composed another, shorter patriotic work, Der deutsche Gesang (WAB 63), 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 [1] to celebrate its 50th birthday. [2] [3] The text was written by August Silberstein, who had already provided poems set to music by Bruckner ( Germanenzug in 1864 and Vaterlandslied in 1866).
The setting was a case of interest, as the Frisian island of Heligoland had just been given to Germany in 1890 by Great Britain (in exchange for Zanzibar). 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. [2] [3]
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. [2] [3] It is put in Band XXII/2 No. 8 of the Gesamtausgabe. [4]
The text from August Silberstein's Mein Herz in Liedern focuses on the Saxon people of the island who are threatened by the invasion of the Romans, but divine intervention saves them:
Hoch auf der Nordsee, am fernesten Rand | On the North Sea's most distant horizon |
The 317-bar long composition in G minor, scored for TTBB male choir and orchestra (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, contrabass tuba, timpani, cymbal and strings), 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. [6] The orchestral introduction depicts already the atmosphere of storm and fate, which hangs over the text. The first part (first three strophes) depicts the approach of the enemies and the announcement of the prayer, the mid-part (next two strophes) depicts the invocation of the deity, and the third part (reprise with development) 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 (bar 309), [2] is a hymn to the deity. [3]
Duration: about 13 minutes. [4]
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. [7]
Fritz Oeser made an adaptation of the work for mixed choir and orchestra, and put on it a new text „Dröhne, du Donner“ (Roar, you Thunder!), so that the work would be performed more often. [8] [9] 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:
Anton Bruckner's Psalm 150, WAB 38, is a setting of Psalm 150 for mixed chorus, soprano soloist and orchestra written in 1892.
The Fest-Kantate Preiset den Herrn, WAB 16, is a festive cantata composed by Anton Bruckner in 1862 for the celebration of the laying of the foundation stone of the new Mariä-Empfängnis-Dom of Linz.
Germanenzug is a secular, patriotic cantata composed in 1863–1864 by Anton Bruckner on a text by August Silberstein.
Trauungschor, WAB 49, is a wedding song composed by Anton Bruckner on 8 January 1865.
The Mayer Cantata, WAB 60, is a cantata composed by Anton Bruckner in 1855. It is the second of three larger-scale occasional compositions, and the composer's first extended composition for large wind ensemble and choir.
The Festgesang, WAB 15, is a cantata composed by Anton Bruckner in 1855.
The Arneth Cantata, WAB 61, is a cantata composed by Anton Bruckner in 1852.
The cantata Entsagen (Renunciation), WAB 14, is a cantata composed by Anton Bruckner in c. 1851.
Vergißmeinnicht (Forget-me-not), WAB 93, is a cantata composed by Anton Bruckner in 1845.
Zur Vermählungsfeier, WAB 54, is a wedding song composed by Anton Bruckner on 27 November 1878.
Der deutsche Gesang, WAB 63, is a patriotic song composed by Anton Bruckner in 1892, one year before Helgoland.
The Volkslied, WAB 94, is a patriotic song composed by Anton Bruckner in 1882 for a competition for a Hymne für das Deutsche Volk in Österreich.
Abendzauber, WAB 57, is a song composed by Anton Bruckner in 1878.
Um Mitternacht, WAB 90, is a song composed by Anton Bruckner in 1886 on a text of Robert Prutz. About twenty years earlier Bruckner had already composed a song on the same text.
Sternschnuppen, WAB 73, is a song, which Anton Bruckner composed for his own men's voice quartet in c. 1848 during his stay in the Sankt Florian.
Träumen und Wachen, WAB 87, is a song, which Anton Bruckner composed in 1890 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Franz Grillparzer's birth.
Du bist wie eine Blume, WAB 64, is a song, which Anton Bruckner composed in 1861.
Der Lehrerstand, WAB 77, is a song composed by Anton Bruckner in c. 1847 during his stay in Sankt Florian.