| Rondo in C minor | |
|---|---|
| String quartet by Anton Bruckner | |
 The composer, c. 1860 | |
| Catalogue | WAB 208 |
| Composed | 15 August 1862: Linz |
| Performed | 17 August 1984: Vienna |
The Rondo in C minor (WAB 208) is a composition for string quartet by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. It was written in 1862 but was not performed publicly until 1984, after the composer's death. A critical edition was first published in 1985 and the piece was first recorded in 1992 by the Raphael Quartet.
During his stay in Linz, Bruckner composed his String Quartet in 1862 as a student exercise assigned by his form and orchestration teacher, Otto Kitzler. [1] On reviewing Bruckner's work, Kitzler was perhaps dissatisfied with Bruckner's unconventionality of the first rondo. He therefore suggested that a new rondo in a more traditional rondo-sonata form would have benefited the piece. [2] Bruckner responded by creating this new large rondo form, creating a new work significantly different in musical content from the original as well as noticeably longer, with a performance time of approximately five minutes. This second Rondo, which has the same key, metre, and formal structure as the first Rondo, can be regarded as an alternative to the first Rondo. [3] [4]
The autograph date on the work is 15 August 1862. The Rondo in C minor was part of the Kitzler-Studienbuch , a collection of autographs and sketches created during Bruckner's studies with Kitzler. [5] [6] As with the other works Bruckner composed during Kitzler's tuition, [7] [8] the Quartet and the additional Rondo were not performed or issued during Bruckner's life. Bruckner did not intend for the Quartet to be publicly performed with either rondo, or for the Rondo in C minor to be performed independently, as he saw these compositions only as technical studies for the purposes of practicing form. [9] [10] [11] Since the work was not known at the time of Renate Grasberger's thematic catalogue of Bruckner's music, Werkverzeichnis Anton Bruckners (WAB), it was initially referred to as "WAB deest" [12] and later as WAB 208 by the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. [13]
Leopold Nowak, the musicologist known for editing the works of Bruckner, was permitted to access the Kitzler-Studienbuch, which was in private possession, and to transcribe the Rondo in C minor. The Rondo was premiered on 17 August 1984 in Vienna as part of a celebration of his eightieth birthday. [12] Nowak's edited critical edition of the Rondo was first published in 1985 [14] in Band XII of Bruckner's Gesamtausgabe. [15]
The 233-bar piece in C minor and 2
4 time is marked as Allegro molto moderato. It is sparingly notated, with few indications of dynamic. The rondo is in seven parts:
(Translation) The rondo theme appears four times and surrounds three other episodes, in which the first was named by Bruckner-self “Gesanggruppe”. Herewith one can recognise a tendency to convergence to the sonata form.
Das Rondothema tritt viermal auf und schließt drei Episoden ein, wobei die erste von Bruckner selbst als „Gesanggruppe“ bezeichnet wurde. Hier erkennt man die Tendenz zur Annäherung an die Sonatensatzform. [16]
Writing for AllMusic, Wayne Reisig remarks that the work's "overall fleet mood will bring to mind Mendelssohn. [9] The reviewer Richard Whitehouse notes that the Rondo's "less angular phrasing and the secondary theme's more expansive manner give the composer greater room to elaborate his material" than in the String Quartet's original rondo. He also describes "a more fully developed central section, serving to place less emphasis on the themes at their reappearance" and a coda that "draws on more imitative means to less forceful ends". [17] The critic Robert Markow for the music publication Fanfare suggests that the Rondo "sounds far more like Haydn than like the Bruckner we know from the symphonies that were soon to follow". [18]
There are only a few performances of Bruckner's Rondo in C minor:
Anton Bruckner's Symphony in F minor, WAB 99, was written in 1863, at the end of his study period in form and orchestration by Otto Kitzler.
The Mass No. 2 in E minor, WAB 27 is a setting of the mass ordinary for eight-part mixed choir and fifteen wind instruments, that Anton Bruckner composed in 1866.
The Magnificat, WAB 24 is a setting of the Magnificat for SATB choir and soloists, orchestra and organ composed by Anton Bruckner in 1852.
The String Quartet in C minor WAB 111, was composed by Anton Bruckner's in 1862 during his tuition by Otto Kitzler.
Bruckner's Psalm 22, WAB 34, is a setting of a German version of Psalm 23, which was psalm 22 in the Vulgata.
Bruckner's Psalm 112, WAB 35, is a psalm setting for eight-part double mixed choir and full orchestra. It is a setting of a German version of Psalm 113, which is Psalm 112 in the Vulgata.
The Four Orchestral Pieces are four short orchestral pieces, which Anton Bruckner composed in the fall of 1862 during his tuition with Otto Kitzler.
Anton Bruckner composed the Overture in G minor, WAB 98 in 1862–63, during his tuition by Otto Kitzler.
The Intermezzo in D minor is an 1879 composition by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. Although it was intended to replace the scherzo of the String Quintet, that piece was instead performed in its original form; the Intermezzo was not publicly premiered until after the composer's death.
Virga Jesse, WAB 52, is a motet by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. It sets the gradual Virga Jesse floruit for unaccompanied mixed choir.
Afferentur regi, WAB 1, is a motet, which Anton Bruckner composed on 7 November 1861 on the text of the Offertorium of the Missa pro Virgine et Martyre.
The Marsch in E-flat major, WAB 116, is a military march composed by Anton Bruckner in 1865.
"Ständchen" ("Serenade"), WAB 84.2, is a Lied composed by Anton Bruckner in c. 1846.
The Kitzler Study Book is an autograph workbook of Anton Bruckner which he wrote taking tuition with the conductor and cellist Otto Kitzler in Linz. Bruckner tried to complete his knowledge in musical form and instrumentation with Kitzler after the end of his studies with Simon Sechter.
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