Ave Regina caelorum, WAB 8

1886 motet composed by Anton Bruckner

Ave Regina caelorum
Motet by Anton Bruckner
Madonna by Jan van Eyck
Key	Gregorian mode
Catalogue	WAB 8
Form	Marian Antiphon
Text	Ave Regina caelorum
Language	Latin
Composed	c. 1886 (c. 1886): Vienna
Published	1910 (1910): Klosterneuburg
Vocal	Voice(s)
Instrumental	Organ

Ave Regina caelorum (Hail, Queen of Heaven), WAB 8, is a motet composed by Anton Bruckner in c. 1886 .

History

The motet was composed in c. 1886 on request of Ferdinand Schölzig, Master of novices at the Klosterneuburg Abbey. The Marian antiphon was performed first on 25 March 1886 (Feast of the Annunciation).

Bruckner's manuscript is stored in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. The motet was first published in 1910 in the third yearbook of the Klosterneuburg Abbey. It has been re-edited by Wöss in 1921 together with the Zur Vermählungsfeier, WAB 54.^[1] It is put in Band XXI/36 of the Gesamtausgabe.^[2]

Music

The Bruckner's compostition is a not a mere harmonisation of a Gregorian antiphon, but rather a choral paraphrase of the Ave Regina caelorum for voice(s) and organ^[3] or, according to Leopold Nowak, an original composition by Bruckner in Gregorian style.^[4]

Discography

None of the about ten recordings faithfully follows Bruckner's original score. According to Hans Roelofs, only two of the recordings follow it more or less:^[5]

Robert Shewan, Roberts Wesleyan College Chorale, Choral Works of Anton Bruckner – CD: Albany TROY 063, 1991
Franz Farnberger, St. Florianer Sängerknaben, Anton Bruckner in St. Florian – Requiem & Motetten CD: Studio SM D2639 SM 44, 1997

References

^ C. van Zwol, p. 709
^ Gesamtausgabe – Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke
^ Elisabeth Maier in: U. Harten, p. 77
^ Preface to Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXI: Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke
^ Discography

Sources

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
Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. Residenz Verlag [de], Salzburg, 1996. ISBN 3-7017-1030-9.

External links

Ave regina caelorum, WAB 8: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
Ave Regina WAB 8 Critical discography by Hans Roelofs (in German)
A live performance of the Ave Regina caelorum by Ricardo Luna with the Wiener Madrigalchor can be heard at 53:10 of the Benefizkonzert für den Wiener Stephansdom, 6 October 2007 – performance according to the Bruckner's original score

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)