Key C major Form Patriotic song | Catalogue WAB 82 Language German | |
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Text 1: Heinrich von der Mattig (?)
2: Karl Kerschbaum Composed 3 February 1882 (1882-02-03): Vienna | ||
Sängerbund (Singers association), WAB 82, is a patriotic song, which Anton Bruckner composed in 1882.
Contents
History
Bruckner composed the song on a text of an unknown author, possibly Heinrich von der Mattig, on 3 February 1882. He dedicated it to August Göllerich senior.
With Buckner's agreement, Karl Kerschbaum, the secretary of the Liedertafel Frohsinn, put another, more generalised text on the score to increase the chance of performances. The piece was first performed by Frohsinn in Wels during the fifth Oberösterreichisch-Salzburgisches Sängerbundfest (feast of the singers associations from Upper Austria and Salzburg) on 10 June 1883.
The song was a favourite of the Liedertafel Frohsinn, which performed it again in Passau in September 1890. As homage to their honorary chairman, Frohsinn performed the song on 4 September 1894 for celebrating Bruckner's 70th birthday.
The piece, of which the original manuscript is stored in the archive of the Liedertafel Frohsinn, was published first in 1911 by Viktor Keldorfer (Universal Edition) with Kerschbaum's text. It is issued with both texts in Band XXIII/2, No. 31 of the Gesamtausgabe.
Text and music
The original manuscript of Sängerbund was using a text of an unknown author, possibly Heinrich von der Mattig.
The song was later edited with a revised text by Karl Kerschbaum:
The 79-bar long work in C major is scored for TTBB choir.
The first strophe begins as a fanfare and evolves via a series of sixth chords to the ending tonic chord. The second strophe begins similarly and evolves from A major via a sixth chord of F minor to the same end as the first strophe.
Discography
Sängerbund (with Karl Kerschbaum's text) was recorded three times by Attila Nagy with the Universitätssängerschaft 'Barden zu Wien' in 1996 (100th anniversary of Bruckner's death):