The five cantatas, composed between 1845 and 1855 during Bruckner's stay as schoolteacher's assistant in Kronstorf and as organist in Sankt Florian, were Name-day cantatas. These cantatas are put in Band XXII/1 of the Gesamtausgabe.[1]
During his stay as schoolteacher's assistant in Kronstorf Bruckner composed his first cantata:
He made a second version to celebrate the name day of Alois Knauer, the parish priest of Kronstorf.[2][3]
He sent thereafter a third version, which he entitled Vergißmeinnicht (Do not forget me), to remind Friedrich Mayer of the promise to provide him with an employment in the St. Florian Abbey.[2][4]
During his stay as organist in Sankt Florian, Bruckner composed the following four name-day cantatas:
Entsagen (Renunciation), WAB 14, is a cantata in B-flat major composed in c. 1851 on a text of Oskar von Redwitz's Amaranth for the name day of Michael Arneth, the prior of the St. Florian Abbey.[5][6]
The Arneth CantataHeil Vater! Dir zum hohen Feste (Hail father! To you on this noble celebration), WAB 61, is a cantata in D major composed in 1852 for the name day of Michael Arneth.[7][8]
In 1857, he made a shortened second version as Auf Brüder! auf zur frohen Feier!, for the name day of Friedrich Mayer, the next prior of Abbey.[7][9]
In c. 1870, a third version as Heil dir zum schöne Erstlingsfeste was set for a Primitzfeier (celebration of the first Mass) by a newly ordained priest in Kremsmünster.[10][11]
The Mayer CantataAuf, Brüder! auf, und die Saiten zur Hand! (Let's go, brothers! and take the strings into our hands!), WAB 60, is a cantata in D major composed in 1855 for the name day of Friedrich Mayer.[12][13]
The FestgesangSankt Jodok sproß aus edlem Stamme (Festive song "Saint Judoc came from a noble house"), WAB 15, is a cantata in C major composed at the end of 1855 for the name day of Jodok Stülz, the dean of the St. Florian Abbey.[12][14]
Linz and Vienna
In the 1860s, during his stay in Linz, after the end of Sechter's and Kitzler's tuition, Bruckner composed the following two cantatas:
The festive cantataPreiset den Herrn (Praise the Lord), WAB 16, is a religious cantata in D major composed in 1862 for the celebration of the laying of the foundation stone of the new Mariä-Empfängnis-Dom of Linz.[15][16]
Germanenzug, WAB 70, is a secular, patriotic cantata in D minor composed in 1863–1864 on a text by August Silberstein for competition at the first Oberösterreichisch-Salzburgisches Sängerbundesfest.[17][18]
Thirty years later, during his stay in Vienna, Bruckner composed this last cantata:
Helgoland, WAB 71, is a secular, patriotic cantata in G minor composed in 1893 on another text by August Silberstein to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Men's Choir of Vienna.[19][20]
These three cantatas are put in Band XXII/2 of the Gesamtausgabe.[1]
Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXII/1: Kantaten und Chorwerke I (1845–1855), Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Franz Burkhart, Rudolf H. Führer and Leopold Nowak (Editor), Vienna, 1987
Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXII/2: Kantaten und Chorwerke II (1862–1893), Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Franz Burkhart, Rudolf H. Führer and Leopold Nowak (Editor), Vienna, 1987
