The Messe für den Gründonnerstag (Mass for Maundy Thursday), WAB 9, is a missa brevis composed by Anton Bruckner in 1844.

History Bruckner composed the , a Choral-Messe in F major (WAB 9) for mixed choir a cappella, in 1844 while he was a schoolteacher's assistant in Kronstorf. Bruckner dedicated the work to A.M.D.G.U. Harten, pp. 281-282

The work, the manuscript of which is stored in the archive of Wels, was first published in band I, pp. 258–274 of the Göllerich/Auer biography. Thereafter, only the Gradual Christus factus estsource: Mus.Hs.19698 (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) was issued by Anton Böhm & Sohn in 1931, so that the work was listed by Grasberger as Christus factus est, WAB 9.

The full setting of the mass is published in volume XXI/5 of the .Gesamtausgabe - Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke

Setting The work is divided into six parts: Gradual Christus factus est, F major Credo, C major Offertory Dextera Domini, F major Sanctus, E major Benedictus, G major Agnus Dei, F major Total duration: about 10 minutes.

On the front page of Bruckner's manuscriptIMSLP - Front page of the manuscript is written: Vierstimmige Choral-Messe ohne Kyrie und Gloria für den Gründonnerstag auch mit fug[iertem] Kyr[ie] und Glor[ia] 845 comp[oniert] A.M.D.G. comp[oniert] 844, Anton Bruckner In front of page 3 of the manuscript is written (At the Last Supper)

This Missa brevis exhibits as the previous Kronstorfer Messe relationships to Palestrina's style.J. Garrat, p. 183 It contained originally no Kyrie or Gloria, but included the Gradual Christus factus est and the Offertory Dextera Domini proper for the feast.R. Haas, pp. 41–42M. Auer, p. 59J. Williamson, p. 43 Only the first part of the Credo is composed, until "descendit de caelis".C. van Zwol, p. 700 The Sanctus is a slightly modified version of the Sanctus of the Kronstorfer Messe.Roelofs' critical discography of the Kronstorfer Messe

As also in the following Missa solemnis, Mass No. 1 and Mass No. 2 the first verse of the Credo is not composed and has to be intoned by the priest in Gregorian mode before the choir proceeds.

The extra fugated Kyrie and Gloria, which were composed in 1845, have been lost.U. Harten, p. 245

Text The text of Dextera Domini is derived from Psalm 117 in the Vulgata ().

|style="padding-left:2em;"|The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength; The right hand of the Lord has exalted me. I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.Dextera Domini on ChoralWiki

Use in the modern liturgy To make the Messe für den Gründonnerstag usable for Eucharist celebration Joseph Messner created in 1941 a Kyrie and a Gloria and completed the Credo, by using elements of the other parts of the Mass, and added an organ accompaniment ad libitum.Roelofs' critical discography of the Messe für den Gründonnerstag Michael Stenov composed in 2018 a Kyrie and a Gloria, and completed the Credo fragment in Bruckner style. This completion was premiered in the Carmelite church of Linz during the Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday celebrations.Anton Bruckner - Messe für den Gründonnerstag, WAB 9

Discography

Original setting There is a single recording of the entire original setting of the Mass: Rupert Gottfried Frieberger, Vokalensemble der Stiftsmusik Schlägl, Anton Bruckner – Kirchenmusikalische Werke – Fabian Records CD 5115,

Messner's arrangement Joseph Pančik, Prager Kammerchor, Josef Kšica (organ), Anton Bruckner – Motetten / Choral-Messe – CD Orfeo C 327 951 A, 1993 Ludo Claesen, Sint Maartenkoor Hasselt, Paul Steegmans (organ) – CD: Aurophon 31 4 81, end of 1990s (without Credo)

References

Sources August Göllerich, Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild, – posthumous edited by Max Auer by G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1932 Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXI: Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke, Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Hans Bauernfeind and Leopold Nowak (Editor), Vienna, 1984/2001 Max Auer, Anton Bruckner. Sein Leben und Werk. Amalthea-Verlag, Vienna, c. 1950 Robert Haas, Anton Bruckner, 2nd print (Reprint der Ausgabe Athenaion, Potsdam, 1934), Laaber Verlag, Regensburg, 1980. Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. , Salzburg, 1996. . James Garrat, Palestrina and the German Romantic Imagination, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004. John Williamson, The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004. Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner – Leven en Werken, Uit. Thot, Bussum, NL, 2012.

External links

Choralmesse / Messe für den Gründonnerstag Christus factus est, F-Dur, WAB 9 Critical discography by Hans Roelofs Smaller sacred works (1835–1892) Gesamtausgabe – Volume XXI Live performances: Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday, 2018: Michael Stenov with the Cantores Carmeli, Linz, on Anton Bruckner - Messe für den Gründonnerstag, WAB 9 - original setting with lost Kyrie and Gloria, and incomplete parts of the Credo composed by Michael Stenov. The Maundy Thurstday from Salzburg Cathedral, 2024: celebration of the Last Supper with the Cathedral choir on Gründonnerstag - Feier vom Letzten Abendmahl aus dem Salzburger Dom - 28 March 2024 – Christus factus est at 23:24, Dextera Domini at 55:20, Sanctus & Benedictus at 01:03:20, Agnus Dei at 01:15:25