The Mayer Cantata, WAB 60, is a cantata composed by Anton Bruckner in 1855. It is the second of three larger-scale occasional compositions, and the composer's first extended composition for large wind ensemble and choir.

History Bruckner composed the cantata for the name-day of Friedrich Mayer, the prior of the St. Florian Abbey. The piece was performed on 17 July 1855 on the evening before Mayer's name day.C. van Zwol, p. 713

The Mayer Cantata, composed one year after the Missa solemnis, was the penultimate large work composed by Bruckner during his stay in St. Florian. Five months later, three weeks before he moved to Linz, he composed the cantata , WAB 15, "Farewell to St. Florian".C. van Zwol, p. 64

The manuscript is stored in the archive of the St. Florian Abbey.U. Harten, p. 66 An excerpt of the cantata was first published in band II/2, pp. 230–239 of the Göllerich/Auer biography. The cantata is put in Band XXII/1 No. 4 of the .Gesamtausgabe – Kantaten und Chorwerke mit Orchester

Text The work is using a text by Franz Ernst Marinelli. Let's go, brothers! and take the strings into our hands! The lovely Muse is already waving tenderly. She is calling you into the great land Of living and eternally enchanting tones. We will follow for what she is asking us to sing, A loving, reconciling spirit will teach us. This flows full of jubilation from an open throat As if the soul was dreaming it in the fields of Eden.

It is probably love, it ties the ribbon of harmony around you in holy beauty, Approach then and offer its pledge to the hero of the day, you worthy sons.

Hail to our father, whom we love, whose heart is beating with happiness, He, who carries the burden of the house, supported by his wise care. Hail to the supporter of beauty, hail to the most noble Maecenas, At whose side, loving and mild, the reconciling angels walk. He, who knows how to tune the roughness, and who commands the rigid form, Who is able to send the glance that delights us: Hail to him, the noble, brave, whose strength is like that of youth, Whose work refurbishes and expiates, whose heart is full of love.W. K. Kinder, p. 29

Setting The in total 169-bar long work in D major is scored for choir, choir and vocal quartet, and wind instruments (2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 3 horns, 2 trumpets and 3 trombones).

The cantata is in three movements: Auf, Brüder! auf: men's choir and vocal quartet, horns and trombones (bars 1 to 27) Wohl ist's die Liebe: the vocal quartet a cappella (bars 28 to 69) - Langsam, gemütlich Heil unserm Vater: mixed choir, wind instruments (bars 70 to 169) - Heiter

The cantata, the second of three larger-scale occasional compositions,C. Howie, Chapter II, pp. 22-23 is Bruckner's first extended composition for large wind ensemble and choir. The first verse, which expresses a male point of view, introduced by a solo horn, is set for men's voices with instruments in a comparable register (horns and trombones). The text of the second movement, which projects a gentle, thoughtful mood, is sung with smaller forces a cappella. The words of the final stanza, which are highly celebratory, introduced by the trumpets, is using the whole tessitura of voices with a large set of wind instruments. The solo horn recalls the introductory motive, providing a musical unity. This cantata may be the first work, in which Bruckner's personal style is clearly recognisable.W. K. Kinder, p. 28

Discography

There is a single recording of the Mayer Cantate: Thomas Kerbl, Chorvereinigung, Weltliche Männerchöre – CD: LIVA 054, 2012 – in part 2 with organ colla parte, and in part 3 a 27-bar cut (bars 110-136)

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 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 (Available on IMSLP: Neue Gesamtausgabe, XXII/1. Kantaten und Chorwerke Teil 1: Nr. 1-5) Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. , Salzburg, 1996. Keith William Kinder, The Wind and Wind-Chorus Music of Anton Bruckner, Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, 2000 Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner 1824–1896 – Leven en werken, uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012. Crawford Howie, Anton Bruckner - A documentary biography, online revised edition

External links

Auf, Brüder! auf, und die Saiten zur Hand! D-Dur,WAB 60 Critical discography by Hans Roelofs