Mass No. 1 (Bruckner)

Mass No. 1 in D minor, WAB 26 by Anton Bruckner, is a setting of the Mass ordinary for soloists, mixed choir, orchestra and organ.
Bruckner composed it in 1864, and revised it in 1876 and 1881/82. The (small) differences among the versions concern mainly annotations about tempo, etc.

After he had ended his eight-year study period by Sechter and Kitzler Bruckner and he had composed a few small works, as Psalm 112, Bruckner composed his first grand Mass, the Mass in D minor. He completed the work on 29 September 1864.

The premiere of the Mass in the old Linz Cathedral on 20 November 1864 was successful. Laudatory review in the Linzer Zeitung described Bruckner’s potential as symphonic composer and ranked the D minor Mass in the highest echelon of church music.

Setting

According to the Catholic practice – as also in Bruckner’s Missa solemnis and his following Mass No. 2 – the first verse of the Gloria and the Credo is not composed and has to be intoned by the priest in Gregorian mode before the choir is going on. For the organ intermezzo of the Credo (after "et sepultus est") Bruckner composed an alternative with woodwind instruments, so that the conductor can choose between these two options.

When compared to the previous Missa solemnis the work is more mature in conception with crescendos, which are so characteristic of Bruckner’s later symphonies. "Wagner’s influence is evident as the orchestra plays a major role setting the stage, developing material and intensifying the drama. ... [A] passage by way of illustrating [it] ... might be the death and resurrection section of the Credo ... The plaintive a cappella setting of 'passus et sepultus est' ... is reflected in pianissimo woodwind (or organ) and brass chorales before the strings propel a tremendous crescendo to a triumphant re-entry of the chorus at 'Et resurrexit'."^[1]

However, there is a continuity with previous works. Several passages, such as the Qui tollis of the Gloria, the central part of the Credo, and the devoutness of the word "Jesu Christe", the solemness of "cum gloria" and the dread of the word mortuorum, were already prefigured in the Missa solemnis. Moreover, the string pianissimo in the opening bars of the Kyrie was also foreshadowed in the opening bars of Psalm 146.

The repeat structure already stubbed in Psalm 112 – a product of Kitzler’s tutelage – is clearly present in the work: repeat of the starting theme of the Credo in "Et in spiritum", and that of "Deum de Deo" in "Et expecto"; repeat of the "Osanna" of the Sanctus at the end of the Benedictus; and that of the ascending scale of the Kyrie and of "Et vitam venturi" in the Dona nobis.

Bruckner used also this ascending scale (a reminiscence of the "Qua resurget ex favilla homo reus" from Mozart's Requiem), as a stairway to heaven in i.a. the Adagio of several symphonies and his Te Deum.^[2]

Bruckner used a citation of the "Miserere nobis" from the Gloria in the transition to the development of the first movement of his third symphony. At the end of his life he made again a citation of it, as a kind of supplication, before the climax of the Adagio of his Symphony No. 9.

Discography

The discography of Mass No. 1 is less abundant than that of the following Masses No. 2 and No. 3. Except for a partial recording (Gloria only) performed by Pius Kalt in around 1925, the first recording was performed by Charles Adler in 1954. In this recording the intermezzo of the Credo is performed by the woodwind instruments.

About twenty years later, in 1972, Eugen Jochum recorded the Mass on LP box by DGG together the two other Masses, Psalm 150 and several motets. The box has been later transferred to CD. According to Hans Roelofs this recording with organ intermezzo in the Credo remains the reference.

Among the about ten other recordings, Best's recording with organ intermezzo, and Matt's and Gardiner's recordings with woodwind intermezzo are, according to Roelofs, also excellent performances.

Records with organ intermezzo

• Eugen Jochum, Chor und Sinfonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Elmar Schloter (organ). LP: DG 2530 314, 1972 - CD: DG 423 127-2 (box of 4 CD)
• Mathew Best, Corydon Singers & Orchestra, James O'Donnell (organ). CD: Hyperion CDA66650, 1993 (with the Te Deum)

Records with woodwind intermezzo

• F. Charles Adler, Choir and Orchestra of the Wiener Rundfunks, LP: Lumen AMS 7, 1954.
• John Eliot Gardiner, live with the Monteverdi Choir and the Wiener Philharmoniker. CD: DG 459 674-2, 1996.
• Nicol Matt, Chamber Choir of Europe and Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen. CD: Brilliant SACD 92212, 2003.

Notes

1. ^ John Williamson, The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner, pp. 48-49
2. ^ Paul Gilbert Langevin, Bruckner, p. 25

References

• Langevin, Paul-Gilbert (1977) Bruckner, l'Age d'Homme, Lausanne – ISBN 2-8251-0880-4
• Williamson, John (2004) The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge - ISBN 0-521-80404-3

External links

• Commented discography by Hans Roelofs
• Full score at IMSLP