Heligoland (Bruckner)

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Helgoland ( WAB 71) is a secular cantata for male choir and large orchestra in G minor , composed by Anton Bruckner . The performance lasts an average of 12 to 15 minutes. The orchestra consists of 2 flutes , 2 oboes , 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , 4 horns , 3 trumpets , 3 trombones , a double bass tuba , timpani , cymbals and strings . Since Bruckner left his Ninth Symphony unfinished, Heligoland is considered to be the composer's last completed work. The work appeared in 1993 in the critical Bruckner Complete Edition .

Emergence

The cantata was composed in 1893 as a commission for the 50th anniversary of the Vienna Men's Choir Association . Bruckner had a poem by August Silberstein as a template ; As early as 1864, Bruckner set a poem of Silberstein's entitled The German Train to music. The text is about the Saxon people of Heligoland , who are threatened by the Roman invasion, but are saved by divine intervention. The composition is full of power and enthusiasm, in some ways reminiscent of Richard Wagner and is characterized by Bruckner's bold late style and a symphonic structure. Bruckner himself therefore insisted on the title addition Symphonic Choir .

The island of Helgoland was very well known in Austria. The Austrian opposition had in the pre-March met there, to which was sea battle at Helgoland (1864) hailed as a major victory for the Austrian navy throughout the empire, but the de facto was a defeat of the German-Austrian squadron. The Vienna men's choir had visited the island in 1885. The acquisition of the island from the United Kingdom by the German Empire in 1890 will still have been widely recognized by the public.

The first performance took place on October 8, 1893 under the direction of Eduard Kremser . Of Bruckner's around 30 male choir works, Helgoland is the only secular that Bruckner bequeathed to the Austrian National Library . The cantata was first published in 1899. The work is seldom performed; It is also noticeable that many “Bruckner conductors” did not record the work. An exception is Daniel Barenboim , who recorded Helgoland twice: 1979 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and 1992 with the Berlin Philharmonic (concert recording October 29–31). Wyn Morris made further recordings with the male choir of the Ambrosian Singers and the Symphonica of London (1977) and Alberto Hold-Garrido with the student singers from Lund and the Malmö Opera Orchestra (2012). An additional Japanese Radio recording of Takashi Asahina with the Osaka Philharmonic is freely available on John Berky's website.

The original text was criticized on various occasions in Bruckner research; In contrast to Bruckner's time, there are now only a few male choirs that are up to the original. Therefore, the German composer and Bruckner researcher Fritz Oeser created an arrangement of the work for mixed choir and orchestra, for which he also wrote a new text, with the aim of promoting the dissemination of the work. It was published in 1954 by Bruckner Verlag Wiesbaden.

So far there are no recordings of Oeser's work.

text

High on the North Sea, at the furthest edge,
the ships appear, lowered like clouds;
in surging waves, the sails drawn,
to the island of the Saxons the Romans steers!

Oh woe for the places, so
sacredly preserved, the peaceful huts, surrounded by trees!
The settlers know about enemy voyages!
What is still worth life, it also steals life!

So the
nerves rush to the shore, which is useful when looking at the distance through tears;
then the best of the bosom wrestle free
the ardent request to heaven:

Who you are enthroned in the clouds,
thunder in your hand,
and live above storms,
be turned to us!

Let the terrible weather rage,
the red of lightning,
smash the enemies there!
All father! A savior from death and bitter need!
Father!

And see, the wave, which threw itself surging,
it rises with foaming foam,
the winds rise, rustling and sharp,
the lightest sails darken in the room!

The horrors of the sea wrestle,
break the masts, shatter the prow;
The flaming arrows, flashing projectiles,
hit them in thunder-reverberant flight.

Well, opponents, captors, as prey you are left,
sunk to depths, flung to the sand,
the wreckage of the ships is now drifting to the island!
O Lord God, praise you freely Heligoland!

August Silberstein

literature

  • Franz Burkhart, Rudolf H. Führer, Leopold Nowak (ed.): Anton Bruckner. Complete Works. Volume 22: Cantatas and choral works II. Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag, Vienna undated [1993].
  • Fritz Oeser (Ed.): Symphonic psalm "Dröhne, du Donner". Arrangement of the symphonic choir “Helgoland” for mixed choir and orchestra with new text (F. Oeser). Bruckner-Verlag, Wiesbaden 1954. Material on loan from Alkor-Edition Bärenreiter (Kassel)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Eckhard Wallmann, Helgoland Eine deutsche Kulturgeschichte, Hamburg 2017, pages 463 and 509 f.
  2. ↑ Helgoland by T. Asahina with the Osaka Philharmonic (1987)