Wunibald Briem

Wunibald Ludwig Briem (born August 25, 1841 in Feldkirch , † March 15, 1912 in Feldkirch) was an Austrian composer .

Wunibald Briem (1841-1912)

Life

Wunibald Briem came from an old Feldkirch family. His father, Franz Valentin Briem, was a saddler and mesmer. His mother, Maria Agathe König, came from a weaving family in Bregenz .

Wunibald Briem had three younger brothers. Franz Briem was a railway official, Josef Briem employee of a savings bank. Karl Briem was also a highly talented musician who studied violin and bassoon at the Innsbruck Musikhochschule.

Wunibald Briem attended elementary school and then grammar school in Feldkirch . Since his extraordinary musical talent was noticed, he was allowed to study piano, organ and composition with Professor Josef Gabriel Rheinberger at the Munich Music Academy for seven years after graduating from high school .

Professor Rheinberger, who had excellent contacts, tried to find suitable posts for his students depending on their talents and abilities. Because of his extraordinary talent, Professor Rheinberger proposed that Wunibald Briem become music director of Philadelphia . After careful consideration, Briem turned down this tempting offer of an international career. He decided to return to his hometown Feldkirch and was there for five decades a music teacher at the grammar school, organist , pianist , choir director , orchestra conductor and composer.

In 1863, Wunibald Briem became a music teacher at the Stella Matutina grammar school in Feldkirch. In 1868 he became a singing teacher at the kk grammar school. In addition, Wunibald Briem gave private lessons in piano, organ and harmony teacher. Briem was an excellent organist and composer of organ works. As an expert, he has prepared reports on the newly built and renovated organs in Rankweil, Mehrerau, Tosters, Lauterach, Schwarzach, Thal, Braz, Eichenberg, Brand, Ludesch and Schellenberg (Principality of Liechtenstein).

At the age of 36, Wunibald Briem married Anna Welker from Rottenburg am Neckar. They had 14 children, but four of them died as young children. Briem died at the age of 70 in Feldkirch, his birthplace.

plant

Briem advocated a qualitative improvement in church music. As part of this commitment, as organist of the parish church of St. Nikolaus in Feldkirch, he published the Brixen diocesan song book, a compilation of the best songs from various German and Latin chant books of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Briem composed the organ book for this purpose. The work is liturgically structured. The first part contains the first and second Latin choral masses and the requiem . This is followed by the German Singing Mass and then the Vespers and hymns for the individual feast days of the church year. The second part contains German church chants. The third part contains the third and fourth Latin singing mass as an appendix and various songs such as "Silent Night, Holy Night", "Te Deum", "Gotte erehmen ..." and others. The diocesan song book of Brixen and its organ book was published in 1905 by the Felizian Rauch publishing house in Innsbruck.

Wunibald Briem created hymns for mixed choirs and for male and female choirs. The Latin “Ave Maria” for two female voices with organ accompaniment is a work of delicate beauty. Briem set the German four-part Marian song “Ave Maria” to music based on a poem from Winnetou by Karl May . Briem composed the “Lullaby of the Mother of God” for three-part female choir with piano accompaniment based on a poem by the Capuchin Father Gaudentius Koch. As a music educator, he also composed works for children's voices, such as “The Good Shepherd” for solos and choir with piano accompaniment and “From the Adolescent Period” for three-part boys' choir, solos and declamations.

The twelve two-part songs for soprano and alto by Wunibald Briem were published by Verlag Coppenrath in Regensburg. The song "Beliefs" is an intimate, slow musical movement. The song “Little Bird in the Green Forest” is tender, but more dynamic. The "Spring Song" is lively, the "Wanderlied" based on a poem by Julius Mosen is more contemplative. “Reiters Abschiedslied” is quick and fresh. “If I were a little bird”, based on a poem by Leberecht Dreves, is a melancholy love song that the Comedian Harmonists liked to sang. “Vesper” is the atmospheric, romantic setting of a poem by Eichendorff . The multi-modulated art song “Night Prayer” is a setting of a text by Luise Hensel . The conclusion is made with three Heimatlieder based on poems by Father Beda Widmer: “My homeland is on the Arlberg”, “My home on the Rhine”, “O Arlbergland, my fatherland”.

For the Vorarlberger Sängerbund, Briem composed six folk songs for four-part male choir in Alemannic dialect: “Scho lang vo da Alpa”, a setting of a poem by Seeger an der Lutz , the heartfelt farewell song “Beim Scheiden”, the song of the despised lover “Am Brünnele ”,“ The Evening Star ”based on a poem by Dr. Franz Josef Vonbun , “Der Wälderbuob im spring” based on the poem by Josef Feuerstein , “Grüeß di Gott, mi subers Ländle” based on the text by Jesuit father Isidor Hopfner . The song "Uf da Berga, ischt mi Leba", a setting of a text by Seeger an der Lutz, achieved general fame in Vorarlberg when it was included in the Vorarlberg music school books.

On the occasion of Emperor Franz Joseph I's visit to Vorarlberg in 1881, Wunibald Briem composed a cantata for soloists, choir and piano based on the poetry of Anton Berlichingen and named it in honor of the emperor "The Emperor in Vorarlberg". The performance time of this onomatopoeic work is several hours.

Works

• Ave Maria (Latin), for two female voices with organ accompaniment
• Ave Maria (German), based on a poem from Karl May's “Winnetou”, for four-part female choir, Verlag Alfred Coppenrath, Regensburg
• Lullaby based on a poem by Gaudentius Koch, for three-part female choir with piano accompaniment, Alfred Coppenrath Verlag, Regensburg
• Jubilee hymn , for three-part female choir with piano and harmonium, Verlag Alfred Coppenrath, Regensburg
• Herz Jesu Litany , for two-part children's singing with organ, Verlag Felizian Rauch, Innsbruck
• The Good Shepherd , melodrama for soloists and choir with piano accompaniment, Alfred Coppenrath Verlag, Regensburg
• From his youth , Singspiel for three-part boys' choir, solos, piano, harmonium, children's instruments (triangle, snare drum) and declamations, Alfred Coppenrath Verlag, Regensburg
• Twelve two-part songs , for soprano and alto with piano
• Six songs in folk tone based on poems in Alemannic dialect for four-part male choir
• Grüeß di Gott, mi subers Ländle (I. Hopfner), two-part with piano accompaniment, Verlag JN Teutsch, Bregenz
• Uf da Berga (Seeger an der Lutz) , song for four-part male choir, published by JN Teutsch, Bregenz
• Vorarlberger Schützenmarsch , for piano, Hug & Co publishing house, Leipzig
• Bressanone diocesan song book , compilation of church chants for the entire liturgical year, Verlag F. Rauch, Innsbruck 1905
• Organ book for the Brixen diocesan song book , organ compositions by Wunibald Briem for the entire liturgical year, Verlag F. Rauch, Innsbruck 1905
• Der Kaiser in Vorarlberg , cantata for solos, choir and piano, Verlag Gebr. Karl and Nikolaus Benziger, Einsiedeln, New York, Cincinnati and St. Louis 1883

literature

• Anonymous, obituary for Wunibald Briem, in: Vorarlberger Landeszeitung , Volume 49, No. 63 from March 16, 1912.
• Josef Gürtner: Austrian Catholic Church Music in the Light of Numbers . Vienna.
• Anton Hinger: Josef Rheinberger. Yearbook of the historical association for the Principality of Liechtenstein . 3rd volume, 1903.
• Theodor Kroyer: Josef Rheinberger . Regensburg 1916.
• Hans Nägele: Rheinberger's descent from Vorarlberg . In: after work . Episode 47, 1926, p. 279 f.
• Gottfried Riccabona: Feldkirch composer . 1949, p. 105 f.
• Albert Ritter: Feldkirch apprenticeship years. Feldkirch, the Austrian city on the Alpine Rhine . 1949, p. 79 f.
• Otto Schmidt: Josef Rheinberger, on the 25th anniversary of the sound poet's death on November 25, 1926 . In: Feierabend , episodes 45, 46 and 47, 1926.
• Erich Schneider: Vorarlberg composer . (Writings on Vorarlberg regional studies, Volume 10)
• Erich Schneider: Wunibald Briem - a life in the service of music . In: Yearbook of the Vorarlberger Landesmuseumsverein . 1956, pp. 87-94.
• Erich Schneider: Wunibald Briem . (Portraits of musicians from Vorarlberg). In: Vorarlberger Volksblatt from January 25, 1958.
• Erich Schneider: Church music in Vorarlberg in the 19th century . In: Singende Kirche , No. 4, 1958, p. 26 f.
• Ferdinand Wachter: Wunibald Briem . In: Vorarlberger Volksblatt No. 215 of September 20, 1912 and No. 218 of September 24, 1912 (also as a special print by Verlag JN Teutsch, Bregenz)