Tantum ergo ("Let us raise"), WAB 44, is the last of eight settings of the hymnTantum ergo composed by Anton Bruckner in c. 1854.
History
Bruckner composed the motet in c. 1854 during his stay in St. Florian Abbey. The original manuscript is lost. An autograph voice score is stored in the archive of the abbey.[1]
The motet was first published in band II/2, pp. 256–258 of the Göllerich/Auer biography.[1] It is put in Band XXI/18 of the Gesamtausgabe.[2]
Music
The work of 29 bars in B-flat major, as edited in the current Gesamtausgabe,[2] is scored for SATB choir, 2 violins, 2 trumpets and organ.[1]
There are only three recordings of this last setting of Tantum ergo:
Richard Proulx, Cathedral Singers and Chamber Orchestra, Rediscoverd Masterpieces – CD: GIA 515, 1998
Thomas Kerbl, Chorvereinigung Bruckner 09, Anton Bruckner Chöre/Klaviermusik – CD: LIVA 034, 2009
Łukasz Borowicz, RIAS Kammerchor, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Raphael Alpermann (Organ), Anton Bruckner – Missa solemnis – CD: Accentus ACC 30429, 2017 (Cohrs edition)
August Göllerich, Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild, c. 1922 – 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
Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner 1824–1896 – Leven en werken, uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012. ISBN978-90-6868-590-9