Das edle Herz, WAB 65

History#

Bruckner composed this work on a text of Ernst Marinelli in during his stay in St. Florian. He composed it for the name day of Johann Nepomuk Paulitsch, a member of the St. Florian choir. It is not known whether the work was performed during Bruckner’s life. The original manuscript, which became in-between lost, was found in the legacy of Bruckner’s friend Rudolf Weinwurm. and, thereafter, in 1994 in the Connecticut College. Bruckner composed a second setting on the same text for mixed choir (WAB 66) in 1857.

Text#

Das edle Herz uses a text by Ernst Marinelli.

Music#

The 46-bar long work in Triple metre is scored in A major for SATB choir. From bar 34, the score goes over in 4/4 time in chorale form on “dankerfüllter Seelenpreis” until the end of the song.

Discography#

There is as yet no commercial recording of this first setting of Das edle Herz.

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 XXIII/2: Weltliche Chorwerke (1843–1893), Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Angela Pachovsky and Anton Reinthaler (Editor), Vienna, 1989
• Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner 1824–1896 – Leven en werken, uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012.
• Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. , Salzburg, 1996. .

External links#

• Das edle Herz A-Dur, WAB 65 – Critical discography by Hans Roelofs
• The performance of Das edle Herz, WAB 65 by the Wagner Society Male Choir of Japan, 11 December 1988, can be heard on YouTube: Das edle Herz, WAB 65