Germanenzug

History#

After the completion of Psalm 112, Bruckner composed Germanenzug in July 1863. It is the first major example of occasional pieces set to secular texts Bruckner would write throughout his career for the Liedertafeln. Bruckner entered it for a competition at the first , scheduled for August 1864 in Linz. Bruckner’s original intention was to use the Zigeuner-Waldlied, a lost work (WAB 135), as basis for this entry, but after correspondence with Silberstein and his close friend Rudolf Weinwurm, Bruckner replaced it with the patriotic poem of the Viennese poet and journalist August Silberstein. During the spring of 1864, the festival was postponed. It was rescheduled for 4–6 June 1865, and renamed . Bruckner fine-tuned his composition till August 1864 before submission. The work, the manuscript of which is stored in the archive of the Kremsmünster Abbey, is put in Band XXII/2 No. 7 of the .

Text#

The work uses a text by August Silberstein: At the end of the first page of his manuscript Bruckner added the following text: * Freya: (the goddess of love in the full-of-light heaven); * Solgofnir: (the cock with the golden comb, which calls the morning and wakes up the heroes); * Braga: (the god of poetry and arts); * Balmung: (Sigurd’s sword); Balmungschlag: (sword clang); * Odin: (the chief god); * Walkyren: (the winged maidens, who lead heroes into battle, and souls to heaven).

Setting#

The 118-bar work in D minor is scored for TTBB male-voice choir, male solo quartet, and brass ensemble (two cornets, four trumpets, four horns, a baritone horn (Tenorhorn) or Euphonium, three trombones, and a bass tuba).

Discography#

There are a few recordings of Germanenzug: * Robert Shewan, Roberts Wesleyan College Chorale and Brass Ensemble, Choral Works of Anton Bruckner – CD: Albany TROY 063, 1991 * Attila Nagy, Universitätssängerschaft ‘Barden zu Wien’, Men’s choir of Vienna and Hungarian Brass Ensemble, Anton Bruckner und seine Zeit – CD: Disc-Lazarus DL-USB 8B, 18 May 1996 * Attila Nagy, Universitätssängerschaft ‘Barden zu Wien’, Men’s choirs of Vienna and Musikverein Hörsching, Konzert im Brucknerjahr – CD: Disc-Lazarus DL-USB 8D, 26 October 1996 Nagy recorded Germanenzug two other times with the same choir and piano accompaniment, instead of brass ensemble: * Bruckner-Festabend anlässlich des 100. Todestages von Ehrenmitglied Anton Bruckner – CD: Disc-Lazarus DL-USB 8C, 7 June 1996 * Im Denken treu, im Liede deutsch – CD: Disc-Lazarus DL-USB 26, between 1997 and 2007 ;Note: Germanezug has been performed at the Brucknerfest 2022 (Brucknerfest 2022 - Krieg und Frieden (29-09-2022)). A recording is available in the Bruckner Archive.

See also#

• Arminius (Bruch)
• Helgoland (Bruckner)

Sources#

• Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXII/2: Kantaten und Chorwerke II (1862–1893), Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Franz Burkhart, Rudolf H. Führer and Leopold Nowak (Editor), Vienna, 1987 (Available on IMSLP: Neue Gesamtausgabe, XXII/2. Kantaten und Chorwerke Teil 2: Nr. 6-8)
• John Proffitt, booklet of the CD: R. Shewan, Choral Works of Anton Bruckner, 1991
• Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. , Salzburg, 1996. .
• John Williamson, The Cambridge companion to Bruckner, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• Keith William Kinder, The wind and wind-chorus music of Anton Bruckner, Greenwood Press, Westport CT, 2000.
• Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner - Leven en Werken, Thot, Bussum (Netherlands), 2012.
• Crawford Howie, Anton Bruckner - A documentary biography, online revised edition

External links#

• *Germanenzug d-Moll, WAB 70 Critical discography by Hans Roelofs