Asperges me, WAB 4

Asperges me (Thou wilt sprinkle me), WAB 4, is a sacred motet composed by Anton Bruckner. It is a setting of the Latin Asperges me, the antiphon used for the celebration of Asperges.

For the two other settings of the same text by the composer, see Two Asperges me, WAB 3.
Asperges me
Motet by Anton Bruckner
Apă sfințită by Constantin Daniel Stahi
KeyF major
CatalogueWAB 4
FormAntiphon
TextAsperges me
LanguageLatin
Composed1843/1844 (1843/1844): Kronstorf
DedicationCelebration of Asperges
Published1932 (1932): Regensburg
VocalSATB choir

History

In 1843–44, Bruckner composed this first setting of Asperges me during his stay in Kronstorf.[1][2] It is not known when it was performed at that time.[1][2]

The work, the original manuscript of which is lost, exists as a transcription by Arthur Bauer. The motet was first published in volume III/2, pp. 140–141 of the Göllerich/Auer biography.[1][2] It is put in volume XXI/4 of the Gesamtausgabe.[3]

Music

The work is a setting of 32 bars in F major of the Asperges me for mixed choir a cappella.

According to the Catholic practice, the incipit ("Asperges me") is not composed and has to be intoned by the priest in Gregorian mode before the choir begins. The score is in two sections. Section 1 (7 bars) begins with "Domine, hysopo" and ends with "dealbabor". Section 2 (18 bars) begins with the remaining of the text, and is followed by the doxology ("Gloria Patri"). Thereafter the incipit is repeated by the choir in unison, concluded by a da capo of section 1. The second section contains audacious modulations, similar to the contemporaneous Kronstorfer Messe.[4][2]

Discography

There is a single commercial recording of Bruckner's first Asperges me:

  • Philipp von Steinäcker, Vocalensemble Musica Saeculorum, Bruckner: Pange lingua - Motetten - CD: Fra Bernardo FB 1501271, 2015

References
  1. C. van Zwol, p. 700
  2. U. Harten, p. 64
  3. Gesamtausgabe - Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke
  4. H. Schäfer, p. 189

Sources
  • August Göllerich, Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild, c. 1922 – posthumous edited by Max Auer by G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1932
  • Hansjürgen Schäfer, Anton Bruckner. Ein Führer durch Leben und Werk. Henschel Verlag, Berlin, 1996. ISBN 3-7618-1590-5
  • 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. ISBN 978-90-6868-590-9
  • Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. Residenz Verlag, Salzburg, 1996. ISBN 3-7017-1030-9.
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