Ave Regina caelorum, WAB 8

Ave Regina caelorum
Motet by Anton Bruckner
Madonna by Jan van Eyck
Key	Gregorian mode
Catalogue	WAB 8
Form	Marian Antiphon
Text	Ave Regina caelorum
Language	Latin
Composed	c. 1886 – Vienna
Published	1910 – Klosterneuburg
Vocal	Voice(s)
Instrumental	Organ

Ave Regina caelorum (Hail, Queen of Heaven), WAB 8, is a motet composed by Anton Bruckner in c. 1886 .

History

The motet was composed in c. 1886 on request of Ferdinand Schölzig, Master of novices at the Klosterneuburg Abbey. The Marian antiphon was performed first on 25 March 1886 (Feast of the Annunciation).

Bruckner's manuscript is stored in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. The motet was first published in 1910 in the third yearbook of the Klosterneuburg Abbey. It has been re-edited by Wöss in 1921 together with the Zur Vermählungsfeier, WAB 54.^[1] It is put in Band XXI/36 of the Gesamtausgabe.^[2]

Music

The motet is a harmonisation of the Gregorian antiphon Ave Regina caelorum for voice(s) and organ.

Selected discography

A selection among the about seven recordings of Bruckner's Ave Regina caelorum:

• Robert Shewan, Roberts Wesleyan College Chorale, Choral Works of Anton Bruckner – CD: Albany TROY 063, 1991
• Jonathan Brown, Ealing Abbey Choir, Anton Bruckner: Sacred Motets – CD: Herald HAVPCD 213, 1997 (transcription for male voice choir a cappella)
• Franz Farnberger, St. Florianer Sängerknaben, Anton Bruckner in St. Florian – Requiem & Motetten CD: Studio SM D2639 SM 44, 1997

References

1. C. van Zwol, p. 709
2. Gesamtausgabe – Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke

Sources

• 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

External links

• Ave Regina WAB 8 Critical discography by Hans Roelofs (German)