Mass in D-minor (WAB 26) - A. Bruckner

Bruckner's first mass composition was actually to be performed for the emperor's birthday on 18 August 1864 - but it was finished too late. It was then premiered on 20 November in the Old Cathedral in Linz and, due to its great success, a performance followed on 18 December in a secular venue: In the Linz Redoutensaal. As there was no organ in this concert hall, Bruckner had to transfer an organ solo to two clarinets and two bassoons.

Bruckner is not a romantic - he merely makes full use of the musical means (harmonisation and instrumentation) and thus fulfils the "romantic requirement". For unlike the other composers of his time, he composed from the deepest faith. Eduard Liszt once said of Bruckner that he was a "minstrel of the Godhead", for his works were professions of faith which even led to his dedicating his last symphony "to the dear God" as an old man - with the additional remark "if He will accept it".

After the successful premiere, he received great praise from all sides. The Wiener Zeitung spoke highly of his Mass and his contemporaries henceforth respected him as a composer of exceptional standing. Even the bishop later explained to Bruckner that he had not been able to preach during the mass because the work had interested and gripped him so much. The most valuable gift for Bruckner, however, was probably that of the government official Mayfeld, an extremely highly educated man and a great lover of music: he honoured Bruckner with a laurel wreath, the ribbon of which bore the inscription: "From the Godhead once proceeded, art must lead to the Godhead again" - this wreath subsequently hung over Bruckner's bed until his death.

In the summer of 1876, after a successful recovery from a nervous illness, Bruckner made rhythmic improvements to his three masses (D minor, E minor, F minor). This resulted in the final version, to which only minor corrections were made later. The work appeared in print for the first time in 1892. This version remains valid to this day.

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

Anton Bruckner did not have it easy. Throughout his life, the Austrian composer was plagued by self-doubt. Anton Bruckner came from a simple, rural background. After the death of his father, he was accepted as a choirboy at the monastery of Sankt Florian in 1837. After several years as a school assistant and self-taught organ and piano studies, he first worked as organist in Sankt Florian, then from 1855 as cathedral organist in Linz. Introduced to music theory and instrumentation by Simon Sechter and Otto Kitzler, he discovered Richard Wagner as an artistic role model, whom he admired throughout his life and visited several times in Bayreuth.

In 1868 Anton Bruckner became professor of basso continuo, counterpoint and organ at the Vienna Conservatory, ten years later court organist, and finally in 1891 honorary doctor of the University of Vienna. He was considered an important organ virtuoso of an era, but had to wait a long time for recognition as a composer. It was not until the "Symphony No.7, E major", composed between 1881 and 1883, with the famous "Adagio" written under the impression of Wagner's death, that the hoped-for recognition came, even if he did not want to accept it in view of his tendency to scepticism and self-criticism.

Anton Bruckner was a loner who did not want to follow any school or doctrine. He composed numerous sacred vocal works such as his three masses, the "Missa Solemnis in B flat minor" (1854), the "Te Deum" (1881-84) and numerous motets. As a symphonist, he wrote a total of nine symphonies and many symphonic studies from 1863 onwards, tending to revise finished versions several times. Bruckner's orchestral works were long considered unplayable, but were merely unusually bold for the tonal language of their time, uniting traditions from Beethoven to Wagner to folk music, sound monuments on the border of late Romanticism and modernism.

Requiem (op. 48) - G. Fauré

In its original form, composed in 1887/88, the Requiem consisted of only five movements: "Introit" with "Kyrie", "Sanctus", "Pie Jesu", "Agnus Dei" and "In Paradisum"; the instrumentation initially envisaged a pure string orchestra (violin only solo) together with harp, timpani and organ. The work was premiered in this form on 16 January 1888 in the Madeleine in Paris. In the spring of the same year, Fauré added two horns and two trumpets to the orchestra; this version was first performed on 4 May 1888. In 1889-92, the composer arranged the Requiem for chamber orchestra, adding the "Offertorium" (composed around 1889-91) and the "Libera me" (newly arranged around 1890/91), which had already been composed in 1877. This "1893 version" was first performed on 23 January 1893, but did not appear in print until 1994. Fauré himself made a further revision of the Requiem in 1894-99, adding woodwinds and violins and thus creating a version for large orchestra, which was first performed on 12 July 1900 and then appeared in print. This version is the generally performed and well-known final form of the work. Although the composition of the Requiem is closely linked to the deaths of Fauré's parents (1885 and 1887), the composer retrospectively emphasised that the composition was written "without an occasion", "for my own pleasure, if I may say so".

In his requiem mass, Fauré left out the violins to a great extent - in the first version they are only provided as soloists - and thus darkened the timbre of the work considerably, concentrating on the elegiac timbre of the respective divided violas and cellos. Characteristic, however, in contrast to most other Requiem settings, is the complete renunciation of theatrical effects and the strong withdrawal of dynamics; instead, Fauré (like Gounod before him) concentrates on a graceful melodiousness of both the choir and the solos. The structure of the Requiem features some striking innovations: for example, Fauré deleted the "Dies-irae" sequence except for the last verse ("Pie Jesu"), but on the other hand added the "In Paradisum", which was originally heard during the transfer of the corpse from the church to the cemetery. Among the few passages that do not radiate seraphic calm is the striking Introit with its multiple contrasts of powerful orchestral unison and restrained choral response, surprisingly revisited towards the end of the Agnus Dei. The Sanctus, with its harp arpeggios throughout, ethereal violin overtones and gentle, lullaby-like vocal cantilenas, is certainly one of the Requiem's most evocative passages; towards the end of the movement, the 'Hosanna' cries are carried by majestic chords and emphatic horn calls. The concluding "In Paradisum", which is reminiscent of Gounod's "Ave Maria" from afar, is similarly enraptured with its prelude-like triadic breaks in the organ, which are taken up by the harp towards the end and lead to a peaceful, if somewhat cloying, conclusion.

Despite its long genesis, the work is stylistically very uniform. "Even stronger than the charm of the Requiem is the lingering impression of the naïve-mystical, of a vision of death not in the sense of a sombre funeral but of a happy relief, not of a painful transition but of a longing for the afterlife" (Marie-Claire Beltrando-Patier). In part, this renunciation of dramatic and abysmal aspects is rooted in Fauré's compositional style, but it also reflects his personal view of death. The composer wrote to Eugène Ysaye that the piece was "of a gentle character, like myself". The Requiem is Fauré's best-known and most frequently performed work in and outside France; it had a far-reaching effect on the development of French church music and clearly influenced Maurice Duruflé, for example. Its relative ease of performance makes it accessible even to amateur choirs.

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

The son of a school headmaster, he grew up not far from Carcassonne at the foot of the Pyrenees. At the age of eight, he was already playing the piano excellently and the following year was accepted at Louis Niedermeyer's Paris school of church music. After Niedermeyer's death, the young Fauré was taken on by Camille Saint-Saëns, 10 years his senior, from 1861. This friendship was to last all their lives. Fauré took part in the Franco-German War of 1870/71 as a courier for an infantry regiment. After his return home in 1871, he was one of the founding members of the Société Nationale de Musique.

Fauré worked as an organist in Rennes and Paris, but was still only able to keep his head above water by working with choirs and teaching piano. When he appeared in the Parisian salons in the evenings, he attracted much admiration as a brilliant improviser on the piano and by his pleasant appearance. In 1892, he was appointed inspector of music education, and in 1896 he was entrusted with the great organ at the Madeleine. In the same year he took up a professorship in composition at the Conservatoire de Paris and from 1901 he taught at the École Niedermeyer. He was director of the Conservatoire from 1905 to 1920, during which time he thoroughly modernised the curriculum. From 1903, Fauré wrote regularly about music in the renowned daily newspaper Le Figaro. In 1920 he received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour.

After an unhappy engagement around 1877, Fauré married Marie Fremiet, the daughter of a sculptor, in 1883. This marriage, which produced two sons, was unfortunately unhappy. Around 1900, Fauré fell in love with the 24-year-old pianist Marguerite Hasselmans. This relationship was not concealed, but neither was it legalised by marriage; it lasted until Fauré's death.

If, compared to his contemporary Claude Debussy or his descendant Maurice Ravel, he is not very present in international musical life, it is probably due to stylistic and historical reasons, as well as the fact that he left behind hardly any works with large orchestras. Even his high-profile Requiem was originally written for a meagre instrumentation. The main exception is his music for the play Prométhée, written after Aeschylus. The premiere took place in 1900 in the bullring of Béziers, so to speak in Fauré's south-western French homeland. Several hundred singers and instrumentalists were involved, including 30 trumpeters alone. Fauré managed this "effortlessly", writes R. Crichton. The music showed none of his usual restraint.

According to most connoisseurs, Fauré found the peak of his creativity in vocal music, especially in his piano songs. It is interesting that some of his songs, such as Après un rêve, are known outside France mainly in instrumental arrangements (e.g. for cello and piano). Fauré also wrote chamber music (two piano quartets, piano quintets, violin sonatas, cello sonatas) and piano music.

Gabriel Fauré died of pneumonia in Paris in 1924 at the age of 79. During the funeral in the Madeleine, the composer's Requiem was also performed. He was buried at the Cimetière de Passy.