On his 195th birthday the opening event of the Bruckner Festival 2019 traces the sources of the symphony in the Parish Church Ansfelden, which is located next to Bruckner´s childhood home. The sacred music of the St. Florian Regens Chori Franz Joseph Aumann shows where the roots of Bruckner´s symphonic thinking lie.
The way the Viennese Court Kapellmaster Antonio Caldara used operas or oratorios as overtures to symphonies was recognised in the whole empire as exemplary. St.Florian owned copies of these works, which influenced local composers in the early classical period. Joseph Haydn used this oratorio-symphony form in his string quartet arrangement of Preludes and Fugues of Gregor Joseph Werners, his predecessor as Court Kapellmaster to Prince Esterházy.
Aumann´s music, which Bruckner heard regularly during his time in St. Florian, obviously impressed him greatly, as many characteristics of Aumann´s style are to be found in his own work. Here he could study the techniques of counterpoint, symphonic orchestration, and the use of layers of string sound. The fact that Bruckner added trombone parts to two of Aumann´s choruses, is evidence of the high regard he had for these works later in life.
The Bruckner Museum next to the parish church Ansfelden will be open 2 hours before the concert begins. Interested parties can discover the life and music of Anton Bruckner there.
Antonio Caldara (1670–1736)
Sinfonia from Azione sacra La morte d’Abel (1732)
Gregor Joseph Werner (1693–1766)
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Prelude and Fugue Nr. 4 c-moll, aus: VI Fugen in Quartetten (1804)
Franz Joseph Aumann (1728–1797)
Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)
„Ecce quomodo moritur iustus“, WAB 302 (1878)
„Tenebrae factae sunt“, WAB 306 (1878)
Franz Joseph Aumann
Te Deum B-Dur, DorA XI.5 (o. J.)
– Pause –
Antonio Caldara
Sinfonia from Azione sacra La passione di Gesù Cristo signor nostro (1730)
Franz Joseph Aumann
Missa Sancti Xavery C-Dur, DorA I.1 (1753)
Christian Ziemski | Sopran
Alois Mühlbacher | Alt
Markus Miesenberger | Tenor
Markus Schulz | Bass
St. Florianer Sängerknaben & Männerchor
Franz Farnberger | Chorleiter
Ars Antiqua Austria
Gunar Letzbor | Violine & Leitung
