Four Motets

Locus iste

Ave maria

Virga Jesse

Os Justi

Beside the Te Deum and the Masses, there are dozens of smaller choral works to sacred texts, most of them written during the course of Bruckner’s duties as organist at Linz Cathedral. After his move to Vienna in 1868 he devoted most of his creative energies to the symphony but still found time to write the occasional, unerringly masterful motet - beginning in 1869 with the exquisite Locus iste. Set in ternary form in C major, with an imitative middle section, it is comparable in the purity of its four-part writing in the outer sections to the chorus of the Priests in Mozart’s Magic Flute.

Bruckner’s second setting of the Ave Maria, written in in Linz in 1861, is a more ambitious score, written in seven parts and centred on a dramatic exclamation of “Jesus” where male and female voices, separated into opposing groups up to this point, are joined in a radiant chord of A major.

For all the splendour of the almost entirely homophonic scoring of the first four lines of Virga Jesse - which, written in Vienna in 1885 was one of the last of Bruckner’s works of this kind - its true climax is surely the extended and peculiarly exuberant “Alleluja” with which it ends.

Os Justi is a singular act of piety. Set entirely in the Lydian mode and dedicated to a leading protagonist of the Cecilian movement in 1879, it is a demonstration of Bruckner’s skill in accommodating himself to the purist requirements of that aesthetic while betraying no hint of self-conscious archaism - until, that is, the plain-song “Alleluja” which offers a severe contrast to the corresponding line of the preceding motet.

Locus iste

Ave maria

Virga Jesse

Os Justi

Beside the Te Deum and the Masses, there are dozens of smaller choral works to sacred texts, most of them written as graduals during the course of Bruckner’s duties as organist at Linz Cathedral. After his move to Vienna in 1868 he devoted most of his creative energies to the symphony but still found time to write the occasional, unerringly masterful motet - beginning in 1869 with the exquisite Locus iste. Set in ternary form in C major, with an imitative middle section, it is comparable in the purity of the part-writing in its outer sections to the “Isis und Osiris” chorus in Mozart’s Magic Flute.

Locus iste a Deo factus est

inaestimabile sacramentum,

irrepehensibilis est.

This place was made by God,

a priceless mystery,

it is without reproof.

Bruckner’s second setting of the Ave Maria, written in in Linz in 1861, is one of the most ambitious of the graduals, written in seven parts and centred on a dramatic exclamation of “Jesus” where male and female voices, separated into opposing groups up to this point, are joined in a radiant chord of A major.

Ave Maria, gratia plena,

Dominum tecum,

benedictus tu in mulieribus

et benedictur fructus ventris tui, Jesus.

SanctaMaria, mater Dei,

or pro nobis peccatoribus

nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.

Amen

Hail Mary, full of grace,

the Lord is with thee,

Blessed are though among women

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus,

Holy Mary, mother of God,

prau for us sinners

now and at the hour of our death.

Amen

For all the splendour of the almost entirely homophonic scoring of the first four lines of Virga Jesse - which, written in Vienna in 1885 was one of the last of Bruckner’s works of this kind - its true climax is surely the extended and peculiarly exuberant “Alleluja” with which it ends.

Virga Jesse floruit,

Virgo Deum et hominem genuit,

pacem Deus reddidit,

in se reconcilians ima summis.

Alleluja.

The rod of Jesse hath blossomed;

a virgin hath brought forth God and man;

God hath restored peace,

reconciling in Himself the lowest with the highest.

Alleluia,

Os Justi is a singular act of piety. Set entirely in the Lydian mode and dedicated to a leading protagonist of the Cecilian movement in 1879, it is a demonstration of Bruckner’s skill in accommodating himself to the requirements of the Gregorian-revivalist aesthetic while betraying no hint of self-conscious archaism - until, that is, the plain-song “Alleluja” which offers a severe contrast to the corresponding line of the preceding motet.

Os justi meditabitur sapientiam,

est lingua ejus loquetur judicium.

Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius

et non supplantabuntur gressus ejus.

Alleluja.

The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom,

and his tongue shall speak judgement.

The law of God is in his heart

and his steps shall not be supplangted.

Alleluia.