Locus Iste BRUCKNER

About Bruckner  Born in 1824  Received his training as a chorister at the Augustinian monastery of St. Florian, eventually began training choristers.  From 1855 he was the organist at Linz Cathedral, and moved to Vienna in 1868 as Professor of Harmony and Counterpoint at the Conservatory.  Composed nine symphonies and many large-scale church works

Locus Iste  Composed in August 1869 after Bruckner had moved to Vienna  First performance took place in Linz Cathedral on 29 th October

Performing Forces  Scored for unaccompanied four-part choir  In your scores, find the ranges of each voice  Soprano – b to g’’  Alto – g to b’  Tenor – c to e’  Bass – F to c’  Comment on the dynamics of the piece  Large dynamic range (pp – ff)  Sudden changes in dynamics at various places

Texture  Give an overall texture for the piece  Four-part chordal (Homophonic) texture  Find the following textural changes in the piece:  The bass part often leads ahead of the other voices  Bars. 2, 12 and 16  The texture is reduced to three-parts  Bars  The three-part move in a more homophonic texture as they approach the cadence  Bars

Tonality  Describe the tonality at the beginning of the piece  C Major!  Find these modulations that occur in the piece:  Modulation to G Major, then back to C Major  Phrygian Cadence in D Minor  Phrygian Cadence in E Minor

Harmony  How would you describe the overall harmony of the piece?  Ambiguous  Functional  Dissonant  Harmony is functional, with clearly defined perfect and imperfect cadences

Name the dissonance  What type of dissonance is created with the G in the soprano line?  Appoggiatura  The A, T and B parts form a D chord  The G is the Appoggiatura (dissonance)  It then resolves down to the F# (3 rd of the D chord)

Structure  How many sections do you think the work has?  3  What is a 3 sectioned structure?  Ternary Form  Section A (b.1 – 20)  Section B (b )  Section A adapted (b.30 – 48)

Structure  Section A consists of two subsidiary sections  b. 1 – 12 Locus iste a Deo factus est (This place was made by God)  Two four-bar phrases followed by a further 4 bars (1 + 3 bars), ending with an imperfect cadence  B. 13 – 20 inaestimabile sacramentum (a priceless mystery)  Two four-bar phrases, first ending with a Phrygian cadence in D min, the second the same cadence in E min.

Structure  Section B  b irreprehensibilis est (It is without reproof)  Absence of the bass part. The final four bars lead to an imperfect cadence in C, leading to the final A section  Section A (adapted)  Uses the words from b  Final four-bar phrases has slower moving harmony and a final perfect cadence.

Text Setting & Melody  This composition can be described as a ‘motet’. A sacred polyphonic composition set to Latin text, with or without instrumental accompaniment.  Describe the majority of the text setting with the melody  Syllabic  Find an example of a melismatic passage in the piece  b  The melody writing is mainly diatonic with regular phrase construction

Text Setting & Melody  Find examples for each of the following melodic features:  Descending step-wise line  Opening bars  Disjunct rising lines  b  Rising sequential repetition  b  Descending sequential repetition  b

Rhythm & Metre  Metre?  Simple quadruple time throughout  The rhythmic patterns are dictated by the text-setting  Bruckner shows sensitivity to the natural stresses of the Latin text  He shows this through:  Placing the stronger syllables on the strong beats of the bar and using longer note values at these points.

Rhythm & Metre  The two longer words ‘inaestimabile’ and ‘irreprehensibilis’ are both set to patterns of steady crotchets with a dotted rhythm at the end to break regularity.  Notice in the middle and ending sections that the ends of phrases have longer notes that the normal movement of the rest of the phrase.