Tantum ergo, WAB 44

For the other settings of the same text by the composer, see Tantum ergo, WAB 32; Tantum ergo, WAB 43; Four Tantum ergo, WAB 41; and Tantum ergo, WAB 42.

Tantum ergo ("Let us raise"), WAB 44, is the last of eight settings of the hymn Tantum ergo composed by Anton Bruckner in c. 1854.

Tantum ergo
Motet by Anton Bruckner
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
Key	B-flat major
Catalogue	WAB 44
Form	Hymn
Text	Tantum ergo
Language	Latin
Composed	c. 1854: St. Florian
Published	1932 (1932): Regensburg
Vocal	SATB choir
Instrumental	2 violins, 2 trumpets, organ

History

Bruckner composed the motet in c. 1854 during his stay in St. Florian Abbey. The original manuscript is lost. An autograph voice score is stored in the archive of the abbey.^[1]

The motet was first published in band II/2, pp. 256–258 of the Göllerich/Auer biography.^[1] It is put in Band XXI/18 of the Gesamtausgabe.^[2]

Music

The work of 29 bars in B-flat major, as edited in the current Gesamtausgabe,^[2] is scored for SATB choir, 2 violins, 2 trumpets and organ.^[1]

On 25 June 2017 a new edition of the score by Cohrs, prepared for the Anton Bruckner Urtext Gesamtausgabe,^[3] with "reconstructed parts " of viola, cello and contrabass, and adding of timpani has been premiered by Łukasz Borowicz with the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.^[4]

Discography

There are only three recordings of this last setting of Tantum ergo:

• Richard Proulx, Cathedral Singers and Chamber Orchestra, Rediscoverd Masterpieces – CD: GIA 515, 1998
• Thomas Kerbl, Chorvereinigung Bruckner 09, Anton Bruckner Chöre/Klaviermusik – CD: LIVA 034, 2009
• Łukasz Borowicz, RIAS Kammerchor, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Raphael Alpermann (Organ), Anton Bruckner – Missa solemnis – CD: Accentus ACC 30429, 2017 (Cohrs edition)