Helgoland (Bruckner)
| Helgoland | |
|---|---|
| by Anton Bruckner | |
The composer, c. 1890/1895
|
|
| Key | G minor |
| Catalogue | WAB 71 |
| Form | Patriotic cantata |
| Dedication | Men's Choir of Vienna |
| Performed | 8 October 1893: Hofburg Palace, Vienna |
| Published | 1893 (vocal and piano score) |
| Recorded | 1977 – Wyn Morris, Ambrosian Male Voice Chorus and Symphonica of London |
| Movements | 7 |
| Vocal | TTBB choir |
| Instrumental | Orchestra |
Helgoland, WAB 71, is a secular, patriotic cantata for male choir and orchestra, composed by Anton Bruckner in 1893. Since Bruckner did not complete the 9th symphony, Helgoland is his last complete work.
One year earlier, Bruckner had already composed another, shorter patriotic work, Der deutsche Gesang (WAB 63), that was premiered at the First German Academic Song Festival in Salzburg in June 1892.
Helgoland was composed in April 1893 for the Men's Choir of Vienna to celebrate its 50th birthday. The text was written by August Silberstein, who had already provided poems, which Bruckner set to music (Germanenzug in 1864, and Vaterlandslied in 1866).
The setting was a case of interest, as the Frisian island of Heligoland had just been given to Germany in 1890 by Great Britain (in exchange for Zanzibar). Helgoland was conducted on 8 October 1893 by the Men's Choir of Vienna and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Eduard Kremser's baton in the Winterreitschule of the Hofburg Palace.
Bruckner legated the manuscript to the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. The work was first published as vocal and piano reduction score by Cyrill Hynais in 1893. The vocal and orchestral score was posthumously issued by Doblinger, Vienna in 1899. It is put in Band XXII/2 No. 8 of the Gesamtausgabe.
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