Locus iste (Bruckner)

Locus iste
Motet by Anton Bruckner
The votive chapel in the Linz Cathedral
Key	C major
Catalogue	WAB 23
Text	Gradual Locus iste
Language	Latin
Performed	29 October 1869 (1869-10-29): Linz
Published	1886 (1886): Vienna
Scoring	SATB choir

Locus iste (English: This place), WAB 23, is a sacred motet composed by Anton Bruckner in 1869. The text is the Latin gradual Locus iste for the annual celebration of a church's dedication. The incipit, Locus iste a Deo factus est, translates to "This place was made by God". Bruckner set it for four unaccompanied voices, intended for the dedication of the Votivkapelle (votive chapel) at the New Cathedral in Linz, Austria, where Bruckner had been a cathedral organist. It was the first motet that Bruckner composed in Vienna. It was published in 1886, together with three other gradual motets.

As a composition with no obvious technical difficulty, it has been performed by church choirs and by professionals, often to celebrate church dedications.

Bruckner composed Locus iste on 11 August 1869. It was intended for the dedication ceremony of the Votivkapelle (votive chapel ()) at the New Cathedral in Linz, Austria. The New Cathedral was under construction since 1862, and the Votivkapelle was completed in 1869 as its first section. At that time Bruckner lived in Vienna, teaching at the Vienna Conservatory as a professor of harmony and counterpoint, and at the Vienna University as a part-time lecturer from 1876. He had a strong connection to the Old Cathedral of Linz, where he had been the organist from 1855 to 1868. He had already been commissioned by Bishop Franz-Josef Rudigier to compose a Festive Cantata for the laying of the foundation stone of the new cathedral, and composed Preiset den Herrn (Praise the Lord) on a text by Maximilian Pammesberger, which was performed on 1 May 1862 on the building site.