Mass No. 3 (Bruckner)

The Mass No. 3 in F minor, WAB 28, by Anton Bruckner is a setting of the mass ordinary for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra, and organ "ad libitum".
History.
After the 1867 success of his Mass No. 1 in D minor, Bruckner was commissioned "to write a new Mass for the Burgkapelle." Bruckner wrote the first version between Septembers 1867–1868 in Linz (just before his move to Vienna).
The first rehearsals, conducted by Johann Herbeck at the court church, the Augustinerkirche, took place in 1868 or 1869, but "were badly attended by orchestral players" and were "generally unsuccessful." Ultimately, Herbeck found the mass "too long and unsingable." After various delays, the mass was finally premiered on June 16, 1872, at the Augustinerkirche, with Bruckner himself conducting. Herbeck changed his opinion of the piece, claiming to know only two masses: this one and Beethoven's Missa solemnis. Franz Liszt and even Eduard Hanslick praised the piece. A second performance occurred in the "Hofmusikkapelle" on 8 December 1873. The manuscript is archived at the "Österreichische Nationalbibliothek".
After the third performance (30 July 1876), Bruckner made slight revisions on the "Kyrie" and the "Gloria", and in 1877 on the "Credo". He made a further revision on the "Credo" in 1881, in preparation for performances at the Hofkapelle, mainly to address "difficulties of execution", but also to take into account what he had learned from studying Mozart's Requiem, correcting some instances of parallel octaves if not justified by Mozart's example. In some later performances, Bruckner was in the organ loft rather than on the podium.
In a letter to Siegfried Ochs of 14 April 1895, the composer wrote:
Translation: Bruckner is growing old and would very much like to live to hear the F minor [Mass]! Please, please! That would be the climax of my life. But then much is to be different from the score! In the D major of the Credo: "Deum verum de Deo", please, "Organo Pleno"! Spare not on the registers!.In the 1890s Bruckner was still revising the work, but there were very few changes made to the vocal parts after 1868. At a November 1893 performance of this mass, Johannes Brahms "applauded ... so enthusiastically ... that Bruckner personally thanked him."
The composer dedicated the piece to Hofrat Anton Ritter von Imhof-Geißlinghof at "the last minute." Leopold Nowak, however, believed that the piece was actually dedicated to conductor Johann Herbeck.
Versions and editions.
Bruckner make four successive revisions of the work, in 1876, 1877, 1881 and from 1890 to 1893.
The first edition of 1894 contained "numerous spurious performance directions and articulations as well as massive reorchestration, particularly of the winds." Bruckner was angry when he saw it in print, and annotated instances of parallel octaves, which he had eliminated in his own revisions.
In 1944, Robert Haas put out an edition as part of the "Gesamtausgabe", which was superseded by Leopold Nowak's edition of 1960, and again more recently by Paul Hawkshaw's of 2005. These three editors had access to various manuscripts and contemporary copies. Hans Ferdinand Redlich, on the other hand, did not for his Eulenburg edition, and complained of being denied access by Nowak.
In the current "Gesamtausgabe" by Paul Hawkshaw the two versions, which Bruckner considered to be the definitive ones, those of 1883 and 1893, are presented, so that the performers are provided with the opportunity to choose between the two versions.
Setting.
The work is set for choir and soloists, and orchestra (2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B-flat, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in F, 2 horns in B-flat, 2 trumpets in C, alto, tenor and bass trombones, timpani, and strings), and organ "ad libitum".
The organ, present in the Wöss edition, is absent in the Haas edition, and put "ad libitum" in the current "Gesamtausgabe". "The organ serves first of all to accentuate significant passages, in order to increase their sound brightness."
The work is divided into six parts:
Total duration: about 62 minutes
The "Gloria" starts out with the words ""Gloria in excelsis Deo" and the "Credo" with the words "Credo in unum Deum" sung by the whole choir, rather than intoned in Gregorian mode by a soloist, as in Bruckner's previous masses. The setting is more symphonic than that of the Mass No. 1, with a larger contribution of the soloists. Bruckner indicated bars 170–179 of the "Gloria" – a part of the last "Miserere nobis"" – as optional. As yet, these ten bars were recorded by only a few conductors. Whereas the "Gloria" ends with a fugue in all Bruckner's masses, in Mass No. 3, as in his previous "Missa solemnis", the "Credo" also ends with a fugue, a "classical feature". In this fugue the next voice entry is preceded by the acclamation "Credo, credo" sustained by the organ. The theme of the "Agnus Dei" has some reminiscence of that of the "Missa solemnis". The "Dona nobis" resumes the theme of the "Kyrie" in major mode, and recalls the fugue subject of the "Gloria" and the last phrase of the "Credo".
The composition of the Mass in F minor may have been influenced by Schubert's late Mass No. 5 in A flat major and Mass No. 6 in E flat major.
Selected discography.
About 70 recordings of Bruckner's Mass No. 3 have been issued.
The first complete recording of the mass was by Maurice Kessler with the Oberlin Musical Union and the Conservatory Orchestra of Cleveland in 1949. Of the other recordings from the LP era, Eugen Jochum's recording with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir on Deutsche Grammophon, and Karl Forster's with the Berliner Symphoniker and the Chorus of the St. Hedwigs-Kathedrale have been remastered to CD. According to Hans Roelofs, Jochum's and Forster's belong to the better recordings of the mass.
Matthew Best's more recent recording with the Corydon Singers has been critically acclaimed, particularly for Best's not toning down "the Wagnerian element in the gorgeous Benedictus." Franz Anton Krager's 2013 recording with the Houston Symphony Chorus is a good example of substantial pipe organ being used to reinforce the chorus and orchestra tutti sections of the Mass.
Other excellent recordings, according to Hans Roelofs, are that by "i.a." Karl Richter (Schalk first edition), Colin Davis, Heinz Rögner and Franz Welser-Möst, and the more recent recordings by Ricardo Luna, Robin Ticciati and Gerd Schaller.