Kronstorfer Messe


The Kronstorfer Messe, WAB 146, is a missa brevis composed by Anton Bruckner in 1843-1844.

History

Bruckner composed the Kronstorfer Messe, WAB 146, in 1843-1844, while he was a schoolteacher's assistant in Kronstorf. This Choral-Messe in D minor for mixed choir a cappella was presumably intended for the Lenten season.
The work, the manuscript of which was archived in the St. Florian Monastery, was premiered by Augustinus Franz Kropfreiter on 1 December 1974 in the church of the monastery. The work is put in Band XXI/41 of the Gesamtausgabe.

Setting

The work is divided into four parts:
  1. Kyrie - Adagio, D minor
  2. Sanctus - Adagio, B-flat major
  3. Benedictus - Andante, F major
  4. Agnus Dei - Adagio, F major
Total duration: about 5 minutes.
This Missa brevis, also called Messe ohne Gloria, exhibits relationships to Palestrina's style. The mass survives only in a fragmentary state, without Credo. The manuscript, with, on the front page, an autograph indication "Sine Gloria", contains two blank pages with an autograph indication that they were to contain a Credo in F major.
Alike the contemporaneous Asperges me in F major, the Agnus Dei in F major contains audacious modulations.

Note

The Sanctus is re-used in a slightly modified setting for that of the next Messe für den Gründonnerstag.

Discography

There are two recordings of the Mass: