Sternschnuppen, WAB 85

Sternschnuppen, WAB 73, is a song, which Anton Bruckner composed for his own men's voice quartet in during his stay in the Sankt Florian.

History

Bruckner composed the song on a text of Ernst Marinelli in. He dedicated it to his own men's voice quartet, which was composed of Ludwig Ehrenecker, Franz Schäfler, Johann Nepomuk Hueber and himself. It is not known when the piece was first performed.
The original manuscript is stored in the archive of the St. Florian Abbey.
The piece was first published in band II/2, pp. 94-96 of the Göllerich/Auer biography. It was thereafter issued in 1954, together with Ständchen, in the Chorblattreihe of Robitschek, Vienna.
The piece is issued in Band XXIII/2, No. 5 of the Gesamtausgabe.

Text

Sternschnuppen is using a text by Ernst Marinelli.

Music

The 38-bar long work in F major is scored for [SATB|] quartet. In the Göllerich/Auer biography the song is described as follows: Über dem Ganzen liegt die weichliche Romantik der damals beliebten Männerchor-Musik.

Discography

A selection among the few recordings of Sternschnuppen:

Guido Mancusi, Chorus Viennensis, Musik, du himmlisches Gebilde! – CD: ORF CD 73, 1995
Hubert Voigt, Thüringer Männerchor Ars Musica, Weltliches und Geistliches – CD issued by the choir, 2012 live