(Deliver me), WAB 21, is the first of two settings of the absoute Libera me, composed by Anton Bruckner in .
History Bruckner composed the motet during his stay in Kronstorf. The work was presumably performed at that time.U. Harten, pp. 253-254
The original manuscript is lost, but there are two good copies, one made by Max Auer (Kronstorf, 1903). The motet was first published in band I, pp. 243–248 of the Göllerich/Auer biography.C. van Zwol, pp. 700 It is put in Band XXI/3 of the .Gesamtausgabe - Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke
Music The work is scored in F major for mixed choir and organ. In this youth work, two parts of the responsory are not included: the second "Quando caeli movendi sunt et terra" and the second "Dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem".
Discography There are a few recordings of this first setting of Libera me: Joseph Pancik, Prager Kammerchor, Anton Bruckner: Motetten / Choral-Messe – CD: Orfeo C 327 951 A, 1993 - transcription a cappella with repeat of the first verse Dan-Olof Stenlund, Malmö Kammarkör, Bruckner: Ausgewählte Werke – CD: Malmö Kammarkör MKKCD 051, 2004 Thomas Kerbl, Chorvereinigung Bruckner 09, Anton Bruckner: Chöre/Klaviermusik – CD: LIVA 034, 2009 Łukasz Borowicz, Anton Bruckner: Requiem, RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin – CD: Accentus ACC30474, 2019 - Cohrs edition with revised organ accompaniment and repeat of the first verse Sigvards Klava, Latvian Radio Choir, Bruckner: Latin Motets, 2019 – CD Ondine OD 1362 Christian Erny, The Zurich Chamber Singers, Bruckner Spectrum - CD: Berlin Classics LC06203, 2022
References
Sources August Göllerich, Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild, – posthumous edited by Max Auer by G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1932 Anton Bruckner – Sämtliche Werke, Band XXI: Kleine Kirchenmusikwerke, Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft, Hans Bauernfeind and Leopold Nowak (Editor), Vienna, 1984/2001 Cornelis van Zwol, Anton Bruckner 1824–1896 – Leven en werken, uitg. Thoth, Bussum, Netherlands, 2012. Uwe Harten, Anton Bruckner. Ein Handbuch. Residenz Verlag, Salzburg, 1996. .
External links
Libera me F-Dur, WAB 21 Critical discography by Hans Roelofs Live performance by the Spanish Coro Gaudeamus under the baton of Antonio Peces: Libera me, WAB 21