Helgoland is a secular cantata by Anton Bruckner for large orchestra and male choir in the key of G minor, assigned the catalogue number WAB 71. The average performance duration ranges from 12 minutes to 15 minutes. The orchestra is composed of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbal and strings. Since Bruckner did not complete the 9th symphony, Helgoland is his last complete work.
Helgo...
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Helgoland is a secular cantata by Anton Bruckner for large orchestra and male choir in the key of G minor, assigned the catalogue number WAB 71. The average performance duration ranges from 12 minutes to 15 minutes. The orchestra is composed of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbal and strings. Since Bruckner did not complete the 9th symphony, Helgoland is his last complete work.
Helgoland was composed in 1893 for the Men's Choir of Vienna to celebrate its 50th birthday. It is not known if Bruckner chose the subject of the work, or if he yielded on this point to satisfy the order. The sung text is a poem of August Silberstein (Bruckner had already put the work of this author to music with Germanenzug in 1864): the Saxon people of the island of Heligoland are threatened by the invasion of the Romans, but divine intervention saves them. The piece is full of strength and enthusiasm, and—even more than his other works—carries...
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