These two Aequali for three trombones are really works of Bruckner’s youth, for he was only 22 years old when he composed them for the funeral of his great-aunt in January 1847. He was at that time a school assistant at the St Florian Monastery near Linz. In spite of the pieces’ early date, the romantic, expressive harmonies of the two brief Aequale already reveal the “true” Bruckner, and look forwards to the chorale-like trombone passages in his later symphonies. Together with Beethoven’s Three Equali for four trombones WoO 30 (HN 1151) they are among the classics of the trombone repertoire. This Henle Urtext edition is based on the autograph sources in the monastery libraries of St Florian and Seitenstetten. The bass trombone part for the second Aequale is no longer extant, so we here offer a suggested reconstruction to enable the work to be performed.
Content/Details
- Aequale c minor WAB 114
- Aequale c minor WAB 149
Youtube
Preface
Anton Bruckner (1824 – 96) composed the two Aequali for three trombones in 1847 during his time as assistant teacher and organist at St. Florian Monastery near Linz. Bruckner scholars believe that the work was composed on the occasion of the funeral of Bruckner’s great- aunt and godmother Rosalia Mayrhofer on 28 January 1847. Within the Catholic burial ritual, the … more
Critical Commentary
About the authors
Dominik Rahmer (Editor)
Dr. Dominik Rahmer, born in 1971 in Mainz, studied musicology, philosophy and maths in Bonn. He did his Magister Artium in 1999 and his doctorate in 2006 with a thesis on the music criticism of Paul Dukas.
From 2001 to 2011 he was employed at Boosey & Hawkes/Bote & Bock in Berlin, where he also worked on the Critical Edition of the Works of Jacques Offenbach (OEK). Since 2011 he has been an editor at G. Henle Publishers in Munich, with a particular focus on French and Russian music and works for wind instruments.