Unger M.P. Historical Dictionary of Choral Music

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BRUCKNER, ANTON (4 SEPTEMBER 1824–11 OCTOBER 1896).

Austrian composer and organ virtuoso, whose genius revealed itself

only later in life. While taking as its point of departure the formal lega-

cies of previous Austrian composers (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,

Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert) Bruckner’s music in-

corporates the enriched harmonic and orchestral language of Richard

Wagner and Franz Liszt.

Bruckner was born and raised in a rural community outside Linz.

When his father died in 1837 he entered the Augustinian monastery

of St. Florian as a chorister; there he evidently sang and heard much

sacred music by Austrian composers, as well as the secular music

of Schubert. During his three-year stay, he took lessons in singing,

violin, and organ. In 1840 he began a career as a schoolteacher. In

1845, after filling positions elsewhere, he was appointed as an assis-

tant schoolteacher at the monastery of St. Florian, where he gradually

assumed some musical duties and showed increasing promise as a

composer.

In 1856 Bruckner became the permanent organist at the cathedral

in Linz, a city that offered the rural composer a much richer cultural

environment. Thus began a productive period in Bruckner’s career.

During the next years he studied composition with Simon Sechter

of Vienna, who reviewed Bruckner’s techniques thoroughly—from

basic harmony to fugal counterpoint. Evidently insecure about

his abilities, Bruckner subsequently studied with Otto Kitzler, who

introduced the music of Wagner to him. Bruckner regarded this as

the beginning of his true composition period; accordingly, he began

numbering his masses with the Mass in D minor of 1864. In Linz

Bruckner joined the Liedertafel Frohsinn, a choral society, partici-

pating as a singer but also serving two brief stints as conductor, and

writing some compositions for the group.

Bruckner’s mature style period may be dated from the mid-1860s.

In addition to the Mass in D minor, choral works of this time include

the Mass in E minor (1866) and (after hospitalization due to a ner-

vous breakdown) the Mass in F minor (1867–68). Throughout these

years, his interest in the music of Wagner grew.

In 1867 he began looking for a different position; the next year

he was persuaded to succeed Sechter as professor of harmony and

counterpoint at the Vienna Conservatory, where he remained until his

retirement in 1891. He also held positions at the University of Vienna

52 • BRUCKNER, ANTON

(harmony and counterpoint) and St. Anna’s Teacher-Training Col-

lege for women (piano), and the court chapel (organist, among other

duties). Most of Bruckner’s famous motets were written not for this

chapel, however, but for Linz or St. Florian. Though busy with many

official duties in Vienna, Bruckner still found time to compose, turn-

ing now to the writing of symphonies. Having sided with the “music

of the future,” he came under severe attack from conservative oppo-

nents (represented especially by the music critic, Eduard Hanslick),

who held Johannes Brahms as their model. In the 1880s Bruckner’s

music began finding acceptance internationally, and with that his sta-

tus in Vienna also changed; with help from supporters his music also

began appearing in print.

Bruckner’s fervent Roman Catholic faith led him to compose

much Latin sacred music. In addition to the three famous masses

mentioned, works for soloists, choir, and orchestra include Re-

quiem in D minor (1849); Magnificat (1852); Missa solemnis

(1854); Psalm 146 (c. 1854), which calls for double chorus; the

contrapuntally intricate Te Deum (1885), which he considered his

greatest work; and Psalm 150 (1892). Another large work, Psalm

112 (1863), calls for double chorus and orchestra. Most of the 35

smaller sacred choral works are also Latin liturgical pieces, usually

unaccompanied or with organ. There are also approximately 40

small-scale secular works; almost all are for male chorus, and most

are unaccompanied.

While Bruckner’s later choral works with orchestra (including

Helgoland, a secular work of under 15 minutes for male chorus and

orchestra, written in 1893) generally employ his mature symphonic

language, the smaller sacred pieces (and, to some extent, the Mass

in E Minor) emulate the neo-Palestrina style of the Cecilian move-

ment, while employing rich chromatic harmonies.

BRUHNS, NICOLAUS (ADVENT 1665–29 MARCH 1697). North

German violin virtuoso, organist, and composer. A student of Di-

etrich Buxtehude, he worked briefly as violinist and composer in

Copenhagen, where he encountered the Italian style. In 1689 he com-

peted successfully for the organ post at the Stadtkirche in Husum.

Only 12 vocal works are extant: 2 Latin sacred concertos and 10

German works, which may be called cantatas. Four are florid solo

works (three of them for bass voice), the others call for two to four

BRUHNS, NICOLAUS • 53

voices. The accompaniment is often five-part string ensemble (with

two violas or viols after the French style), bassoon, and continuo.

Only one of the works (Erstanden ist der heilige Christ) is chorale-

based throughout (although Hemmt eure Traenenflut includes an

“Amen” section based on the chorale “Christ lag in Todesbanden”).

Noteworthy in these works is their masterful counterpoint and har-

monic invention.

BRUMBY, COLIN (18 JUNE 1933– ). Australian composer who has

emphasized European traditions. Having employed serialism in many

of his early works, he reaffirmed tonality in the 1970s. Anglican and

Catholic choral traditions encountered in his youth have given rise to

many sacred choral works. Compositions include the Stabat mater, a

cantata for S, Mez., T, Bar., SATB, str. qt., wind qt., hp., and timp.

(1965); Gilgamesh, for spkr., SATB, brass, and perc. (1967); Bring out

your Christmas Masks, for S, Mez., T, Bar., SATB, dancers, actors,

orch., and org. (1969); Charlie Bubbles’ Book of Hours, for S, Mez.,

T, Bar., SATB, and orch. (1969); Victimae paschali, for SATB, and str.

orch. (1977); Three Baroque Angels, for SATB and orch. (1978); The

Ballad of Sydney Hospital, for S, Bar., SATB, and orch. (1988); A Spe-

cial Inheritance, for four choirs and orch. (1990); and many others.

BRUMEL, ANTOINE (C. 1460–C. ?1512). French composer who

wrote primarily sacred music. His masses and motets were widely

disseminated; they exemplify the trend of the time toward greater

regularity of rhythm, homogeneity of texture, and concern for text-

setting. Extant are some 15 masses (about half of which rely on a

cantus firmus) plus additional mass movements and about 30 other

liturgical works (motets and Magnificat settings).

BRUNELLE, PHILIP (1 JULY 1943– ). American choral conduc-

tor and organist. For more than four decades he has served as the

organist and choirmaster at Plymouth Church in Minneapolis. He is

also the founder and music director of Vocal Essence (formerly the

Plymouth Music Series), which has stressed innovative programming

since its beginnings in 1969. From 1968 to 1985 he was the director

of Minnesota Opera. A former student of Dominick Argento at the

University of Minnesota, he has been a strong advocate of new music

throughout his career, promoting rarely heard works while commis-

sioning and premiering many new ones.

54 • BRUMBY, COLIN

BUCK, DUDLEY (19 MARCH 1839–6 OCTOBER 1909). Ameri-

can composer and organist, who established the Victorian style of

organ and choral music in the United States. After two years of

study at Trinity College in Hartford, he studied in Germany for

four years, then spent a year in Paris before returning to the U.S.

After touring for some 10 years as an organist, he settled in Boston,

where he lived from 1871 to 1874. There he began writing works

for chorus and orchestra. In 1875 he moved to New York, where

he worked as a church organist and conducted the Brooklyn Apollo

Club, a male chorus. During the 1880s Buck’s secular cantatas

were widely performed. A handful of cantatas for mixed chorus

and orchestra include The Legend of Don Munio, op. 62 (1874); The

Centennial Meditation of Columbia (commissioned for the Centen-

nial Exposition in Philadelphia, 1876); Scenes from the Golden

Legend (1880); and The Light of Asia (1886). Another half-dozen

secular cantatas, for male chorus and small orchestra, include The

Nun of Nidaros, op. 83 (1879); King Olaf’s Christmas (1881); The

Voyage of Columbus (1885); and Paul Revere’s Ride (1898). He

also wrote over 100 anthems, canticles, and hymns for the Episco-

pal Church. Large-scale works include The Forty-Sixth Psalm, for

solo vv., chorus, and orch. (1872), Midnight Service for New Year’s

Eve, for chorus and org. (1880); and Communion Service in C for

chorus and org. He also authored instructional books, including Il-

lustrations in Choir Accompaniment.

BURGUNDIAN SCHOOL. Composers working under the patronage

of the Burgundian court, which resided in the Low Countries after the

early 1400s. The Burgundian court’s chapel and ensemble of minstrels

were famous across Europe. Leading composers associated with the

court included Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, Antoine Bus-

noys, Pierre de la Rue [La Rue], and Alexander Agricola. See also

FRANCO-FLEMISH SCHOOL.

BURLEIGH, HENRY [HARRY] THACKER (2 DECEMBER

1866–12 SEPTEMBER 1949). American composer and singer. He

studied at the National Conservatory of Music in New York, where

he was much influenced by Antonín Dvorˇák, the institution’s direc-

tor. In turn, Dvořák came to appreciate the melodic invention of the

African American spiritual by listening to Burleigh’s performances,

BURLEIGH, HENRY THACKER • 55

and subsequently encouraged his students to make use of this indig-

enous material in their compositions. For 52 years Burleigh served

as a soloist at St. George’s Episcopal Church in New York. Begin-

ning in 1911, he also worked as an editor for Ricordi. Burleigh is

given credit for preserving many of America’s slave songs, mostly

as solo settings. His arrangement of “Deep River” is among the most

famous of them, appearing in his 1916 publication Jubilee Songs of

the United States of America. In 1929 he published Old Songs Hym-

nal, a collection of spirituals arranged simply for use in churches,

homes, and schools.

BURNEY, CHARLES (7 APRIL 1726–12 APRIL 1814). Celebrated

English music historian and occasional composer who traveled

widely in Europe, gathering material for his General History of Mu-

sic, which appeared in four volumes (1776–89), the fourth volume

of which treats George Frideric Handel extensively. Prior to the

release of the History some of his material was published in diary

form as The Present State of Music in France and Italy, or the Jour-

nal of a Tour . . . (1771) and The Present State of Music in Germany,

the Netherlands, or the Journal of a Tour . . . (1773). In 1785 he

published An Account of the Musical Performances in Westminster

Abbey . . . in Commemoration of Handel.

BUSNOYS [BUSNOIS], ANTOINE (C. 1430–BEFORE 6 NO-

VEMBER 1492). French composer, singer, and poet, who worked

in Tours (where he no doubt met Jean de Ockeghem) and at the

Burgundian court of Charles the Bold. After Charles’s death he

served Mary of Burgundy (daughter of Charles) and her husband,

Maximilian of Austria. His extant vocal ensemble works include 2

four-voice masses, a dozen motets and other sacred works, and more

than 60 secular pieces for three or four voices (most in the form of

rondeau or virelai). His writing shows a gift for melody (the voice

lines tend to be long, wide in range, and often rhythmically complex),

and a preference for syncopation, sequence, imitation throughout the

texture, and triadic harmony.

BUSTO, JAVIER (13 NOVEMBER 1949– ). Spanish choral com-

poser and conductor. Educated as a medical doctor and self-taught

as a musician, he has won first-place awards at international choral

56 • BURNEY, CHARLES

competitions and has published his choral works in several countries.

Most of his 200-plus choral pieces are generally small in scale and

eclectic in style, often employing the more accessible of modern

procedures; among his best-known works is a simple setting of Ave

Maria (1980), which employs “added-note” chords. Larger works in-

clude Magnificat, for SSAATTBB (1991), and Missa pro Defunctis,

for S, Bar., SATB, and cl. (1997).

BUXTEHUDE, DIETRICH (C. 1637–9 MAY 1707). German or

Danish organist and composer who succeeded Franz Tunder as

organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck (1668), a post that appar-

ently allowed him considerable latitude in his activities. He reor-

ganized concerts at the church, called Abendmusiken, increasing

their popularity and his renown, so that Johann Sebastian Bach

is reported to have traveled on foot in 1705 from Arnstadt (over

200 miles) to hear him. The concerts fell outside Buxtehude’s of-

ficial church duties and, after he introduced sacred dramatic works

in 1678, they were apparently regarded as equivalent to opera

performances.

Although Buxtehude’s fame rests primarily on his organ music

(and the influence it had on Bach), he also wrote much vocal mu-

sic, which ranges widely in style, instrumentation, type of text, and

length. Only a handful of secular works survive. Of approximately

115 surviving sacred vocal works, most have German texts; only

about a quarter employ Latin texts. Their scoring ranges from one

voice accompanied by a single instrument (Jubilate Domino, omnis

terra; Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied) to six choirs plus orchestra

(Benedicam Dominum). Almost a third are pieces for solo voice (usu-

ally soprano); another third call for three voices (SSB, SAB, ATB).

One of the most familiar of these is In dulci jubilo, for SAB, 2 vn.,

cello ad lib., and continuo. Well-known examples for four voices are

Jesu meine Freude and Das neugeborne Kindelein.

Often Buxtehude combined movements of different types (most

often sacred concertos for prose texts and arias for poetic texts)

to form composite works that we now call cantatas. Though his

chorale settings may well have served the same liturgical function

as a cantata, they seldom incorporate arias or concerto movements;

for this reason some scholars may prefer to call them motets. His

BUXTEHUDE, DIETRICH • 57

oratorios (performed as Abendmusiken) are all lost, although three

libretti still exist. They reveal that these works included choruses,

recitatives, strophic arias, and chorale settings.

BYRD, WILLIAM (C. 1540–4 JULY 1623). Foremost English

composer of the Elizabethan era. A staunch Roman Catholic living

through the religious turbulence of 16th-century England, Byrd wrote

English anthems, responses, and services for the Chapel Royal

during the reign of Elizabeth I, as well as Latin motets and liturgical

music, much of it, presumably, for secret services in the homes of

Catholic gentry. He also wrote masterful keyboard music. Although

he lived to experience the new musical fashions of the Baroque era,

he continued to write in the imitative style of the Renaissance, a style

in which he was unsurpassed by English contemporaries. A student

of Thomas Tallis, and probably a singer in the Chapel Royal dur-

ing the reign of Mary Tudor (a Catholic), he left London some time

before 1563, when he was appointed organist and choirmaster at

Lincoln Cathedral. (His move from London may have occurred as

early as 1558, when Elizabeth I, a Protestant, came to the throne.)

Byrd returned to London sometime before February 1572, when he

was sworn in as a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal. There he shared

organ duties with Tallis. It is evident that he already had a fine repu-

tation as a composer by this time, for Lincoln Cathedral continued to

pay him a partial salary on the condition that he would periodically

send compositions. Presumably many of Byrd’s anthems and other

Anglican pieces were performed in the Chapel Royal. Among these

works are the Short Service (for four to six voices), the Great Service

(five to 10 voices), two other services, some preces, and a litany.

In London, Byrd gained influential patrons, many of them Catholics.

In 1575 Elizabeth I granted Byrd and Tallis an exclusive license to

print music and music paper. They issued their first volume the same

year: Cantiones, quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur, a collection of

34 motets for five to eight voices in partbook format (17 works by each

composer), dedicated to the queen in the 17th year of her reign. These

works were the first Latin motets to be printed in England.

Many of Byrd’s motets are long. Although they demonstrate a sen-

sitivity to the text, they typically avoid madrigalisms. The texts are

usually not liturgical; instead they were apparently chosen to address

the plight of Catholics in England. Since the collection was dedicated

58 • BYRD, WILLIAM

to the queen it is likely that—despite their Latin texts—at least some

of them were performed in the Chapel Royal.

During the 1580s, when persecution of Catholics in England grew,

Byrd wrote an increasing number Latin motets for domestic Catholic

gatherings. In 1589, after the death of Tallis, Byrd published a sec-

ond volume of such works, for five voices (Liber primus sacrarum

cantionum). He issued a third volume (Liber secundus sacrarum

cantionum) for five and six voices, in 1591. Many of the texts deal

with captivity and liberty (e.g., the Babylonian captivity) in fairly

transparent allusion to the religious persecution experienced by

Catholics at the time.

Perhaps tiring of recurring religious antagonism, Byrd moved away

from London in the early 1590s. Evidently he was still protected by

the queen, for he published a significant amount of music for the

Catholic liturgy. Included were three masses (for three, four, and five

voices). He followed these with two books of Gradualia (3–5 vv.,

1605; 4–6 vv., 1607), musical settings of the propers for the ecclesi-

astical year. In these works Byrd adopted a concise, classical style that

avoided the overt expressiveness or grandiosity of some of his earlier

motets, particularly those with penitential or lamenting texts.

Byrd’s English publications include Psalmes, Sonets and Songs

(1587), comprising pieces that had evidently originated as solo

songs with accompanying instrumental lines. The accompaniments

were now fitted with words for five-part ensemble singing. One of

the pieces—a lullaby—grew so famous that the entire volume be-

came known as Byrd’s Lullabys. To this volume Byrd added Songs

of Sundrie Natures (1589), which contained new works as well as

some converted consort songs, for three to six voice parts. In his

last songbook, Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets (1611), Byrd included

anthems (of both full and verse type), six-part consort songs, and

polyphonic pieces for three to five voices that approach the mad-

rigal in style.

In general, Byrd’s music is sober and refined in style. While it does

not follow the madrigalian trends of its day, it is nevertheless expres-

sive. In its formal construction it is unsurpassed. As a composer,

Byrd exerted great influence. His pupils included Thomas Morley,

Thomas Tomkins, and possibly Thomas Weelkes, among others.

After his death, some of his Anglican service music continued in use

uninterrupted; only later did the Latin works regain recognition.

BYRD, WILLIAM • 59

60 • CACCIA

– C –

CACCIA. Italian poetic and musical form of the 1300s and 1400s.

During the 14th century, it consisted usually of two canonic voice

parts with text, accompanied by an untexted tenor line (which was

presumably played by an instrument). The caccia might conclude

with a shorter ritornello, which was not necessarily canonic.

CACCINI, GIULIO ROMOLO [GIULIO ROMANO] (BORN 8

OCTOBER 1551; BURIED 10 DECEMBER 1618). Italian com-

poser, singer, and instrumentalist, remembered for his contribution

to the invention of Baroque monody and for his documentation of

how the vocal lines might be ornamented. Among works for multiple

voices are some madrigals, mostly for four voices.

CALDARA, ANTONIO (?1671–28 DECEMBER 1736). Italian

composer who lived in various Italian centers (but especially Venice)

until he was hired in 1716 as music director at the court of the Holy

Roman Emperor in Vienna. A prolific composer who composed

many cantatas and oratorios, he also wrote much liturgical music

for the Viennese court, including more than 100 masses or mass sec-

tions (which range widely in length and complexity), motets, psalm

settings, offertories, Te Deum settings, and a Magnificat (adapted

by Johann Sebastian Bach for his own use). Also extant are 13

madrigals for four or five voices with continuo, and about 500

canons. His compositions (especially the sacred works of his Vien-

nese period) demonstrate contrapuntal skill, sensitivity to text, and

imaginative use of expressive devices.

CAMPRA, ANDRÉ (BAPTIZED 4 DECEMBER 1660; DIED 29

JUNE 1744). French composer, known especially for opéra-ballet

but also significant for his sacred choral works. In 1694, after sev-

eral church music positions elsewhere, he became director of music

at Notre Dame Cathedral (Paris). Despite his ecclesiastical duties,

he focused increasingly on music for the stage (publishing several

theatrical works anonymously), and soon left Notre Dame to devote

his attention to opera (1700). In 1723 he was appointed to the royal

chapel. There he composed motets for “grand choir”—characterized

by grand homophonic choruses, fugues, virtuosic solos, and imagi-

native orchestration.

CANTATA • 61

Campra’s extant works for vocal ensemble include five books of

petits motets involving one to three voices with continuo and some-

times other instruments (those of books 3 to 5 are in a consciously

more Italian style), a mass for four voices, some psalm settings for

“grand choir,” all of the foregoing published in his lifetime, in addi-

tion to 45-plus motets (most for “grand choir”) and two masses (one

of them a requiem) left in manuscript.

CANON. A composition or passage of music in which a melody is

imitated by one or more voices at a fixed interval of pitch and time.

In mensuration canons the note values of subsequent statements are

lengthened or shortened proportionally. In more complex canons,

the material may be treated to melodic inversion, reverse motion,

in which the melodic material is read back to front (also called ret-

rograde or crab motion, cancrizans), or a combination of the two

(producing a “mirror” canon). Simple canons at the unison are called

rounds. During the 1600s vocal rounds of the type known as catches

were very popular in England.

CANTATA. A work for one or more voices with independent instru-

mental accompaniment, usually in discrete sections or movements. It

was one of the most popular vocal forms in the Baroque—particu-

larly in Italy, where it originated (and was cultivated) as a secular

genre intended for unstaged performances in aristocratic chamber

settings. The early cantata was modest, usually comprising two

recitative-aria pairs accompanied by continuo. By the 1700s the

cantata had developed into a composite vocal form in operatic style

with orchestral accompaniment, comprising multiple contrasting

movements such as recitatives, arias, duets, and (in the case of the

German church cantata) choruses. The most famous composer of

Italian cantatas was Alessandro Scarlatti of Naples.

Occasionally Italian composers wrote sacred cantatas, but these

were not performed as part of the liturgy. In Germany, however, the

cantata was adapted for sacred use in the Lutheran liturgy, and it

subsumed musical elements already present in the service, in particu-

lar, the concerted motet (i.e., a motet with instrumental parts) and the

chorale. Defined functionally rather than structurally or stylistically,

the German church cantata originally went by a variety of names

including Concerto, Motetto concertato, Corale concertato, Psalm,

Ode, Aria, Dialogo, Actus musicus, Actus funebris, Actus tragicus,