Bruckner composed these four motetsA.M.D.G. in 1846 at the beginning of his stay at St. Florian Abbey. The original manuscript, which was stored in the archive of Neuer Dom of Linz, was lost in the process. Voice scores can still be found in the archive of the St. Florian Abbey.[1]
In 1888, Bruckner revised these four settings, as well as the next setting in D major.[2] The revised version of the five Tantum ergo was published first by Johann Groß, Innsbruck in 1893. In this first edition the ordering for the 4 compositions was deviating from the original ordering by the composer. The WAB ordering, which is based on this first edition, deviates also from the original ordering by the composer.[2]
The 1846 and 1888 versions are put in Band XXI/12 and 37 of the Gesamtausgabe respectively.[3]
The works are scored for SATB choir and organ ad lib. The first setting, in B-flat major (WAB 41.3) is 25-bar long. The three other settings in A-flat major (WAB 41.4), E-flat major (WAB 41.1), and C major (WAB 41.2), are 24-bar long. Afterwards a 2- (3-)bar Amen was added to the settings.[1]
In the 1888 version the settings are score for mixed choir a cappella. In the setting in E-flat major the Dresdner Amen is used on "ritui" (bars 15-16).[4]
Max Auer, Anton Bruckner als Kirchenmusiker, G. Bosse, Regensburg, 1927
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. ISBN978-90-6868-590-9
