Bruckner composed the Messe für den Gründonnerstag, a Choral-MesseinF major (WAB 9) for mixed choir a cappella, in 1844 while he was a schoolteacher's assistant in Kronstorf. Bruckner dedicated the work to A.M.D.G.[1][2]
The work, the manuscript of which is stored in the archive of Wels, was first published in band I, pp. 258–274 of the Göllerich/Auer biography. Thereafter, only the GradualChristus factus est[3] was issued by Anton Böhm & Sohn in 1931,[2] so that the work was listed by Grasberger as Christus factus est, WAB 9.
The full setting of the mass is published in volume XXI/5 of the Gesamtausgabe.[4]
On the front page of Bruckner's manuscript[5] is written:
Vierstimmige Choral-Messe ohne Kyrie und Gloria für den Gründonnerstag
auch mit fug[iertem] Kyr[ie] und Glor[ia] [1]845 comp[oniert]
A.M.D.G. comp[oniert] [1]844, Anton Bruckner
In front of page 3 of the manuscript is written In coena Domini (At the Last Supper)
This Missa brevis exhibits as the previous Kronstorfer Messe relationships to Palestrina's style.[6] It contained originally no KyrieorGloria, but included the GradualChristus factus est and the OffertoryDextera Domini proper for the feast.[7][8][9][10] Only the first part of the Credo is composed, until "descendit de caelis".[1] The Sanctus is a slightly modified version of the Sanctus of the Kronstorfer Messe.[9][11]
As also in the following Missa solemnis, Mass No. 1 and Mass No. 2 the first verse of the Credo is not composed and has to be intoned by the priest in Gregorian mode before the choir is going on.
The extra fugatedKyrie and Gloria, which were composed in 1845, have been lost.[1][2][12]
Dextera Domini fecit virtutem,
Dextera Domini exaltavit me.
Non moriar, sed vivam, et narrabo opera Domini.
The right hand of the Lord hath wrought strength;
The right hand of the Lord has exalted me.
I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.[13]
Joseph Messner created in 1941 a Kyrie and a Gloria and completed the Credo, by using elements of the other parts of the Mass, and added an organ accompaniment ad libitum.[10]
Michael Stenov composed in 2018 a Kyrie and a Gloria, and completed the Credo fragment in Bruckner style. This completion was premiered in the Carmelite church of Linz during the Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday celebrations.[14]
August Göllerich, Anton Bruckner. Ein Lebens- und Schaffens-Bild, c. 1922 – 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
Max Auer, Anton Bruckner. Sein Leben und Werk. Amalthea-Verlag, Vienna, c. 1950
Robert Haas, Anton Bruckner, 2nd print (Reprint der Ausgabe Athenaion, Potsdam, 1934), Laaber Verlag, Regensburg, 1980. ISBN3-9215-1841-5
