Nachruf, WAB 81a

Nachruf ("Obituary"), WAB 81a, is a song composed by Anton Bruckner in 1877 in memory of Joseph Seiberl. The song is better known as its 1886 reissue as Trösterin Musik ("Music, the Comforter"), WAB 81b.

History
Bruckner composed the song on a text of Heinrich von der Mattig on 19 October 1877 in memory of his friend Joseph Seiberl, who died on 10 June 1877. The piece was performed nine days later by the Liedertafel Sängerbund in the St. Florian Abbey. The work, of which the original manuscript is stored in the Library of Congress in Washington, was first issued in Band XXIII/2, No. 28a of the Gesamtausgabe.

Trösterin Musik
In 1886 Rudolf Weinwurm asked August Seuffert, editor of the Wiener Zeitung, to write another text to fit to Bruckner's Nachruf. Weinwurm performed the revised setting as Trösterin Musik with the Wiener Akademischer Gesangverein in the Musikvereinsaal on 11 April 1886. The original manuscript is lost. A copy of it is stored in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek. The revised setting, which was first edited by Viktor Keldorfer (Universal Edition) in 1911, is put in Band XXIII/2, No. 28b of the Gesamtausgabe.

Text
Nachruf uses a text by Heinrich von der Mattig.

Trösterin Musik
The second setting as Trösterin Musik uses a text by August Seuffert.

Music
The 51-bar long work in C minor is scored for TTBB choir and organ. The first 30 bars are sung a cappella. The organ is set fortissimo (in organo pleno with pedal) on bar 31 by the text "Drum mag's im Orgelstrome brausen". The song ends a cappella pianissimo on "nun ruh' in Frieden!".

Selected discography
In the original setting as Nachruf the organ accompaniment from bar 31 is meaningful because of the profession of the defunct. In the second setting as Trösterin Musik, the organ accompaniment can, as many performers are doing, be removed without harming the sense of the piece. The second strophe, which is a variant of the first is also often omitted.

Nachruf
There is only one recording with the original text as Nachruf:
 * Łukasz Borowicz, Anton Bruckner: Requiem, RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin – CD: Accentus ACC30474, 2019 - adapted for SATB mixed choir, followed by Trösterin Musik

Trösterin Musik
The first recording of Trösterin Musik was by Willi Schell with the Cronenberger Männerchor in 1956 – 45 rpm: Tonstudio Wolfgang Jakob (Dortmund)

A selection of the about 30 other recordings:
 * Jörg-Peter Weigle, Männerchor des Leipziger Rundfunkchores, In einem kühlen Grunde – LP: Eterna 7 35 209, 1984; reissued in CD: Delta 18 331 – a cappella
 * Robert Shewan, Roberts Wesleyan College Chorale; Thaddeus James Stuart (organ), Choral Works of Anton Bruckner – CD: Albany TROY 063, 1991
 * Michael Gläser, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Leise Töne der Brust – CD: Oehms Classics OC 589, 1993 – a cappella
 * Martin L. Fiala, Männergesang-Verein Sängerlust, Festkonzert – CD: EE-004CD, 1994 – 1 strophe a cappella
 * Guido Mancusi, Chorus Viennensis, Walter Lochmann (organ), Musik, du himmlisches Gebilde! – CD: ORF CD 73, 1995
 * Thomas Kerbl, Männerchorvereinigung Bruckner 08, Philipp Sonntag (organ), Anton Bruckner – Männerchöre – CD: LIVA027, 2008 – 1 strophe