Sängerbund, WAB 82

Sängerbund (Singers association), WAB 82, is a patriotic song, which Anton Bruckner composed in 1882.

History
Bruckner composed the song on a text of an unknown author, possibly Heinrich von der Mattig, on 3 February 1882. He dedicated it to August Göllerich senior.

With Buckner's agreement, Karl Kerschbaum, the secretary of the Liedertafel Frohsinn, put another, more generalised text on the score to increase the chance of performances. The piece was first performed by Frohsinn in Wels during the fifth Oberösterreichisch-Salzburgisches Sängerbundfest (feast of the singers associations from Upper Austria and Salzburg) on 10 June 1883.

The song was a favourite of the Liedertafel Frohsinn, which performed it again in Passau in September 1890. As homage to their honorary chairman, Frohsinn performed the song on 4 September 1894 for celebrating Bruckner's 70th birthday.

The piece, of which the original manuscript is stored in the archive of the Liedertafel Frohsinn, was published first in 1911 by Viktor Keldorfer (Universal Edition) with Kerschbaum's text. It is issued with both texts in Band XXIII/2, No. 31 of the Gesamtausgabe.

Lyrics
The original manuscript of Sängerbund was using lyrics of an unknown author, possibly Heinrich von der Mattig. The song was later edited with a revised lyrics by Karl Kerschbaum:

Music
The 79-bar long work in C major is scored for TTBB choir.

The first strophe begins as a fanfare and evolves via a series of sixth chords to the ending tonic chord. The second strophe begins similarly and evolves from A major via a sixth chord of F minor to the same end as the first strophe.

Discography
Sängerbund (with Karl Kerschbaum's text) was recorded three times by Attila Nagy with the Universitätssängerschaft 'Barden zu Wien' in 1996 (100th anniversary of Bruckner's death):
 * on 18 May 1996: Anton Bruckner und seine Zeit – CD: disc-lazarus DL-USB 8B
 * on 7 June 1996: Bruckner-Festabend anlässlich des 100. Todestages von Ehrenmitglied Anton Bruckner – CD: disc-lazarus DL-USB 8C
 * on 26 October 1996: Konzert im Brucknerjahr – CD: disc-lazarus DL-USB 8D