Sternschnuppen, WAB 85

Sternschnuppen (Shooting stars), WAB 73, is a song, which Anton Bruckner composed for his own men's voice quartet in c. 1848 during his stay in the Sankt Florian.

History
Bruckner composed the song on a text of Ernst Marinelli in c. 1848. He dedicated it to his own men's voice quartet, which was composed of Ludwig Ehrenecker, Franz Schäfler, Johann Nepomuk Hueber and himself. It is not known when the piece was first performed.

The original manuscript is stored in the archive of the St. Florian Abbey. The piece was first published in band II/2, pp. 94-96 of the Göllerich/Auer biography. It was thereafter issued in 1954, together with Ständchen, in the Chorblattreihe of Robitschek, Vienna. The piece is issued in Band XXIII/2, No. 5 of the Gesamtausgabe.

Text
Sternschnuppen is using a text by Ernst Marinelli.

Music
The 38-bar long work in F major is scored for TTBB quartet. In the Göllerich/Auer biography the song is described as follows: Über dem Ganzen liegt die weichliche Romantik der damals beliebten Männerchor-Musik (On the whole piece rests the softish romanticism of the at that time popular men's choir-music).

Discography
A selection among the few recordings of Sternschnuppen:
 * Guido Mancusi, Chorus Viennensis, Musik, du himmlisches Gebilde! – CD: ORF CD 73, 1995
 * Hubert Voigt, Thüringer Männerchor Ars Musica, Weltliches und Geistliches – CD issued by the choir, 2012 live