Sancta Maria, mater Dei,
Ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.
Graduale: Os justi
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
Pray for us sinners,
Now and in the hour of our death.
Amen.
Anton Bruckner
The text of Os justi comes from Psalm 37: 30-31. This four-part setting
was completed in 1879 and dedicated to Ignaz Traumihler, who was
music director at St. Florian Monastery. Bruckner was admitted to the
abbey as a choirboy when his father died. Later he became organist at
St Florian and indeed it is the place where his music career began and
ended. One of the two organs at the Monastery was named after him as
the Bruckner Organ, and upon his death in 1896, he was buried beneath
the organ.
For Traumihler, who was a fervent supporter of the Cecilian Movement,
composing music in the style of Palestrina, Bruckner created an
extraordinary motet in the Lydian mode, which achieves striking
harmonic effects without ever using a single sharp or flat note. The
work is in an ABA’ structure, with similar music to set the Os justi and
Lex Dei segments. It concludes with a renaissance plainchant Alleluja
in unison.
Os justi meditabitur sapientiam:
The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
et lingua ejus loquetur judicium.
and his tongue speaks what is just.
Lex Dei ejus in corde ipsius:
The law of his God is in his heart:
et non supplantabuntur gressus ejus. and his feet do not falter.
Alleluia.
Alleluia.
Inveni David servum meum,
I have found David, my servant;
oleo sancto meo unxi eum.
I have anointed him with my holy oil.
Alleluia.
Alleluia.
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