Locus iste - Anton Bruckner

Background

• Motet (typically a work with Latin text, sung unaccompanied, intended for a specific occasion, and not part of the Mass)
• Composed in 1869 and therefore a Romantic-era work, although in this case, Bruckner adopted a relatively austure approach associated with the 19th century Cecilian movement

Rhythm

• Spacious 4/4
• Limited selection of note lengths, including some dotted rhythms
• Effective use of silence (bar 43)

Melody and word-setting

• Syllabic, except for melisma at bars 40-41
• Stepwise descent at the opening
• Leaps of up to a 7th in soprano and an octave in bass
• Range of soprano and bass each spans 11th
• Inner parts have a narrower range
• Phrases are balanced (often two bars)
• Some use of sequence, chromatism and appogiaturas

Harmony

• Functional with perfect, imperfect and Phrygian cadences
• Also uses 7ths in various inversions
• Diminished 7th
• Suspensions

Tonality

• C major with modulation to:
• Dominant - G (bar 6)
• D minor (bar 16)
• E minor (bar 20)
• The passage from bar 21 to 29 is tonally ambiguous because of the chromaticism

Structure

• Ternary with coda
• Notice that the passage from bars 12-20 is omitted on the reprise

Resources/Texture

• Four-part a cappella (unaccompanied) voices
• Starts with homophony
• At bars 12-13, soprano imitates bass
• Only the three uppermost voices are used in the central passage (bars 21-29)
• In this passage, there is imitation by inversion (compare tenor and soprano)