Abendlied (evening song) josef rheinberger composer

Abendlied (Evening song), Op. 69/3, is a sacred motet by Josef Rheinberger for a six-part mixed choir (SSATTB).

It has been regarded as his best-known sacred composition.^[1] He wrote the first version in 1855 at the age of 15.

The text is a verse from the biblical narration of the Road to Emmaus appearance according to Luke 24:29 in Martin Luther's German version of the bible:

Bleib bei uns,
denn es will Abend werden,
und der Tag hat sich geneiget.

Abendlied (evening song) josef rheinberger composer youtube

Rheinberger wrote a first version on 9 March 1855, one month before Easter and two weeks before his 16th birthday. At age 24, he revised the motet, for example eliminating repetition of notes and changing the marking.

He published it in 1873 by N. Simrock in Berlin as No. 3 of his Opus 69, Drei geistliche Gesänge für gemischten Chor (Three sacred songs for mixed choir, the others being Morgenlied (morning song), on a poem by Hoffmann von Fallersleben, and Dein sind die Himmel (Yours are