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TheDresden Amen (Dresdner Amen) is a sequence of seven notes sung by choirs during church services in the German state ofSaxony since the beginning of the 19th century. The motif was first used in, and is particularly associated with, the city ofDresden.
The sequence has been used in various forms by composers since the 19th century.
The Dresden amen was composed byJohann Gottlieb Naumann (1741–1801) for use in the Royal chapel in Dresden. Its popularity spread to other churches, bothCatholic andLutheran, in Saxony. The "Dresden amen" is actually the second and third parts of a threefold amen.
Felix Mendelssohn used the Dresden amen in his fifth symphony, the"Reformation". In the first movement, the theme appears in the strings:
The theme was also used byRichard Wagner, most notably in his last opera,Parsifal. Wagner was aKapellmeister in Dresden from 1842 to 1849, but he would probably have learnt the motif as a boy attending church in Dresden. It was incorporated into one of his earliest operas,Das Liebesverbot, and also appears in the third act ofTannhäuser.
Anton Bruckner used the Dresden amen in several motets (Christus factus estWAB 11,Virga Jesse WAB 52 andVexilla regis WAB 51),[1] the finale of hisFifth Symphony and theadagio of his last symphony, theNinth, whileGustav Mahler incorporated it into the last movement of his first symphony, "Titan".Manuel de Falla quoted from it in his incidental music forCalderón de la Barca'sEl gran teatro del mundo.
Charles Villiers Stanford used a slightly expanded Dresden Amen at the end of hisNunc Dimittis in B-flat, op. 10 (1879).[2]
Alexander Scriabin inserted a theme reminiscent of the Dresden amen in the first movement (Luttes ["Struggles"]) of hisSymphony no. 3.
Eric Ball'stone poemThe Kingdom Triumphant, a musical picture of the first and second coming ofChrist, uses the Dresden amen prior to the presentation of the hymnHelmsley with its associated words "Lo, He comes with clouds descending".
Carl Davis used the Dresden Amen prominently in his score for the sound-added reissue of the 1925 silent filmBen-Hur, particularly in scenes featuring the life of Christ.
John Sanders based hisResponses for Evensong on the Dresden Amen.Igor Stravinsky starts the 3rd movement of the Symphony of Psalms with a shortened version of the Dresden Amen, finishing with a dominant chord on the tonic pedal note.