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Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896) was an Austrian
composer known primarily for his symphonies, masses, and motets. His symphonies are
often considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because
of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length.
Bruckner's compositions helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to
their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving harmonies.
Unlike other radicals, such as Wagner or Hugo Wolf who fit the enfant terrible
mold, Bruckner showed extreme humility before other musicians, Wagner in
particular. This apparent dichotomy between Bruckner the man and Bruckner the
composer hampers efforts to describe his life in a way that gives a straightforward
context for his music.
His works, the symphonies in particular, have detractors (especially in
English-speaking countries) who point to their large size, their use of repetition,
Bruckner's propensity to revise many of his works, often with the assistance of
colleagues, and his apparent indecision about which versions he preferred.
Anton Bruckner was born in Ansfelden on September 4, 1824. His father, a
schoolmaster and organist, was his first music teacher. Bruckner worked for a few
years as a teacher's assistant, fiddling at village dances at night to supplement
his income. He studied at the Augustinian monastery in St. Florian, becoming an
organist there in 1851.
He continued his studies to the age of 40, under Simon Sechter and
Otto Kitzler, the latter introducing him to the music of Richard Wagner, which
Bruckner studied extensively from 1863 onwards. Bruckner's genius, unlike that of a
child prodigy (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, for example), did not appear until well
into the fourth decade of his life. Furthermore, broad fame and acceptance did not
come until he was over 60. A devout Catholic who loved to drink beer, Bruckner was
out of step with his contemporaries.
He had already in 1861 made acquaintance with Liszt who, like
Bruckner, was religious and who first and foremost was a harmonic innovator,
initiating the new German school together with Wagner. Soon after Bruckner had
ended his studies under Sechter and Kitzler, he wrote his first mature work, the
Mass in D Minor.
In 1868 he accepted a post as a teacher of music theory at the Vienna Conservatory,
during which time he concentrated most of his energies on writing symphonies. These
symphonies, however, were poorly received, at times considered "wild" and
"nonsensical". He later accepted a post at the Vienna University in 1875, where he
tried to make music theory a part of the curriculum. Overall, he was unhappy in
Vienna, which was musically dominated by the critic Eduard Hanslick. At that time
there was a feud between those who liked Wagner's music and those who liked
Brahms's music. By aligning himself with Wagner, Bruckner made an unintentional
enemy out of Hanslick. He did have supporters; famous conductors such as Arthur
Nikisch and Franz Schalk constantly tried to bring his music to the public, and for
this purpose proposed 'improvements' for making Bruckner's music more acceptable to
the public. While Bruckner allowed these changes, he also made sure in his will to
bequeath his original scores to the Vienna National Library, confident of their
musical validity. Another proof of Bruckner's confidence in his artistic ability is
that he often started work on a new symphony just a few days after finishing
another.
In addition to his symphonies, Bruckner wrote masses, motets and other sacred
choral works, and a few chamber works, including a string quintet. Unlike his
romantic symphonies, Bruckner's choral works are often conservative and
contrapuntal in style.
Bruckner was a very simple man, and numerous anecdotes abound as to his dogged
pursuit of his chosen craft and his humble acceptance of the fame that eventually
came his way. Once, after a rehearsal of his Fourth Symphony, the well-meaning
Bruckner tipped the conductor Hans Richter: "When the symphony was over," Richter
related, "Bruckner came to me, his face beaming with enthusiasm and joy. I felt him
press a coin into my hand. 'Take this' he said, 'and drink a glass of beer to my
health.'" Richter, of course, accepted the coin, a Maria Theresa thaler, and wore
it on his watch-chain ever after.
Bruckner was a renowned organist in his time, impressing audiences in France in
1869, and England in 1871, giving six recitals on a new Henry Willis organ at Royal
Albert Hall in London and five more at the Crystal Palace. Though he wrote no major
works for the organ, his improvisation sessions sometimes yielded ideas for the
Symphonies. He taught organ performance at the Conservatory; among his students
were Hans Rott and Franz Schmidt. Gustav Mahler, who called Bruckner his
"forerunner", attended the conservatory at this time (Walter n.d.).
Bruckner died in Vienna in 1896, of natural causes.
 Works
Sometimes Bruckner's works are referred to by WAB numbers, from the Werkverzeichnis
Anton Bruckner, a catalogue of Bruckner's works edited by Renate Grasberger.
The revision issue has generated controversy. A common explanation for the multiple
versions is that Bruckner was willing to revise his work on the basis of harsh,
uninformed criticism from his colleagues. This explanation was given enormous
cachet when it was championed by Bruckner scholar Robert Haas, who was the chief
editor of the first critical editions of Bruckner's works published by the
International Bruckner Society; it continues to be found in the majority of program
notes and biographical sketches concerning Bruckner. It was however sharply
criticized by scholars such as Haas's successor Leopold Nowak, Benjamin Korstvedt
and conductor Leon Botstein who argue that Haas' explanation is at best idle
speculation, at worst a shady justification of Haas' own editorial decisions.
Symphonies
Bruckner's Symphonies are all in four movements, starting with a modified sonata
form allegro, a slow movement, a scherzo in 3/4 time, and a modified sonata form
allegro finale. (In the Eighth, Ninth, and one version of the Second, the slow
movements and scherzi are reversed.) They are scored for a fairly standard
orchestra of woodwinds in pairs, four horns, two or three trumpets, three
trombones, tuba, timpani and strings. The later symphonies increase this
complement, but not by much. Notable is the use of Wagner tubas in his last three
symphonies. With the exception of Symphony No. 4, none of Bruckner's Symphonies has
subtitles, and most of the nicknames were not thought up by the composer.
Bruckner's works are trademarked with powerful codas and grand finales, as well as
the frequent use of unison passages and orchestral tutti. His style of orchestral
writing was criticized by his Viennese contemporaries, but by the middle of the
20th century musicologists recognized that Bruckner's orchestration was modeled
after the sound of his primary instrument, the pipe organ.
Otto Kitzler, Bruckner's last composition teacher, set him three final tasks as the
climax of his studies: a choral work, an overture, and a symphony. The latter,
completed in 1863, was then Bruckner's Study Symphony in F minor. Bruckner later
rejected this work, but he did not destroy it. While it certainly reminds one of
earlier composers such as Robert Schumann, it undeniably also bears the hallmarks
of the later Bruckner style. Kitzler simply commented that the work was "not very
inspired". It was first performed in 1924 and not published until 1973 and is
usually listed as Symphony No. 00.
Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 in C minor (sometimes called by Bruckner "das kecke
Beserl", roughly translated as "the saucy maid" ) was completed in 1866, but the
original text of this symphony was not reconstructed until 1998. Instead, it is
commonly known in two versions, the so-called Linz Version which is based mainly on
rhythmical revisions made in 1877, and the completely revised Vienna Version of
1891, which begins to reveal his mature style, e.g. Symphony No. 8.
Next was the so-called Symphony No. 0 in D minor of 1869, a very charming work
which was so harshly criticized that Bruckner retracted it completely, and it was
not performed at all during his lifetime, hence his choice for the number of the
symphony.
The Symphony No. 2 in C minor was revised in 1873, 1876, 1877 and 1892. It is
sometimes called the Symphony of Pauses for its dramatic use of whole-orchestra
rests, which accentuate the form of the piece. In the Carragan edition of the 1872
version, the Scherzo is placed second and the Adagio third.
Bruckner presented his Symphony No. 3 in D minor, written in 1873, to Wagner along
with the Second, asking which of them he might dedicate to him. Wagner chose the
Third, and Bruckner sent him a fair copy soon later, which is why the original
version of the Wagner Symphony is preserved so well despite revisions in 1874,
1876, 1877 and 1888/1889. One thing that helped Wagner choose which Symphony to
accept the dedication of was that the 3rd contains quotations from Wagner's music
dramas, such as Die Walküre and Lohengrin. These quotations were taken out in
revised versions.
Bruckner's first great success was his Symphony No. 4 in E flat major, more
commonly known as the Romantic Symphony, the only epithet applied to a symphony by
the composer himself. The 1874 version has been seldom played and success came only
after major revisions in 1878, including a completely new scherzo and finale, and
again in 1880/1881, once again with a completely rewritten finale. This version was
premiered in 1881 (under the conductor Hans Richter). Bruckner made more minor
revisions of this symphony in 1886-1888.
Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 in B flat major crowns his most productive era of
symphony-writing, finished at the beginning of 1876. The original version seems
unrecoverable and we know only the thoroughly revised version of 1878. Many
consider this symphony to be Bruckner's lifetime masterpiece in the area of
counterpoint. For example, the Finale is a combined fugue and sonata form movement:
the first theme (characterized by the downward leap of an octave) appears in the
exposition as a four-part fugue in the strings and the concluding theme of the
exposition is presented first as a chorale in the brass, then as a four part fugue
in the development, and culminating in a double fugue with the first theme at the
recapitulation; additionally, the coda combines not only these two themes but also
the main theme of the first movement.
Symphony No. 6 in A major, written in 1879-1881, is an oft-neglected work; whereas
the Bruckner rhythm (two quarters plus a quarter triplet or vice versa) is an
important part of his previous symphonies, it pervades this work, particularly in
the first movement, making it particularly difficult to perform.
Symphony No. 7 in E major was the most beloved of Bruckner's symphonies with
audiences of the time, and is still popular. It was written 1881-1883 and revised
in 1885. During the time that Bruckner began work on this Symphony, he was aware
that Wagner's death was imminent, and so the Adagio is slow mournful music for
Wagner, and for the first time in Bruckner's oeuvre, the Wagner tuba is included in
the orchestra.
Bruckner began composition of his Symphony No. 8 in C minor in 1884. In 1887
Bruckner sent the work to Hermann Levi, the conductor who had led his Seventh to
great success. Levi, who had said Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony was the greatest
symphony written after Beethoven, believed that the Eighth was a confusing jumble.
Bruckner revised the work, sometimes with the aid of Franz Schalk, and completed
this new version in 1890.
The final accomplishment of Bruckner's life was to be his Symphony No. 9 in D minor
which he started in April 1891, and which he dedicated "To God the Beloved." The
first three movements were completed by the end of 1894, the Adagio alone taking 18
months to complete. Work was delayed by the composer's poor health and by his
compulsion to revise his early symphonies, and by the time of his death in 1896 he
had not finished the last movement. The first three movements remained unperformed
until their premiere in Vienna (in Ferdinand Löwe's version) on February 11,
1903.
Bruckner suggested using his Te Deum as a Finale, which would complete the homage
to Beethoven's Ninth symphony (also in D minor). The problem was that the Te Deum
is in C Major, while the 9th Symphony is D Minor, and, although Bruckner began
sketching a transition from the Adagio key of E Major to the triumphant key of C
Major, he did not pursue the idea. There have been several attempts to complete
these sketches and prepare them for performance, as well as completions of his
later sketches for an instrumental Finale, but only the first three movements of
the Symphony are usually performed.
Sacred choral
works
Bruckner wrote a Te Deum, settings of various Psalms (including Psalm 150 in the
1890s), various motets (among them settings of Christus Factus Est and Ave Maria),
and at least seven Masses. His early Masses were usually short Austrian Landmesse
for use in local churches and did not always set all the numbers of the ordinary.
The three Masses Bruckner wrote in the 1860s and revised later on in his life are
more often performed. The Masses numbered 1 in D minor and 3 in F minor are for
solo singers, chorus and orchestra, while No. 2 in E minor is for chorus and a
small group of wind instruments, and was written in an attempt to meet the
Cecilians halfway. The Cecilians wanted to rid church music of instruments
entirely. No. 3 was clearly meant for concert, rather than liturgical performance,
and it is the only one of his Masses in which he set the first line of the Gloria,
"Gloria in excelsis Deo", and of the Credo, "Credo in unum Deum", to music. (In
concert performances of the other Masses, these lines are intoned by a tenor
soloist in the way a priest would, with a psalm formula).
Other
music
As a young man Bruckner sang in men's choirs and wrote music for them. This music
is rarely played. Biographer Derek Watson characterizes the pieces for men's choir
as being "of little concern to the non-German listener". Of thirty such pieces,
Helgoland is the only secular vocal work Bruckner thought worthy enough to bequeath
to the Vienna National Library.
The Overture in G minor is occasionally included in recordings of the Symphonies,
and it is one of the works Bruckner wrote during his apprentice with Otto Kitzler.
At that time he also wrote a March in D minor and three short orchestral pieces.
These works already show hints of Bruckner's emerging style.
A String Quartet in C minor was discovered decades after Bruckner's death, but is
only of interest as a student composition. The later String Quintet in F major,
contemporaneous with the Fifth and Sixth Symphonies, has been frequently
performed.
There is an orchestral Symphonic Prelude that is sometimes attributed to Bruckner
and sometimes to Mahler. It was discovered in the Vienna National Library in 1974
in a piano duet transcription and later orchestrated by Albrecht Gürsching. It is
likely the work of one of Bruckner's students.
Bruckner's Two Aequale for three trombones is a solemn, brief work.
He also wrote Lancer-Quadrille for piano. Among his most unusual and evocative
compositions is the choral Abendzauber (1878) for tenor, yodelers and four alpine
horns. It was never performed in Bruckner's lifetime.
Reception in the 20th century
The study of Bruckner today remains prominent among orchestrators and composers to
address the problems Bruckner encountered in an age when the orchestra itself was
expanding in size.
The National Socialists approved of Bruckner and Hitler even consecrated a bust of
Bruckner in a widely photographed ceremony in 1937 at Regensburg's Walhalla temple.
This was in part because Hitler, like Bruckner, hailed from near Linz -- Hitler
from Braunau-am-Inn, Bruckner from Ansfelden. In addition, Bruckner, like Hitler,
idolized Wagner and Hitler also identified with Bruckner as an artist rejected by
the establishment in Vienna (which included Jews). Thus Bruckner's humble origins
and Wagnerism were emphasized while his religiousness was downplayed. When Herbert
von Karajan wanted to play Bruckner's Fifth Symphony in Aachen together with the
motets, the Party disapproved. The Adagio from Bruckner's 7th Symphony was
broadcast by the German radio (Deutscher Reichsrundfunk) upon announcing the news
of Hitler's death on May 1, 1945.
The 1966 film It Happened Here, set in an alternate history in which Nazi Germany
successfully invades and occupies the United Kingdom during World War II, is
thought to be the only film besides Visconti's Senso which uses Bruckner's music in
its soundtrack.
Source : Some of the information on
this page came from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU
Documentation License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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Anton
Bruckner - Projector - Biography
