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Image:AntonBruckner.jpeg|right|framed|Anton
Bruckner

Anton Bruckner (September 4, 1824 – October
11, 1896) was an Austrian composer of the Romantic
music|Romantic era. Many of his works were
savagely criticized in his lifetime, and are
unique in the symphonic repertoire in that they
exist in several versions.  The study of Bruckner
today remains prominent among orchestrators and
composers to fix some of the problems Bruckner
encountered in an age when the symphony orchestras
itself was expanding size.  Bruckners works are
known for the overpowering use of brass.

== Biography ==

Anton Bruckner was born in Ansfelden to a
schoolmaster and organist father with whom he
first studied music. He 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 Saint Florian,
Austria|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 the child
prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart and so many
others, does not appear until he is well into his
fourth decade in life.  And broad fame and
acceptance of him does not come until he is into
his 60s.  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 many '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 Mass
(music)|Masses, motets, and other sacred
choir|choral works. Unlike his romantic
music|romantic symphonies, Bruckner's choral works
are often conservative and
counterpoint|contrapuntal in style.

Image:Bruckner-Arrives-in-Heaven.png|thumb|414px|r
ight|Anton Bruckner arrives in Heaven. 
(Silhouette drawing by Otto Böhler)

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. But he wrote
no major works for the organ. His improvisation
sessions sometimes yielded ideas for the
Symphonies. He also taught organ performance at
the Conservatory. One of his students was Hans
Rott, whose music influenced Gustav Mahler.

Bruckner died in Vienna, and his Ninth Symphony
premiered in the same city on February 11, 1903.
He never married, though he proposed to a large
list of astonished teenage girls. He had a morbid
interest in dead bodies, at one point cradling the
head of Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven in his
hands when Beethoven was exhumed. He left
extensive instructions that he was to be embalmed.

Anton Bruckner Private University for Music,
Drama, and Dance, an institution of higher
education in Linz, close to his native Ansfelden,
was named after him in 1932 ("Bruckner
Conservatory Linz" until 2004).

== Music ==

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 Symphonies ===

Bruckner's Symphonies are all in four movements,
starting with a modified sonata form allegro, a
slow movement, a scherzo and a modified sonata
form allegro finale. 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 have
subtitles, and most of the nicknames were not
thought up by the composer.

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, also known
as the 00th. 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, especially in the parts of the first
movement where the trumpet dominates and in the
scherzo. The finale is perhaps a bit weak, but
overall the work promised many riches to come,
though unfortunately Kitzler was not able to see
these and simply commented that the work was "not
very inspired". 
It was first performed in 1924 and not published
until 1973.

Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 (Bruckner)|Symphony No.
1 in C minor (sometimes called by Bruckner "das
kecke Beserl", roughly translated as "saucy maid")
was completed in 1866, but the original text of
this symphony was not reconstructed until 1998!
Instead, it is commonly know in two versions, the
so-called Linz Version which is based mainly on
rythmical revisions made in 1877, and the
completely revised Vienna Version of 1891, which
in some ways starts to sound like Symphony No. 8.

Next was the so-called Symphony No. 0
(Bruckner)|Symphony No. 0 in D minor of 1869, a
very charming work which unfortunately 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 scherzo especially seems to have
a raw power which sometimes seems missing in later
works which had undergone more revisions.

The Symphony No. 2 (Bruckner)|Symphony No. 2 in C
minor (apparently one of Bruckner's favourite
keys), which was revised in 1873, 1876, 1877 and
1892. Sometimes called the Symphony of Pauses for
its dramatic use of whole-orchestra rests, very
nicely accentuating the form. In the Carragan
edition of the 1872 version, the Scherzo is placed
second and the Adagio third.

Bruckner presented the Symphony No. 3
(Bruckner)|Symphony No. 3 in D minor, written in
1873, to Wagner along with the 2nd, asking which
of them he might dedicate to him. Wagner chose the
3rd, and Bruckner sent him a fair copy soon later,
which is why the original version of this Wagner
Symphony is preserved for us so nicely despite
revisions in 1874, 1876, 1877 and 1888/89. 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. Some of these quotations
were taken out in revised versions. Gustav Mahler
and Rudolf Krzyzanowski made a piano duet version
of this Symphony.  It is said that Bruckner became
drunk during his meeting with Wagner and could not
remember whether he preferred the 2nd or 3rd.  To
clarify, Bruckner wrote a short note asking "the
one with horns, right?"  Wagner replied, "Yes,
yes.  Best wishes."  This also provides some
etymology for his nickname "Bruckner the horn."

Bruckner's first great success was his Symphony
No. 4 (Bruckner)|Symphony No. 4 in E flat major,
more commonly known as the Romantic Symphony. The
success, however, was not immediate, but 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. (The 1880/1881 is referred to as the
Volkfest Finale.)  Even despite the great success
of the first performance in 1881 (under the
conductor Hans Richter (conductor)|Hans Richter),
Bruckner made some more minor revisions in
1886-1888. The 1874 version is interesting to
listen to despite being somewhat repetitive.

Finally, Bruckner's Symphony No. 5
(Bruckner)|Symphony No. 5 in B flat major crowns
this productive era of symphony-writing, finished
at the beginning of 1876. Unfortunately 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, and has been referred to "as the
most monumental finale in symphonic literature". 
It has also been referred to as the Tragic, Church
of Faith, or Pizzicato (as it is the only one of
his symphonies to begin with a pizzicato theme).

Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)|Symphony No. 6 in A
major (sometimes referred to as the Philosophic),
written in 1879-1881, is an oft-neglected work.
Whereas the Bruckner rhythm (triplet plus two
quarters, also in inverted from: two plus three)
is completely absent from the previous Symphony,
in this one it permeates everything, appearing in
the first movement  in multiple simultaneous
instances overlaid in divergent patterns resulting
in rhythmic complexity. Perhaps the rhythmic
difficulties of this work, especially in the first
movement, are part of the reason why this work is
so seldom played.

The most beloved of Bruckner's symphonies with
audiences of the time, and still popular today, is
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)|Symphony No. 7 in E
major (Lyric). 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. There's also a legend
that Bruckner wrote the climactic cymbal clash in
this movement at the precise moment that Wagner
died; research has since revealed that Bruckner
eventually decided against the cymbal clash,
though the piece is often performed with it.
Arnold Schoenberg made a chamber ensemble version
of this work.

Bruckner began composition of his Symphony No. 8
(Bruckner)|Symphony No. 8 in C minor (The German
Michel, or Apocalyptic) in 1884 and was performed
at the Three Emperors League summit at
Skierniewice attended by three heads of state and
their Foreign Ministers.  In 1887 Bruckner sent
the work to Hermann Levi, the conductor who had
led his 7th to great success; the latter did not
understand this very different work at all and
utterly rejected it, almost driving Bruckner to
suicide. But instead he set to work thoroughly
revising the symphony, sometimes with the 'aid' of
Franz Schalk, and completed this new version in
1890. Two other revised versions came later, the
Hass version, and the most commonly performed
Nowak version.  The original Bruckner version was
first recorded in the 1980s.

The dissonant coda to the first movement was
considered so piercing and unsettling to audiences
that Bruckner was advised by friends to add an
anti-climax to recover from the shock.
Something like this section is common to both
versions, ending the later version but only a
portion of the coda in the earlier.  Also, he made
the Scherzo less repetitive, gave that movement a
wholly new Trio section, changed some tonal areas
in the Adagio and trimmed the cymbal part, and
changed the ending of the Finale.

The final accomplishment of Bruckner's life was to
be his Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)|Symphony No. 9 in
D minor, which he started in 1887. The first three
movements were completed at the end of 1894; by
the time of his death in 1896, he had not finished
the last movement, but he left extensive sketches.
There have been several attempts to complete these
sketches and prepare them for performance, and
perhaps the more successful, scholarly attempts
are those by John A. Phillips's team and the one
by William Carragan.   Bruckner wrote down his
music in a very methodical manner that allows
musicologists to form a very clear idea of what
Bruckner had in mind and create performing
versions that sound very much like Bruckner.  

Bruckner suggested using his Te Deum as a Finale,
which would complete the homage to Ludwig van
Beethoven|Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
(Beethoven)|Ninth symphony (also in D minor), but
he was intent on completing the Symphony.  The
problem has been the Te Deum is in C Major, while
the 9th Symphony is D Minor.  Nowadays just the
first three movements of the Symphony are
performed most of the time, but recordings of the
attempts at reconstructing the Finale are worth
listening to.

Two of the best and most famous conductors of
Bruckner are Georg Tintner and Günter Wand, the
former having preferred Bruckner's 'first
conceptions' in almost all cases, following the
texts of Leopold Nowak and William Carragan,
whereas the latter was of the old school relying
on the first critical edition published by Robert
Haas (musicologist)|Robert Haas. Special mention
should go to Eliahu Inbal for being the first to
record the original version of the 3rd, 4th and
8th symphonies.

=== Sacred Choral Works ===

Bruckner wrote a Te Deum, settings of various
Psalms, (including Psalm 150 in the 1890s) and
various motets such as Ave Maria, Ecce Sacerdos
Magnum, Locus iste, etc.

Bruckner wrote at least seven
Roman_Catholic_Mass|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, those Masses seem to be of interest
only to music historians and ethnomusicologists.
The three Masses Bruckner wrote in the 1860s and
revised later on in his life are performed and
recorded nowadays and referred to by numbers. 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 Deus", and 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
he also wrote a lot of music for them. This music
is rarely played nowadays. 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 worth bequeathing to
the Vienna National Library.

Bruckner never wrote an opera, because he wanted a
libretto "entirely free of all that is impure."
That rules out most opera libretti.

He also wrote some quaint Lancer-Quadrille for
piano.

The Overture in G minor was occasionally included
in LP recordings of the Symphonies.

A String Quartet in C minor was discovered decades
after Bruckner's death, but it's only of interest
as a student composition. The later String Quintet
in F major, contemporary of the Fifth and Sixth
Symphonies, is sometimes recorded and performed
nowadays.

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.
Albrecht Gürsching orchestrated it and it was
recorded by Neeme Järvi on a Chandos CD as filler
for his quicker than most performance of Mahler's
Symphony No. 6 in A minor. If it's not in fact by
Bruckner, it likely is the work of one of his
students.

== Reception in the 20th Century ==

The Nazis appropriated the music of Bruckner for
propaganda purposes. This was in part because
Hitler shared Bruckner's hometown of Linz. he was
dead (unlike a living composer of the time like
Richard Strauss he could not object to propaganda
use of his music), because Bruckner idolized
Wagner and because Hitler identified with Bruckner
as an artist rejected by the establishment in
Vienna, which included Jews. Thus, for propaganda
purposes, Bruckner's humble origins and Wagnerism
were emphasized while his religiousness was
downplayed. Thus, when Herbert von Karajan wanted
to play Bruckner's Fifth Symphony in Aachen
together with motets, the party disapproved.

Despite the use of Bruckner's music in Nazi
propaganda, Bruckner's music was never blacklisted
in Israel the way Wagner's was.

==See also==
*List of Austrians in music
*List of Austrians

== References ==

* Bryan Gilliam, The annexation of Anton Bruckner:
Nazi revisionism and the politics of
appropriation, in Bruckner Studies edited by
Timothy Jackson and Paul Hawkshaw.

== External links ==

*
http://members.tripod.com/~jomarques/bruckner.htm
Detailed information on the various editions and
revisions of Bruckner's symphonies
* http://home.comcast.net/~jberky/BSVD.htm
Discography edited by John F. Berky - Detailed
listing recordings of Anton Bruckner's orchestral
works
* http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/bruckner.html
* http://members.aol.com/tamayu/index.html
Bruckner biography, 19th century Austrian culture
and society