Anton Bruckner

Although Anton Bruckner produced abundant sacred choral works—among them the imposing Mass No. 3, the more personal Mass No. 2, and his austere motets that blend Renaissance procedures with nineteenth-century methods—his enduring fame derives chiefly from his symphonies: two unnumbered apprentice scores, eight finished mature examples, and the first three movements of a Ninth. Reconstructions of the finale exist, yet performances customarily limit themselves to the sections Bruckner himself completed. These symphonies, colored to varying degrees by Wagner and consequently aligned with his circle in Viennese opinion, stand as monumental statements—broad in dimension, exacting though occasionally overextended in structural planning, and frequently intricate in contrapuntal texture. Their sonorities evoke the grandeur of the organ; the Viennese critic Graf observed that Bruckner “pondered over chords and chord associations as a medieval architect contemplated the original forms of a Gothic cathedral.” Even when occasional folk elements surface in the scherzos, the symphonies remain consistently elevated, even devotional, in tone. Collectively they constitute the most substantial symphonic legacy between Schubert, whom Bruckner deeply revered, and Mahler.

Born on September 4, 1824, in Ansfelden, Austria, to a schoolmaster and church musician who was the father of eleven children, Bruckner was the eldest. His initial instruction came from his father; at age ten he substituted for him at the organ and began composing. In 1837, the year his father died, he entered St. Florian as a choirboy, a place that remained his spiritual center no matter how far his travels later took him. Early positions followed as choirmaster to monastic communities and as a teacher in several parishes, one near Enns where he began lessons with Leopold von Zenetti in 1843. By 1845 he had returned to St. Florian as organist and instructor, remaining for the next ten years. He then pursued composition and counterpoint chiefly through correspondence with Simon Sechter.

Up to that time his output had centered on sacred choral music and organ works, yet broader ambitions now emerged. After passing examinations at the Vienna Conservatory in 1861, the thirty-seven-year-old student sought further guidance in form and orchestration from cellist and conductor Otto Kitzler. During this period he produced his first large-scale pieces, among them the Symphony in D minor he later dismissed as “die Nullte,” or Symphony No. 0. Kitzler introduced him to Wagner’s Tannhäuser in 1863; Bruckner attended the premiere of Tristan und Isolde two years later. He remained an ardent admirer of Wagner, though the degree to which Wagner’s methods shaped his own expansive structures continues to be debated. His symphonies at times reflect the same spirituality found in the sacred choral music he continued to write.

In 1868 Bruckner secured a teaching post at the Vienna Conservatory, yet he never shed his provincial manner. One frequently recounted story describes him tipping the aristocratic conductor Hans Richter after a successful performance of the Symphony No. 4 and urging him to buy himself a beer. Vienna’s musical world was then divided between Wagnerians and Brahmsians; the Brahms camp’s hostility, together with Bruckner’s persistent self-doubt, is widely regarded as the chief cause of his repeated revisions of major scores. He also toured as an organist across Europe, dazzling listeners with improvisations that often supplied material for the symphonies. The Symphony No. 7 (1881–1883) received successful premieres in Leipzig and New York before its revised version reached Vienna in 1886. The Eighth earned a standing ovation at its 1892 Vienna premiere under Richter, with even Brahms joining the applause. Dedicated to Emperor Franz Joseph I—who had awarded Bruckner the Order of Franz Joseph in 1886 and aided him in his final year—the work stands among his greatest achievements. The composer’s last years were marked by declining health and work on the Ninth Symphony, which remained unfinished. Bruckner died in Vienna on October 11, 1896, and was interred in the crypt of St. Florian beneath the “Bruckner Organ.”