Anton Bruckner

Although his work is often summed up in his nine acclaimed symphonies, Anton Bruckner nonetheless left his mark as one of the giants of the 19th century. Born in Ansfelden, near Linz, Austria, on September 4, 1824, Josef Anton Bruckner was the eldest son of a schoolteacher and organist who recognized Bruckner's aptitude for the instrument at an early age, replacing him at the parish church when the child was just ten. Sent to live with a cousin in Hörsching, Johann Baptist Weiss, who could help him progress, the young Bruckner was entrusted to the care of St. Florian Abbey when his father died in 1837. As an altar boy, he spent three years receiving his general and musical education from Johann August Dürnberger, before passing the entrance examination for the Linz Teacher Training College and beginning his practice in 1841. He held positions at the elementary schools in Windhaag, Kronstorf, where he studied organ and music theory with Leopold von Zenetti, and St. Florian from 1845 to 1855. Appointed deputy organist in 1848, then titular organist in 1851, Bruckner composed some thirty works for church services, including twenty motets, psalms, cantatas, a Magnificat, two requiems (including one in D minor in 1849 for his patron Michael Arneth) and a Missa solemnis in B flat. He also wrote a number of secular choral pieces and a few organ and piano scores. After applying for a position at Olmütz, Bruckner was appointed organist at Linz's former cathedral, the "Dom" (now the Ignatuskirche), in November 1855. He remained there until 1868, and felt the need to broaden his musical knowledge, reworking harmony and counterpoint in Vienna with the renowned Simon Sechter until his conservatory teaching diploma in 1861, and orchestration with Otto Kitzler between 1861 and 1863. Kitzler introduced him to modern composers, including Richard Wagner, who impressed him at the Linz premiere of Tannhäuser. In Linz, Bruckner completed his Psalm 146 for soloists, double mixed choir and orchestra, and set to work on new works including a seven-part Ave Maria, the offertory Afferentur regi, a String Quartet in C minor, Four Pieces for Orchestra, an Overture in G minor, Psalm 112 and the cantata Germanenzug. In 1863, he enhanced his orchestral repertoire with two symphonies, the first a "study" symphony in F minor, and the second in D minor from 1869, which he relegated to the title Symphony No. 0 ("Die Nullte") at the end of his life. Between the two comes his official Symphony no. 1 (1865-1866). This prolific period also produced three Masses, No. 1 in D minor (1864), No. 2 in E minor (1866) and the "Great" No. 3 in F minor (1868). In October 1868, Bruckner simultaneously took over from Sechter as professor at the Vienna Conservatory, where his pupils included Hans Rott and Gustav Mahler, and as organist at the Hofkapelle. Although he was mocked for his baggy clothes and provincial accent, his works inspired respect. He visits France for the inauguration of the organ at Saint-Epvre Basilica in Nancy, and plays at Notre-Dame de Paris before Franck, Saint-Saëns and Gounod. Devoted to his duties and to composing (he is not known to have had a love affair), Bruckner began his major symphonic works, marked by their harmonic audacity as well as their scope. His exacting standards, as well as his tendency to take into account the comments of his entourage and critics, led to frequent modifications to several of them. He revised N° 1 twice, in 1877 and 1884. In 1872, Symphony No. 2 was written in the same key of C minor, in which his system becomes apparent with the introduction of a dominant cell, the sonata-form trithematic division, the lied-like structure of the adagio and the use of rests, particularly here. First performed in a variant version in October 1873, it was revised in 1877 and published in several musicological editions. In 1873, his Symphony no. 3, dedicated to Wagner, made history with its heroic style, and led to a revision even before it was published, followed by three other versions up to 1889. The composer then faced attacks from critic Eduard Hanslick, which affected him deeply. Barely finished with his previous work, he began work on the "Romantic" Symphony no. 4 (1874) , which also underwent three other versions and three successive revisions. It enjoyed its first Viennese triumph in 1881, conducted by Hans Richter. Meanwhile, Symphony no. 5 (1876-1878), the "Catholic", was published, dedicated to his patron von Stremayr, who had supported his appointment to the chair of music theory at the University of Vienna the previous year. In 1879, between two revisions, Bruckner returned to chamber music with a String Quintet, followed by Symphony no. 6 (1881), unedited and belatedly premiered under Gustav Mahler's baton on February 26, 1899. Bruckner called it his "boldest" ("Die Keckste"). The Symphony No. 7 (1882), also left untouched, brought him international acclaim, with its brilliant Adagio and other tremolos. Dedicated to Ludwig II of Bavaria, it was premiered on December 30, 1884 by conductor Arthur Nikisch and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. In 1886, the Te Deum was another success, with which even Hanslick concurred, preceding the "Apocalyptic" Symphony no. 8 of 1890, dedicated to the Emperor. Completed in 1887, it was rejected by conductor Hermann Levi, nearly leading to the composer's suicide, and he had it cut in preparation for the crowning of his career on December 18, 1892. This climax of Romanticism marked the culmination of Bruckner's symphonic art, and he left his Symphony no. 9 unfinished, performed in a version re-orchestrated by Ferdinand Löwe on February 11, 1903 in Vienna, where the composer died on October 11, 1896, at the age of 72.

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