Anthony Bruckner
Josef Anton Bruckner (
[ Ringinging ] (?·i) Ansfelden, September 4, 1824 - Vienna, October 11, 1896), was an Austrian composer, professor and organist.
In the sphere of composition, his work is carried out in the choral music, instrumental -organo-, chamber and symphony, the latter being the field where he concentrated the most significant of his efforts, with the creation of eleven symphonies. He is considered one of the last representatives of Austro-Aleman Romanticism. Wagner - whom he admired and recognized as his master- pointed out in his memoirs: "If someone has symphonic ideas after Beethoven, that is Bruckner." His desire for perfectionism and the criticisms he received made him change his works over and over again, with which there are multiple versions of the same work.
Biography
Childhood and early education
She was born in the small town of Ansfelden, in northern Austria. His father, who was a schoolteacher and played the organ in the local church, imbued his son with the two vocations to which he would dedicate his professional activity: teaching and performing as an organist.
After his father's untimely death in 1837, Bruckner's mother sent Bruckner as a chorister to the nearby monastery of St. Florian, where he also received music lessons. Following the family tradition, he made the decision to pursue a teaching career. After attending the preparatory seminar for teachers in Linz, he became a school assistant in the village of Windhaag, where he soon ran into conflicts with his superiors, which eventually led to his transfer: Bruckner had composed too much and improvised on the organ. instead of exercising his duties (in addition to school and religious service he also worked in the fields and in the forest).
In fact, there are three so-called "choral masses" from this time, namely the Windhaager Mass (a small mass for alto, two horns and organ), and two short masses (a cappella): the Kronstorfer mass and the mass for Maundy Thursday.
In 1845 he finally completed the teacher's exam and joined in the same year a job as an assistant teacher at St. Florian's School. A devout Catholic, his musical studies extended until the age of 40.
Period of Saint Florian: 1845-1855
In the decade Bruckner spent at the abbey he initially devoted himself extensively to his teaching profession, attended a higher education course in Linz in 1850, and five years later passed an examination for permission to teach in secondary schools. At the same time, however, music became increasingly important to him, so he honed his organ playing, earning him the post of provisional organist in 1848, and organist three years later. Regular in St. Florian. He composed his first major compositions, such as the Requiem (1848) and the Missa solemnis (1854), as well as a series of motets and the 22nd and 114th psalms.
In 1854, Bruckner traveled to Vienna for the first time to undergo an organ examination in front of the local court director, Ignaz Aßmayer, which he passed brilliantly. 1855 was followed by another trip to Vienna, where he was a student of the famous music theorist and teacher of basso continuo and counterpoint Simon Sechter.
Organist in Linz: 1855-1868
In 1855, Linz's titular organist died, so a contest was lined up to determine his successor. Bruckner did not initially apply, but was eventually persuaded to participate. Although he had not submitted a written request, he was allowed to participate. None of his competitors could match Bruckner's virtuoso organ art, so on December 8 of that year he was appointed the new organist of the Ignatiuskirche (Alter Dom) cathedral. Bruckner had fully become a professional musician and eventually gave up school teaching activity.
In addition to his new job, he continued to study with Sechter, and visited his mentor several times in Vienna. In 1860 he took over as choir director the direction of a men's choir club, the Liedertafel Frohsinn, which he maintained for several years with interruptions. With the Liedertafel Bruckner he gave numerous concerts and thus acquired a good reputation as a choral conductor. He composed numerous works for the choir. On November 19, 1861, he finally placed his studies in music theory as a conclusion in front of a commission led by Sechter, to which the conductors Johann von Herbeck and Felix Otto Dessoff also belonged. The professionalism with which Bruckner mastered the demands made was inspired by Herbeck, who later became a major supporter of Bruckner's, famously saying "You should have put us to the test."
Bruckner had fully mastered and internalized the technical aspects of composition, but despite the many pieces already written, he apparently still did not feel confident enough in the practice of free composition, so he visited the director of Otto Kitzler theater for further education in this area in Linz. Kitzler, nearly ten years Bruckner's junior, was a sincere admirer of Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, and Richard Wagner, through whom he demonstrated to Bruckner modern methods of composition and instrumentation. Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy were also important cornerstones of these lessons. During this time, Kitzler continued to encourage his student to compose (significantly, Simon Sechter had previously prohibited any free composition during his lessons). Among others, the first important instrumental works were created: a string quartet, an overture and the so-called study symphony.
After completing this work in 1863, Kitzler was considered to have successfully completed Bruckner's studies. Between 1864 and 1868, the composer Bruckner's first major works were produced with the three main masses in D minor, E minor, and F minor, as well as Symphony No. 1 in C minor.
Having come into contact with Wagner's music, Bruckner had meanwhile studied the scores for Tannhäuser and The Flying Dutchman, and was greatly impressed by the works. In June 1865, on the occasion of a performance of Tristan and Isolde in Munich, he finally met the revered composer in person. Wagner benevolently accepted Bruckner and, three years later, even gave him and his Liedertafel & # 34;Frohsinn & # 34; the concertante premiere of the final scene of The Nuremberg Mastersingers (April 4, 1868).
However, the many activities as organist, choirmaster and composer had taken their toll a year earlier: Bruckner's forces had worked so hard that in 1867 he had to undergo a recuperation as he suffered a nervous breakdown, a profound depression, and was admitted for three months in a clinic in Bad Kreuzen. A year later he suffered another nervous paroxysm and returned to the same nursing home.
In 1868, Bruckner's First Symphony under the composer's leadership had a rather successful world premiere, which was positively reviewed by the famous Viennese critic Eduard Hanslick. However Bruckner wanted to make his compositions known to a wider audience than possible in the province. In addition, since Sechter's death in September of the previous year he had released his position as professor of music theory (continuo bass and counterpoint) and organist at the Vienna Conservatory, as well as the position of court organist, and Bruckner he decided to become the successor of his old mentor in Vienna.
Although Bruckner was a renowned organist in his day, impressing audiences in France and England with his improvisations, he did not compose any major works for the organ (although he did compose several minor works and wrote some organ transcriptions of his symphonies). His jam sessions sometimes provided ideas that he would later develop into his own symphonies.
From 1875 he taught harmony and counterpoint at the University of Vienna. Within the circle of his supporters at the University were Hans Rott, Hugo Wolf and Gustav Mahler, still students at the time.
Bruckner in Vienna: 1868-1896
Upon arriving in Vienna, the expected jobs were immediately awarded. In addition to the family stroke of fate that saw his sister die in her apartment in the early 1870s, he achieved artistic success in the early years: in 1869 Bruckner became an organ virtuoso with extremely successful concerts in Nancy and Paris, and in 1871 in London. The world premieres of the Mass in E minor in Linz (1869) and the Mass in F minor in Vienna (1872) were greeted with applause. His teaching in the k. or. k. The Reichshauptstadt started out so promisingly for the composer that he did not let much suspicion in the subsequent fights for recognition of him.
The situation for Bruckner only became problematic when he began to make his symphonies known to the Viennese. The Symphony No. 2 in C minor, which was premiered by the Vienna Philharmonic in 1873. Eduard Hanslick, who had treated Bruckner benevolently in his Linz days, now became increasingly distant towards him. The break between the two came in 1877, when Bruckner premiered his Third Symphony, which he dedicated to Richard Wagner in extremely meek letters, which became the biggest failure of his career.
The Viennese music scene was polarized between supporters of Richard Wagner's musical style and those who preferred the music of Johannes Brahms. By dedicating his Third Symphony to Wagner, Bruckner inadvertently placed himself in one of the two camps. Music critic Eduard Hanslick, a leader of the conservative current, singled out Bruckner as the target of his anti-Wagnerian wrath when he described this symphony as "if Beethoven's Ninth and Wagner's Valkyrie were mixed, and the former ended up trampled by the hooves of the horses of the second". Hanslick was a staunch opponent of the New German School, to whose authorized representatives Wagner belonged, and he saw in Bruckner one of Wagner's epigones, who had to be stopped. His criticism of Bruckner's works turned into a fanatical rejection. As Vienna's leading critic, he negatively influenced many of his colleagues towards Bruckner. Bruckner was now considered by many critics to be "Wagnerian" and, as it soon became apparent, as an opponent of Johannes Brahms, who was revered by Hanslick and who eventually settled in Vienna in 1872. Only a small circle of friends and supporters continued to defend the composer. These included together with the then Minister of Education and Culture Karl von Stremayr, to whom Bruckner in 1878 dedicated the fifth symphony, which had confirmed Bruckner's appointment as professor at the University of Vienna, [3] some conductors (such as Hans Richter) and his students at the conservatory. and many students at the University of Vienna, where Bruckner lectured from 1875 as professor of music theory.
Bruckner had supporters, including famous conductors such as Arthur Nikisch and Franz Schalk, who constantly tried to bring his music closer to the public. With this good purpose, they proposed to the maestro a great number of modifications to his works in order to make his music more acceptable to the public. Bruckner's withdrawn character caused him to consent to some changes, though he made sure to retain his original manuscripts, certain of his validity. These were later bequeathed to the National Library in Vienna.
Further evidence of Bruckner's confidence in his artistic ability is the fact that he often began work on a new symphony within days of finishing the previous one. In addition to his symphonies, Bruckner wrote masses, motets, and other sacred choral works.
Only with the successful premieres of the Fourth Symphony and the String Quintet in F major (1881) did Bruckner gain half-hearted respect, but the frontal position between the "Brahmsians" and the "Wagners and Brucknerians" I had to continue to the end. However, the organist Bruckner was able to enjoy lasting fame, as demonstrated by a concert tour of Switzerland in 1880.
However, the breakthrough for Bruckner's music came only through the premiere of Symphony No. 7, in 1884, by the young conductor Arthur Nikisch, which took place significantly in Leipzig (that is, far from the Kampfplatz in Vienna). The great success of the premiere of his Seventh Symphony in Leipzig in 1884 finally gave Bruckner the public recognition he had hitherto been denied. According to Bruckner himself, he found the inspiration to compose the main theme of the Adagio when he learned that Wagner, his beloved teacher, was dying, and for the first time he included in his orchestration some Wagnerian tubas to sing the funeral lament with which the piece concludes.
The fifth and sixth symphonies, on the other hand, had to wait many years for their world premiere. However, the composer was no longer able to attend these events. However, after Hermann Levi finally helped the Seventh succeed in Munich in 1885, Hans Richter's performance of the Tedeum in Vienna the following year also became a brilliant success. Bruckner's music gradually became prevalent both at home and abroad. Emperor Franz Joseph I was so impressed by the Tedeum that he presented Bruckner with the Knight's Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph.
Meanwhile, Bruckner's earlier symphonies had once again attracted attention. However, before the composer released the first and third for new performances, he subjected them to extensive revisions.
However, Bruckner once again had a serious setback while preparing the premiere of his Eighth Symphony, when the orchestra's conductor, Hermann Levi, returned the score with numerous corrections and criticisms. Saddened, the master undertook a general revision of the work, which was finally premiered, in this second version, by Hans Richter in Vienna, in 1892, with notable success. Possibly affected by the rejection of the first version, Bruckner carried out a comprehensive review of other earlier symphonies.
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Last years
By the late 1880s, Bruckner's health had gradually deteriorated. Among other things, he was diagnosed with diabetes and heart failure. The composer was forced to withdraw from his posts at the university, the conservatory and the court orchestra. In 1891 he retired as a professor at the Conservatory. In 1892 he left the post of Court Organist, and two years later he gave his last lecture at the University.
His life was now the composition of his ninth symphony, which he had pursued since 1887. He received many honors, for which in 1891 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna. In addition, the emperor granted Bruckner, in 1895, the privilege of free renting an apartment in the Belvedere Palace. Here he spent the last year of his life. With indefatigable creative power, the composer continued to write his work, but only the first three movements of the Ninth Symphony were completed; the fourth was still a fragment.
Bruckner died on October 11, 1896 at 4:00 p.m., according to the death book, from a heart valve defect. His mortal remains were embalmed according to his will. In the memorandum written on behalf of his siblings Rosalia and Ignaz, it can be read that he was transferred to the Karlskirche by the funeral home on October 14 (3rd district, Heugasse no. 3, Upper Belvedere), and that he was blessed and buried on October 15, 1896 in the basilica of the monastery of San Florián. Bruckner's sarcophagus, which was placed under the organ, bears on the pedestal the inscription "Non confundar in aeternum" ("I will not be forever lost"), the final line of the Tedeum.
Relationship with director Franz Schalk
Like his older brother Joseph, Franz Schalk was a student of Anton Bruckner. Although he contributed significantly to making Bruckner's symphonies known, it should be mentioned that he extensively modified these works for his performance, often in collaboration with his brother and/or Ferdinand Löwe, and often distorted them entirely. The most striking example here is that of the Fifth Symphony, the premiere of which Schalk conducted in Graz in 1894. In his final movement he dropped more than 100 bars and, like the other symphonic movements, he completely re-instrumented the rest. The work was finally published in this version. It was only in the 1930s that musicologist Robert Haas was able to publish the original versions of Bruckner's fifth and other symphonies with the original Bruckner version recovered. The versions of the Schalk brothers and Ferdinand Löwe then fell into oblivion.
The relationship between Bruckner and Schalk was not without its problems. As is now clear from the publication of the exchange of letters (Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs had reported on this), the Schalk brothers were not always honest with Bruckner. Outwardly they acted very helpful; but backstage he was often made fun of. Bruckner seemed to sense this, and according to Max Auer he was very upset with his modifications. Despite some questionable character traits in the young Schalk, which can perhaps be excused for his immaturity, Schalk was one of the most important defenders of Bruckner's music, which was much attacked by supporters of Brahms, especially the critic sectarian Eduard Hanslick.
He revised his views throughout his life and hesitated over the idea of a complete edition. Max Auer reported a meeting of Bruckner's experts in Munich (1927) at which Schalk approved the publication of the manuscripts, albeit for scientific purposes only. The Linz version of Symphony No. 1 also seemed important to him and the release of the manuscript of the Sixth Symphony.
I was particularly interested in seeing the Mass in F minor printed in the original, plain version by the court orchestra, because I had gladly and regularly conducted this Mass in the manuscript version after 1919. (Somehow! he was indirectly rejecting the work of his brother Josef, who had heavily modified the first edition!)
Siegmund von Hausegger reported that in the 1930s that Schalk took a highly critical and self-deprecating attitude towards his own work as an arranger. Auer wanted him to take over the premiere of Symphony No. 9 in the original version; but since he was already seriously ill, he was unable to reply to Auer's letter, and Siegmund von Hausegger took over this memorable premiere in 1932.
Franz Schalk was married to the singer Lili Schalk (née von Hopfen, 1873-1967). As her heir, he owned many of Anton Bruckner's manuscripts. Although there was a contractual arrangement to make them available for full print, at least for his inspection, there were always problems with Anton Bruckner's management of the full print. For example, in 1939 Robert Haas was denied access to a copy of the Third Symphony (III/3). Only Leopold Nowak had access to many of the sources.
Personality Traits
Throughout his life he developed a personality with manic-compulsive traits. Over time his insecurities increased, his natural fear of life and his various obsessions, some of them macabre. Among his numerous hobbies are:
- Compulsive arithmomania, or passion for counting or making collections of all the things around it (many for counting bricks and windows of buildings).
- Angustia and pain to leave a place (from Linz, Vienna, San Florian...).
- Obstination to review scores (hence the complexity of recognizing their authentic revisions).
- Obsession with diplomas and diplomas.
- I kept dozens of booties in the closets.
- Obsession with the bell towers he went up to see if there was a cross.
- Verification rituals: he entered the house again and again to check that he had left the candles off.
- Fascination by tombs, cemeteries and dungeons (he visited the Museum of Torture in Nuremberg and the Tower of London).
- Necrophilic behavior: He touched and kissed the skulls of Beethoven and Schubert when their bodies were exhumed and also that of Emperor Maximilian, after being adjusted in Mexico and repatriated to Vienna.
Work
Anton Bruckner's work concentrates primarily on symphonic works and religious music. During his lifetime he also excelled in his organ performances and improvisations, most of which were not transcribed and therefore have not been preserved. His music, imbued with an intense religiosity, seeks formal perfection while trying to be a great hymn of praise to the God in whom he fervently believed (and to whom he even dedicated his last work, the Ninth Symphony). In Latin countries his work is relatively little known, although it is programmed more and more frequently, but in Germanic countries he enjoys great recognition and is considered one of the greatest composers in history.
His symphonies constitute a synthesis between romantic harmony and the contrapuntal tradition. In them Bruckner collects the harmonic and instrumental conquests of his admired Wagner, frequently introducing passages of great chromaticism, with other more relaxed ones with sober colors. The development procedure of musical discourse, centered on counterpoint, has little to do with the continuous variation handled by Wagner and his leitmotiv technique.
The structural aspects of Bruckner's symphonies are close to Schubert's model. Bruckner does not renounce the use of the sonata form or the basic tonality in the main sections and his movements acquire large dimensions. These great durations are based on the presence of three themes, extensively developed since its presentation, with tempi almost always slow or restful even in the transitional scherzos. The formal density contrasts very powerful moments of climax with others of great lyricism, mainly associated with the beauty of the melodies. His orchestration is characterized by the alternation of different instrumental families, a bit like the timbre of his own instrument, the organ. On the other hand, Bruckner will progressively expand the orchestral staff throughout his career, until reaching Wagnerian dimensions, but with a very different sound.
Among the comprehensive interpretations of his symphonies, those by four very different conductors stand out, but over time they have become the reference versions of these works. In the first place, we must highlight the two cycles recorded by Eugen Jochum, the first with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Bavarian Radio Orchestra and the second with the Dresden Staatskappelle, which have remained the traditional classical interpretation par excellence of these symphonies. and that enjoy the characteristic solidity of Jochum's interpretations.
The second is the integral of Herbert von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic, in which the versions of the seventh and eighth stand out (in fact the seventh was the work he performed in his last concert). Karajan's style adapted very well to the characteristics of Bruckner's works, allowing him to shine in moments of intensity and orchestral fullness and at the same time, with his tendency to accentuate contrasts, bring luminosity to works that may seem monotonous to the listener.
The third integral, which is perhaps considered the most perfect, is that of Sergiu Celibidache with the Munich Philharmonic. Celibidache's obsession with Bruckner's work is well known, which he performed incessantly throughout his career. The most widespread recordings are made live in concerts by the Munich Philharmonic in its last years and reflect a total communion between the author and the performing conductor, who modulates the work in his own way, lengthening the tempi as he used to and accentuating the expressiveness of the developments. These recordings are recognized as one of the pinnacles of symphonic performance on record.
Finally, we must highlight the interpretations of the cycle by the maestro Gunter Wand, another director specializing in Bruckner. Both his 1989 full-length with the Hamburg Radio Orchestra and his 1990s versions of symphonies 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 with the Berlin Philharmonic border on high ground. Returning to a more classical reading of the composer but taking care of all the details, especially the timbres and rhythmic transitions, he achieves some versions of great beauty that perhaps reach their culmination in the performance of the eighth symphony recorded live in the Lübeck cathedral.
Reception
During his lifetime, Bruckner initially enjoyed only a reputation as one of the greatest organ virtuosos of his time. For recognition of him as a composer, he had to laboriously fight against him. For many years his symphonies were not taken seriously, his creator was considered an unwelcome outsider, which he ultimately was, in a more positive sense, and mocked by authoritative critics. Although his later years were marked by increasing success, a serious appreciation of Bruckner's work did not take place until the XX century .
In his lifetime, the trenches between the followers of Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms with his spokesman Eduard Hanslick were still too deep. Anton Bruckner's problem was that he didn't fit in either part: although he was one of Wagner's biggest admirers, he was unaffected by his musical style and philosophy, which is evident from the fact that he actually declared Wagner surpassed and choose the form of symphony for his works. On the other hand, Bruckner was also very different from Brahms, whom he considered a competitor, although both were supporters of absolute music. Thus he placed himself on the sidelines, both from opponents and followers, numbered among the Wagnerians, and thus attracted the inexorable hostility of Hanslick. The following two reports show that there was no animosity between Brahms and Bruckner:
- Bruckner used Brahms' main theme for his first piano concert (d) at the Conservatory for composition exercises with the suggestion (yes "almost" true) that this was really a theme "for a symphony".
- Bernhard Paumgartner said (in ORF) that he had been present at the funeral for the death of Bruckner when he was eight, and Brahms, unnoticed, slipped, hidden behind a pillar for a while looking at the devotions.
Bruckner is, along with Brahms and Wagner, the composer of the late XIX century, whose work was probably the most important for the further development of Western music. Especially the 9th symphony was exceptionally modern for his time. In his third movement, Bruckner already anticipates the extremely chromatic language of the early Arnold Schoenberg, and his twelve-tone technique owes much to the main theme of this movement. Gustav Mahler's monumental expressive symphony is unthinkable without Bruckner's meticulous preparation in this field. From the "Bruckner rhythm", which in the sixth and ninth symphonies expands into veritable tapestries of sound, Jean Sibelius was stimulated by similarly rhythmically intertwined structures in his symphonies. On the next generation of composers, Bruckner's influence can be found especially among representatives of musical neoclassicism, especially Paul Hindemith and Johann Nepomuk David, who were particularly impressed by Bruckner's clear sense of design. Finally, Bruckner was also a great role model for more conservative composers of the XX century, such as Franz Schmidt, Richard Wetz, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Wilhelm Petersen or Martin Scherber, who took his style as the basis for their respective individual continuation of it. Even Dmitri Shostakovich is barely conceivable without Bruckner. It was also largely due to Bruckner that sacred music was conceivable through his masses and, above all, through his Tedeum.
Bruckner's importance to all subsequent music in the years after World War II receded into the background due to the appropriation of Bruckner's music by National Socialists who called it "German Aryan music" and similar to the one they made of Beethoven and Wagner for propaganda purposes. Thus, after the announcement of the death of Adolf Hitler on May 1, 1945, the Adagio of the Seventh Symphony (whose coda was conceived as funeral music for Wagner) was broadcast on the radio. The Bruckner type (short, stubby, hooked nose) was even defined as a distinct subspecies of the Aryans, particularly well suited to music. When that wasn't enough, Bruckner was described as tall and strong, which of course represented a complete misrepresentation of the facts. However, many composers did not dare refer to Bruckner in the early postwar years.
Very soon, however, Eugen Jochum and Sergiu Celibidache reintroduced him into their orchestra programs with their devoted versions and Bruckner and his work began to be judged more objectively, so his music continues to enjoy great popularity in the concert halls of the world. As important interpreters of Bruckner's symphonies, we can highlight the conductors Bruno Walter, Volkmar Andreae, Carl Schuricht, Otto Klemperer, Wilhelm Furtwangler, Eugen Jochum, Herbert von Karajan, Kurt Eichhorn, Günter Wand, Sergiu Celibidache, Carlo Maria Giulini, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Georg Tintner, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Bernard Haitink, Niko Harnardink, Nikola Harnitinku, Eliahu Inbal, Hortense de Gelmini, Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, Toshiyuki Kamioka, Takashi Asahina, Simone Young, Gerd Schaller, and Mariss Jansons.