Anton Bruckner

For a long time, few would have guessed that the magnificent symphonies of Anton Bruckner (1824–1896) would one day become cornerstones of the concert repertoire. Bruckner’s work was widely disregarded, and he himself was considered a naive, eccentric oddball whose behaviour was the subject of countless anecdotes. In fact, Bruckner was torn between artistic self-confidence and a subservience bordering on self-denial towards supposed or actual authorities.

Bruckner, born on 4 September 1824, came from a lower-class background in a small Austrian village near Linz. At the age of 13 following the premature death of his father, he was admitted to the magnificent Augustinian monastery in nearby St. Florian. This is where he received a varied practical musical education and discovered the organ, the instrument on which would achieve fame throughout Europe.

Bruckner got his first job as an assistant teacher in a village. Within about 15 years, his tenacious ascent took him from teaching with additional musical duties to becoming a professional musician, and in 1855 taking on the position of organist at Linz Cathedral. Bruckner’s path as a composer, running parallel to his professional advancement, is unique. For years, he wrote only academic works without any personal profile, mainly in a kind of ‘long-distance study’ with the Viennese theorist Simon Sechter.

It was not until the age of 40 that Bruckner gave in to his distinct creative urge. With his first composed work in 1964, the Mass in D minor, he made a breakthrough seemingly out of nowhere and established his own style. Despite his artistic success, Bruckner felt increasingly uncomfortable in Linz and sought out other opportunities. In 1868, he was appointed professor at the Vienna Conservatory as Sechter’s successor.

During his time in Vienna, Bruckner enjoyed success as an organist in Paris and London, but as a composer he had to endure many bitter defeats and fierce hostility. In the disputes between the followers of Wagner and Brahms, Bruckner’s symphonies were either mercilessly panned or not even accepted for performance. These failures also led him to revise many of his symphonies, resulting in several versions.

A turning point came in 1881 with the successful premiere of his Fourth Symphony in Vienna. In the mid-1880s, the composer was then able to witness the international triumph of his Seventh Symphony. Bruckner died in 1896 without having been able to complete the last movement of his Ninth Symphony.