k`nər), 1824–96, Austrian composer. He was appointed organist at the Linz cathedral in 1856 before becoming court organist in Vienna in 1868, where he later taught at the conservatory and university. He established a reputation as a virtuoso organist on trips to France in 1869 and to England in 1871, but as a composer he gained recognition slowly. Although he was influenced by the chromatic harmony and orchestral grandeur of Wagner's music, his work is marked by contrapuntal complexity and extended melodies, in the formal tradition of Beethoven and Schubert. His outstanding works are the Masses in D Minor (1864), in E Minor (1869), and F Minor (1872); a Te Deum (1886); and nine symphonies, of which the Fourth or Romantic (1881), the Eighth, or Apocalyptic (composed 1884–87), and the Ninth (composed 1891–96) are best known. He also wrote motets, cantatas, chamber music, piano and organ pieces, and pieces for male chorus.
Bibliography
See studies by H. F. Redlich (1955), E. Doernberg (1960, repr. 1968), and R. Simpson (Am. ed. 1968).
Bruckner, (Josef) Anton
(born Sept. 4, 1824, Ansfelden, Austria—died Oct. 11, 1896, Vienna) Austrian composer. Son of a rural schoolmaster who died in Anton's youth, he was taken into a monastery as a choirboy and there learned to play the organ. Greatly gifted, he became organist at Linz Cathedral in 1855; throughout his composing career, his orchestrations would be compared to organ sonorities. In 1865 he heard Tristan und Isolde in Munich and thereafter idolized Richard Wagner, though his own works remained indebted to Ludwig van Beethoven. In 1868 he was appointed professor at the Vienna Conservatory and settled in Vienna for the rest of his life. He was 60 before he achieved fame with his Symphony No. 7 in E Major (1884). He was socially awkward and eccentric, and he remained a deeply devout Christian to his death. His reputation rests on his nine mature symphonies (1866–96), his three masses, and his Te Deum (1884).
Bruckner, Anton
Born Sept. 4, 1824, in the village of Ansfelden, near Linz; died Oct. 11, 1896, in Vienna. Austrian composer, organist, and teacher.
Bruckner was an organist in Austrian monasteries and later at Linz Cathedral. From 1868 he lived in Vienna, where he was teacher of music theory and organ at the conservatory and the university. Bruckner primarily wrote symphonic music, reviving in his works the monumental style of Beethoven’s and Schubert’s symphonies. The most important of these are the Third Symphony, dedicated to R. Wagner (1873); the Fourth, “Romantic” (1874); the Seventh (1883); the Eighth, so-called Tragic (1887); and the Ninth, so-called Gothic, which remained unfinished (1894). Bruckner also composed religious music, including the Te Deum and masses for organ.
Bruckner’s music is characterized by loftiness, seriousness, and conceptual profundity combined with a dramatic quality and epic scope; it is also marked by warmth and sincerity. Bruckner’s symphonies embody his reverential awe before the greatness of the universe, and this lends a unique exaltation and hymnal quality to his music. Folklore intonations are often utilized by Bruckner in his works.
REFERENCES
Rappoport, L. A. Bruckner. Moscow, 1963.Göllerich, A., and A. Auer. A. Bruckner, vols. 1-4. Regensburg, 1922-37.
Auer, M. A. Bruckner: Sein Leben und Werk, 6th ed. Vienna, 1949.
Kurth, E. A. Bruckner, vols. 1-2. Berlin, 1925.
Dennert, M. A. Bruckner. Leipzig, 1958.
Nowak, L. A. Bruckner: Musik und Leben. Vienna-Munich, 1964.
Simpson, R. The Essence of Bruckner. London, 1967.
L. G. RAPPOPORT
Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.
| ?Page tools | ||
|---|---|---|
|