Anton Bruckner: The Man and the Work

239 Pages·2011·6.139 MB·English

by  Constantin Floros, Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch

Anton Bruckner

CONsTANTiN FLOROs
Anton Bruckner
The Man and the Work
Translated by
Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch
PETER LANG
Frankfurt am Main · Berlin · Bern · Bruxelles · New York · Oxford · Wien
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche
Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the
Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is
available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Cover Design:
Olaf Gloeckler, Atelier Platen, Friedberg
Cover illustration:
Anton Bruckner at age 39.
Courtesy of Direktion der Museen of the City of Vienna
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Floros, Constantin.
[Anton Bruckner. English]
Anton Bruckner : the man and the work /
Constantin Floros ; translated by Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-3-631-61439-6
1. Bruckner, Anton, 1824-1896--Psychology. 2. Bruckner,
Anton, 1824-1896--Criticism and interpretation. I. Bernhardt-
Kabisch, Ernest, 1934- trl II. Title.
ML410.B88F613 2011
780.92--dc22
[B]
2010047343
ISBN 978-3-631-61439-6
© for the English edition: Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2011
© for all other languages: Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Hamburg
All rights reserved.
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any
utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to
prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions,
translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in
electronic retrieval systems.
www.peterlang.de
TableofContents
Preface...........................................................................................................1
PARTONE
ACharacterPortrait...................................................................................3
WhoWasBruckner?.....................................................................................5
AuthoritarianismandSelf-Assurance.........................................................11
TheWorldas“BadLot”..............................................................................14
Neurosis.......................................................................................................17
Libido..........................................................................................................20
Emotionality................................................................................................22
The“PassionateUrgetoCompose”............................................................25
SecuringanIncome.....................................................................................28
PersecutionMania.......................................................................................30
WorriesabouttheSuccessoftheWork......................................................38
InterestintheExceptional...........................................................................42
“SympathywithDeath”..............................................................................44
Religiosity...................................................................................................48
Plates...........................................................................................................51
PARTTWO
SacredMusic..............................................................................................59
PersonalityandOeuvre...............................................................................61
MusicasReligiousConfession...................................................................62
ANew,DramaticConceptionoftheMass.................................................65
TheCredoSettings......................................................................................68
ReligiousToneSymbolism.........................................................................75
JubilantandDevotionalMusic....................................................................82
“LetMeNotBeConfoundedinEternity”–TheTeDeum........................84
MusicasSongofPraise..............................................................................91
V
PARTTHREE
TheSymphonies.........................................................................................95
TheFictionof“AbsoluteMusic”................................................................97
OriginalityandModernity...........................................................................98
MattersofStyle.........................................................................................101
HowBrucknerCametotheSymphony....................................................104
AutobiographicElementsintheSecondandThirdSymphony................110
TheAllegiancetoRichardWagner...........................................................116
TheTriadoftheMiddleSymphonies.......................................................122
TheSeventh–aSecond“WagnerSymphony”........................................127
SecularandReligious................................................................................132
Imaginations–Bruckner’sAssociationsintheEighth.............................143
TheNinth–Bruckner’s“FarewelltoLife”..............................................147
ReflectionsontheBrucknerInterpretation–GünterWand,
EugenJochumandSergiuCelibidache.....................................................159
TheProgressive.........................................................................................166
Afterword..................................................................................................175
APPENDIX...............................................................................................179
Notes..........................................................................................................181
BiographicalDates....................................................................................213
Abbreviations............................................................................................217
WorksbyAntonBruckner........................................................................220
SelectiveBibliography..............................................................................224
Author’sPapers.........................................................................................227
PhotoCredits.............................................................................................229
IndexofNames.........................................................................................230
VI
Preface
Largely unrecognized and controversial during his lifetime, Anton Bruck-
ner is regarded today as the greatest symphonic composer after Beethoven
and Mahler. The originality, daring and monumentality of his music are
universallyacknowledged on all sides, and his impact, initiallyconfined to
theGerman-speakingworld,hasforsomedecadesnowbeguntobeglobal:
today, Bruckner is recognized as a composer of symphonic as well as of
sacred music in both the Anglo-Saxon and the Romance countries, even in
Japan.
I have loved Bruckner’s music ever since my youth: because of its
modernity and sublimity, its intense expressiveness and the new “tone” it
brought into the world, because of its “unspoiled forest darkness,” as
Adorno called it, because of its many contrasts and spacious effects, its in-
tensifications and grandiose climaxes, but also because of its abysses and
seemingruptures.When,in1951,IattendedHansSwarowsky’sclassatthe
VienneseMusicAcademyforthefirst time,hewasintheprocessofgoing
through the Romantic symphony. He pointed out the harmonic, metric and
dynamic subtleties of the score and thought that Bruckner’s real strength
layless in his art than in the “vis symphonica.” I could not understand that
atthetime,andIstilldon’t.Forme,Brucknerwaseventhenamagnificent
symphoniccomposer,whohaddaredtoadvancetotheverybordersofato-
nality.
Already as a young instructor in the ‘sixties in Hamburg, I gave lec-
tures about his music, seeking to scrutinize it intensively in all its dimen-
sions. In 1980, Breitkopf and Härtel published my book on Brahms and
Bruckner,which wasthefirsttoshakethethenstillprevailingthesesabout
these two composers. As a comrade in arms of Linz’s Bruckner Institute, I
have since then taken part in many symposia and given numerous talks
aboutBrucknerinAustria,Germany,GreatBritainandJapan.
This book, too, would hardly have been possible without the kind-
nessofanumberofinstitutionsandindividuals.HofratDr.GünterBrosche
andHofratDr.ThomasLeibnitz(MusicCollectionoftheAustrianNational
Library, Vienna), as well as Prof. Dr. Otto Biba (Society of the Friends of
Music, Vienna) and the Director’s Office of the Biblioteka Jagiellonska in
Cracow allowed me to look at Bruckner autographs. In the rooms of the
CommissionforMusicHistoryoftheAustrianAcademyofSciencesinVi-
enna I could study microfiches of important sketches. During my frequent
research stays in Vienna, I was ableto discuss keyresearch issues with the
1
staff members of the Anton Bruckner Institute, Linz: Dr. Elisabeth Maier,
Dr. Andrea Harrandt, Mrs. Renate Grasberger, Dr. Uwe Harten and Dr.
Erich Partsch. On a number of psychiatric and theological questions I had
theadviceofProf.Dr.Wolfgang Berner(Hamburg),Prof.Dr.Eugen Biser
(Munich) and Prof. Dr. Tim Schramm (Hamburg). My son Marc-Aurel set
the musical examples in computer print. Prof. Dr. Ernest Bernhardt-
Kabisch (Indiana University) supplied the precise and sensitive translation
into English; I also owe him a number of helpful comments and sugges-
tions. Michael Bock, finally, provided crucial help in preparing the present
textforprinting.
Mycordialthanksgotoalloftheseindividuals.
C.F.,Hamburg,Summer2010
2
PARTONE
ACharacterPortrait