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Biography of Anton BrucknerAustrian Composer and Organist of the Romantic Period
Anton Bruckner spent most of his life quietly composing, but now he's regarded as 19th-century's great symphonic masters.
Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer and organist of the 19th-century's Romantic Era, did not win wide recognition for many years. Now, he is regarded as one of the great symphonic composers of that period. He is famous for his Symphony No.7. The Quiet AchieverAs a composer or a person, it's not easy to categorize Anton Bruckner. His life is full of fascinating yet absorbing paradox. Unlike Wagner who greatly influenced him and he admired, Anton Bruckner did not openly promote his pursuits nor did he exhude the Vienna sophistication. Although he moved in Viennese circles, he remained much like an outsider until his death on October 1896. He was cathedral organist at Linz and professor at the Vienna Conservatoire. Training and Musical ExposureBruckner was born in Ansfelden, September 4, 1824. His music training started at four with lessons in violin. He was the son of a schoolmaster and organist. After his father died, (Bruckner was 13), he became a chorister at St. Florian’s monastery school and an organist at 21 years of age. By this time, he began to compose and went to study in Vienna in 1855. Although he was an outstanding organist, he composed very little for the instrument. A staunch Roman Catholic, Anton Bruckner was a deeply religious man who wrote music solely for the church until the age of 40 when he met Wagner, becoming the latter's admirer and friend. Bruckner then took to writing symphonies of epic-length proportions. In the early 1860s, at 37, he studied with Kitzler whose methods were based on the new composers of the Romantic Movement, such as Beethoven. He was greatly influenced by this and from here, his compositions evolved from the old-fashioned church organist to an innovator of originality. Bruckner's second and final transformation happened after seeing Wagner’s opera Tannhauser in 1865. Amazed at the way Wagner could break the rules of formal composition, at the same time create such overpowering music, was a revelation to him. Bruckner immediately amended his own approach. Works and Religious OutlookHis symphonies, as well as his early religious choral pieces (masses and motets), and the late Te Deum still reflect his profound religious outlook. Symphony no.4: The “Romantic”, a traditionally piece of Romantic orchestral work is quite popular too. Symphony no.9, his last, was left unfinished when he died. Success: Better Late than NeverBruckner achieved success much later than many of his contemporaries. He was overshadowed by Brahms throughout his life. He was already 60 when his first performance of Symphony no.7 finally claimed success. For his place in the history of music, although still refuted by some critics, he has now been considered one of the “Magnificent Seven” Viennese symphonists - the others being Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Mahler. Bruckner's Symphonic Works
Sources:Dictionary of Composers and their Music by Eric Gilder (1987) Music by Frank G. Barker, Windward (1981) Teach Yourself Series, Classical Music, Helicon Publishing (2000) The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, Edited by Stanley Sadie (1994)
The copyright of the article Biography of Anton Bruckner in Classical Composers is owned by Tel Asiado. Permission to republish Biography of Anton Bruckner in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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