Composer of the Week: Bruckner

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

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An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Anton Bruckner (1824-1896): The Eternal Student

The Eternal Student

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), The Eternal Student

Donald Macleod delves into Bruckner’s passion for learning.

Donald Macleod journeys through Bruckner’s chequered career as a teacher.

This week Donald Macleod lifts the lid on the life and music of Anton Bruckner, focusing upon different themes to better understand both the man and the music. Today, he journeys through Bruckner’s chequered career as a teacher.

Anton Bruckner was one of the great symphonists, and yet recognition for his talents as a composer came late in life. An Austrian by birth, noted for his improvisatory skills at the organ, he received invitations to travel abroad to France and England to demonstrate his skills. But though he would eventually be recognised as one of the most innovative composers of the late 19th century, during his lifetime he was plagued by doubt, not helped by the harsh reactions of Viennese music critics. He was also often dubbed a buffoon because of his dress, dialect and mannerisms. 

From a very young age, Anton Bruckner demonstrated his keenness to learn. He loved sitting next to his father on the organ bench, and by the age of ten he was able to deputise for his father at the instrument. Also like his father, Bruckner initially embarked on a career as a teacher. But his first post as an assistant teacher was a period of drudgery, at the hands of a senior master who didn’t appreciate music and often sent young Bruckner off into the fields to shovel manure. Soon however other opportunities came his way, so that over the trajectory of his career, we see him not only teaching privately, but holding posts at the Vienna Conservatoire and University. And Bruckner himself maintained a passion for learning, seeking out tutors who would help him develop further as a composer, even if they were much younger than himself.

Bruckner arr. Mahler
Symphony No 3, WAB 103 (excerpt)
Trenkner-Speidel Piano Duo

Ave Maria, WAB 6
Latvian Radio Choir
Sigvards Klava, director

Fantasie in G major, WAB 118
Fumiko Shiraga, piano

Requiem, WAB 39 (Sequentia. Dies irae)
Johanna Winkel, soprano
Sophie Harmsen, mezzo-soprano
Michael Feyfar, tenor
Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone
RIAS Chamber Choir
Academy for Early Music, Berlin
Łukasz Borowicz, conductor

Symphony No 00 in F minor, WAB 99 (excerpt)
Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra
Eliahu Inbal, conductor

Bruckner arr. Mahler
Symphony No 3, WAB 103 (Finale. Allegro)
Trenkner-Speidel Piano Duo

Produced by Luke Whitlock

Composer of the Week: Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod turns his gaze on Bruckner to better understand both the man and the music.

Donald Macleod lifts the lid on the life and music of Anton Bruckner, focusing upon different themes to better understand both the man and the music.

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