What is the key of Bruckner's seventh symphony?
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in E major (WAB 107) is one of his best-known symphonies. It was written between 1881 and 1883 and was revised in 1885. It is dedicated to Ludwig II of Bavaria. The premiere, given under Arthur Nikisch and the Gewandhaus Orchestra in the opera house at Leipzig on 30 December 1884, brought Bruckner the greatest success he had known in his life. The symphony is sometimes referred to as the "Lyric", though the appellation is not the composer's own, and is seldom used.
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
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\new Staff \relative b { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key e \major \clef treble \time 2/2
Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)
\new Staff \relative e" { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key c \major \clef treble \time 2/2 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2 = 43
\new Staff \relative b' { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key c \major \clef treble \time 2/2
Gerd Schaller
Schaller is noted for his recordings of all of Anton Bruckner's symphonies, including versions never recorded before, for the Profil label of Edition Günter Hänssler. The recordings have been praised by Ken Ward, editor of "The Bruckner Journal", as "a little musical miracle." Music critic David Hurwitz asserts Schaller "really is an excellent Bruckner conductor", and in reviewing Schaller's recording of Bruckner's Fifth Symphony, he states that Schaller, "doesn't put a foot wrong." "AllMusic", reviewing a recording of Bruckner's Fourth, Seventh and Ninth Symphonies, notes, "The live performances of all three symphonies by Gerd Schaller and the Philharmonie Festiva are first-rate, with great attention to detail and controlled pacing that give the music propulsive movement and coherence." The same recording of the Fourth, Seventh and Ninth Symphonies was selected by Stereophile magazine in November 2011 as its "Recording of the Month".
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
Finally, a transition over a dominant pedal (a Bruckner hallmark) leads to the Coda that Simpson referred to as the fine-drawn consolatory coda that is one of Bruckner's best. At bar 157 one hears the last statement of the primary theme with the movement ending in its tonic, F major, in a state of "perfect serenity."
Music Is the Key
"Music Is the Key" is a song by German recording artist Sarah Connor and all-male American a cappella group Naturally 7. It was written and produced by longtime collaborators Rob Tyger and Kay Denar and recorded for Connor's third studio album, "Key to My Soul" (2003). A pop ballad with heavy elements of soul, the song talks about the power of music, and eventually finding your own melody through listening.
Symphony No. 3 (Schumann)
When evaluating the relationship between Schumann's Third Symphony and Beethoven's Third Symphony, there is the obvious connection between the tonal centers of each piece – they share the same tonality. The relationship between Schumann's Third Symphony and Beethoven's Third Symphony is mostly evident in the first movement. Although as was mentioned earlier, the key of E-flat major is known to have religious associations, this tonality is also generally perceived as heroic due to Beethoven's Third Symphony "Eroica". Schumann begins his first movement with a theme in the same key as Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony. This main theme feels so typically heroic and triumphant that it could easily be mistaken as material for a triumphant finale movement. This is due to the manner in which he repeats this melody, each time with more proud and triumphant treatments. The main model for the Rhenish Symphony is Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, the "Pastorale". One of the most obvious relationships is that there are five movements in each of the symphonies. The next most obvious similarity between Beethoven's Sixth Symphony and Schumann's Third Symphony is that in both symphonies, the fourth and the fifth movements are played without break. Aside from the similarities in the large scale layout of each work, the musical similarity can be seen in the second movement.
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
Bruckner called this movement his "Farewell to Life." It begins in tonal ambiguity, and is the most troubled opening to a Bruckner adagio yet: though within bars it achieves lyrical serenity and awe. The main theme is a portent for the chromaticism of the movement, starting with an upward leap of a minor ninth and containing all 12 tones of the chromatic scale:
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
Bruckner also cites material from his earlier works: at a point near the coda, Bruckner quotes a passage from the first movement of his Seventh Symphony. The concluding page of the movement, in addition to the usual tonic (I) and dominant (V) chords, given out in a blaze of open fifths, uses a Neapolitan flat (ii; the rising E flat figure from bar 19) in grinding dissonance with both I and V.
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
\new Staff \relative e' { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key a \minor \clef treble \time 3/4 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo "Sehr schnell" 4 = 240
\new Staff \relative a, { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key a \minor \clef bass \time 3/4
D minor
Since D minor is the key of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Anton Bruckner felt apprehensive about writing his own Symphony No. 9 in the same key. As well as Bruckner's First Mass, some other post-Beethoven symphonies are in D minor, including the only Symphony written by César Franck, and Symphony No. 3 by Gustav Mahler.
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
"Bruckner declared he heard it in a dream, played on a viola, and wrote it down on awakening, but the tune incorporates a quotation from the Credo of his D minor Mass (1864) which he was currently revising. The main theme is restated before the second theme group appears, with the oboes and clarinets carrying the first theme:
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
The symphony has four movements:The first movement starts with tremolo strings and the cellos presenting "a complete, divinely given melodic whole:"
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
In the development, one sees the addition of a new motif and harmonically, the section centers around D-flat major, G-flat major, and B♭ minor, all closely related keys but ones that are isolated from the tonic (A minor). The dominant of A minor is reached (bar 75) and here, the recapitulation begins, once again over a dominant pedal. It is important to note that there has still not been a root chord of A minor. This elusive A minor root chord finally appears at the end of the recapitulation leading into the C major Trio section.
Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön
The key of the aria is E-flat major. This is the home key of "The Magic Flute" (the opera begins and ends in this key), but this may have nothing to do with Mozart's key choice. Branscombe suggests instead that Mozart tailored the music (his normal practice) to the singer who premiered it, his friend the composer/tenor Benedikt Schack, specifically setting the key so that the conspicuous high note to which the first syllable of "Bildnis" is sung would be Schack's high G: "For Tamino's glorious outburst at the opening of the Bildnis aria his top note had to be G – and that automatically made for an aria in E flat." For more on Schack's high G, see below.
String Quintet (Bruckner)
The work is "Sr. Royal. Dedication to the Duke Max Emanuel in Bavaria in deepest awe." Bruckner received a pin to thank the Bavarian Duke. The choice of a suitably high-ranking personality as dedicatee shows the importance that Bruckner attaches to his string quintet. The Bruckner researcher and organist Erwin Horn shows that Bruckner's "one step after the other in the upwardly open ranking" climbed with his dedications. Bruckner is thus - as far as meaning is concerned - his string quintet on the level of the symphonies.
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
\new Staff \relative cis" { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key a \major \clef treble \time 2/2 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo "Majestoso" 2 = 54
\new Staff \relative e, { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key a \major \clef bass \time 2/2
R1 | % 2The key is A major when the first theme enters; however, the mystery is heightened by notes outside the realm of A major tonality that appear in the melodic line, namely the pitches G, B♭ and F, Neapolitan inflections that will have large-scale tonal effects that come to fruition later in the symphony. The counterstatement of the theme appears (bar 25) in "fortissimo", a long-established classical technique that Bruckner had yet to utilize at the beginning of a symphony.
Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)
\new Staff \relative es" { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key es \major \clef treble \time 2/2 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2 = 60
\new Staff \relative es { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key es \major \clef bass \time 2/2
Symphony, D 708A (Schubert)
Schubert's reasons for abandoning D 708A probably have much to do with problems in orchestrating it. In addition to the problematic extremely high clarinet solos at points in the second and third movements, a further problem is that the climax of the fourth movement reaches A major. This key is so far away from D major that the horns, trumpets and timpani simply have no notes to play at this climax (they were then confined to notes from a single key, usually the one the piece was written in), despite them being needed to provide a full, loud orchestral sound. Schubert therefore considered using trombones for this purpose, as they were not so restricted and could reinforce the bass register of the orchestra; but due to his then being unfamiliar with how to write for the trombone, and the fact that the symphony was not conceived with the use of trombones in mind, he abandoned work on D 708A and started writing the seventh symphony, in which he decided to use a trio of trombones from the very beginning. He later had to abandon work on that symphony as well to work on his opera "Alfonso und Estrella". Schubert's use of trombones can later be seen in the eighth, ninth, and tenth symphonies.
List of symphonies by Anton Bruckner
Bruckner began composition of his Symphony No. 8 in C minor in 1884. In 1887 Bruckner sent the work to Hermann Levi, the conductor who had led his Seventh to great success. Levi, who had said Bruckner's Seventh Symphony was the greatest symphony written after Beethoven, believed that the Eighth was a confusing jumble. Devastated by Levi's assessment, Bruckner revised the work, sometimes with the aid of Franz Schalk, and completed this new version in 1890. Deryck Cooke writes that "Bruckner not only recomposed [the Eighth]... but greatly improved it in a number of ways... This is the one symphony that Bruckner did not fully achieve in his first definite version, to which there can be no question of going back."
List of symphonies by Anton Bruckner
Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major crowns his most productive era of symphony-writing, finished at the beginning of 1876. Until recently we knew only the thoroughly revised version of 1878. In 2008 the original concepts of this symphony were edited and performed by Akira Naito with the Tokyo New City Orchestra. Many consider this symphony to be Bruckner's lifetime masterpiece in the area of counterpoint. For example, the Finale is a combined fugue and sonata form movement: the first theme (characterized by the downward leap of an octave) appears in the exposition as a four-part fugue in the strings and the concluding theme of the exposition is presented first as a chorale in the brass, then as a four-part fugue in the development, and culminating in a double fugue with the first theme at the recapitulation; additionally, the coda combines not only these two themes but also the main theme of the first movement. Bruckner never heard it played by an orchestra.
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
Symphony No. 9 in D minor is the last symphony upon which Anton Bruckner worked, leaving the last movement incomplete at the time of his death in 1896; the symphony was premiered under Ferdinand Löwe in Vienna in 1903. Bruckner dedicated it "to the beloved God" (in German, "dem lieben Gott").
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
The second theme in this group, an expressive, lyrical motif (bar 69) is first heard in D major, closely followed by a statement in F major and a richly orchestrated statement in E major, the dominant of the movement's original A major. The third theme group, beginning with a militaristic statement of the Bruckner rhythm, now appears, followed by modulations ending in the dominant (E major) and segueing into the development section:
Symphony in D minor (Bruckner)
The movement begins with a slow introduction, fairly unique for a Bruckner Finale; the only other Finale with a slow introduction is in the Fifth Symphony. The theme in the violins is accompanied by semiquavers (i.e. sixteenth notes) in the woodwinds, and will recur in the development:This gives way to the main theme of the following "Allegro"-movement, which does double duty as a third theme:
The second theme reminds of Rossini:The symphony ends in D major with a coda marked "Schnell".
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
There is a certain degree of harmonic ambiguity throughout, but nothing that compares to the opening of the first movement. One of the most fascinating features of the harmonic structure is Bruckner's avoidance of a root position tonic chord for much of the movement. The first twenty bars of the movement once again rest on a dominant pedal and when the bass finally moves to the tonic pitch (A), it is not a root position tonic chord; instead, it acts as the bottom of a first inversion chord of F major (bar 21).
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
Many (alleged) utterances of Bruckner concerning his Ninth Symphony are only indirectly handed down. Bruckner, fearing that he would not be able to cope with the composition, was supposed to have envisioned his Te Deum as the possible end of the symphony. On the occasion of a visit by the conductor Hans Richter (1843-1916) to Bruckner, this is stated in the third part of volume IV of the Göllerich / Auer biography: "This [Hans Richter] had Bruckner's 'Seventh' for a concert of the Philharmonic and now came to tell him this in Belvedere [Bruckner's last apartment was in the so-called Kustodenstöckl the Belvedere Palace in Vienna]. When Bruckner also told him his grief over the unfinished sentence of the 'Ninth' Richter gave him, as Meissner reports [Anton Meissner was Bruckner's close confidant and secretary], the council, to complete the Symphony instead of a fourth movement with the Te Deum. Master was very grateful for this suggestion, but he looked at it only as a last resort. As soon as he felt reasonably better, he sat down to the piano to work on the Finale. He now seemed to think of a transition to the Te Deum and promised, as Meissner relates, a tremendous effect on the far-reaching main theme, blasted out by the brass choir, and on the familiar and original introductory bars of the Te Deum, as well as on the singers appearing there. He wanted, as he told Meissner several times during audition, as it were, to shake the gates of eternity'."
Symphony No. 2 (Bruckner)
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\new Staff \relative es { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key c \minor \clef bass \time 2/2
List of symphonies by Anton Bruckner
Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major was his first great success. It is more commonly known as the "Romantic Symphony", the only epithet applied to a symphony by the composer himself. The 1874 version has been seldom played; success came in 1878 but only after major revisions, including a completely new scherzo and finale, and again in 1880–1, once again with a completely rewritten finale. This version was premiered in 1881 (under the conductor Hans Richter). Bruckner made more minor revisions of this symphony in 1886–8.
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
\new Staff \relative cis' { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key fis \major \clef treble \time 3/4 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo "Moderato" 4 = 54
\new Staff \relative fis, { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key fis \major \clef bass \time 3/4
Symphony No. 5 (Bruckner)
This is the only one of Bruckner’s symphonies to begin with a slow introduction, but all the others, except Symphony No. 1, begin with sections that are "like" introductions "in tempo", easing into the main material, like the opening of Beethoven's Ninth. It eventually leans heavily toward D major without actually tonicizing it. The introduction progresses into a main movement in sonata form. After a climax in A major, the texture is thinned until only a violin tremolo remains. This tremolo, starts on A, then moves to D, suggesting that D will become a tonal focal point. Instead, the opening theme is in B-flat minor:
B-flat minor
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative c' {
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative c' {B minor is traditionally a 'dark' key. Important oboe solos in this key in the orchestral literature include the second movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, which depicts "the feeling that you get when you are all alone" in Tchaikovsky's words. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 is also in B minor. "An Alpine Symphony" by Richard Strauss begins and ends in B minor.
List of motets by Anton Bruckner
Between 1 October 1868 and 11 October 1896, during the "Vienna period" Bruckner devoted the most his time to his symphonies, with, between Symphonies No. 5 and 6, the String Quintet in F major, between Symphonies No. 6 and 7, the "Te Deum", and, between Symphonies No. 8 and 9, Psalm 150 and the secular cantata "Helgoland". In between Bruckner composed also the following motets:Some motets, as "Locus iste" and three other graduals, and the "Ave Maria" WAB 6, are very popular and are often put on LPs / CDs together with religious works of several composers, or as extras of a larger religious work (Mass No. 2). Frieder Bernius, Matthew Best, Uwe Gronostay, Simon Halsey, Philippe Herreweghe and Stephen Layton have recorded each 5 to 10 of the most popular motets, sometimes with the two Aequali.
Symphony No. 2 (Bruckner)
In the fall of 1871, after having become established in Vienna, Anton Bruckner embarked on a new symphonic project, his fourth, which in less than a year would result in a completed and copied score of nearly 2000 bars.
The Symphony No. 2, the composition of which became mostly written in the summer of 1872, represents a breakthrough in Bruckner’s conception of the symphony. Although Bruckner had been composing sonata-form movements with three distinct themes since he began writing symphonies in 1862, in 1872 he greatly expanded the scope of their presentation and development, and established the framework, which he will use consistently in all of his subsequent symphonic work. Moreover, the Adagio of this symphony is in ABA’B’A’’ lied form followed by a coda – the framework which Bruckner will use in his subsequent symphonic work, with exception of the Sixth.
Psalm 146 (Bruckner)
For the first time Bruckner is using a full orchestra, with yet some archaism such as the use of horns (part 4) and trombones (part 6) in homophony with the choir. "[The] closing Alleluja ... is Bruckner's most extended fugue prior to the Fifth Symphony." The five-minute long fugue is more mature than the quite formal fugues of Bruckner's previous works – a consequence of Sechter's tuition. Bruckner uses, "e.g.", an inversion of the theme in its development. 
Psalm 146 is also remarkable as the first piece in which Bruckner experimented with organic thematic integration on a large scale ... [It] also deserves to be heard more often for the lovely string "pianissimo" in its opening bars that foreshadows the beginning of both the D minor and F minor Masses.
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
\new Staff \relative c { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key f \major \clef bass \time 3/4Unlike the Fifth and Eighth symphonies, where the Finale sums up and the entire symphony, this Finale is not as expansive as the other movements. Georg Tintner compared this Finale to the finale of a Haydn symphony. Like the first movement, the fourth movement opens with tremolo strings:
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
Bruckner's score designs and sketches can be arranged harmoniously, so that a logical musical sequence results. There are five gaps in this musical process. The conclusion of the symphony, the so-called Coda, is missing. The gaps in the musical process are due to the fact that after Bruckner's death sheets of music were lost. The original material was more extensive. Bruckner's first biographer and secretary August Göllerich (1859-1923), who was also the secretary of Franz Liszt, began a comprehensive Bruckner biography, which was completed after his death by the Bruckner researcher Max Auer (1880-1962). In this nine-volume work is reported: "It was an unforgivable mistake that an inventory of the estate was not included and an exact list can not be determined. After Dr. Heller's report [Dr. Richard Heller was Bruckner's attending physician] the sheet music of the Master were laying around and parts of it were taken by qualified and unbidden people. It was even therefore not possible to find the chorale, which the Master had specially composed for Dr. Heller [...].
The Bruckner researcher Max Auer sighted in 1911 the surviving material of the final movement, which was then in the possession of the Bruckner student Joseph Schalk, and he refers to a sketch sheet of Bruckner, which is no longer available today. In his book "Bruckner" he explains: "The sketches [...] reveal a main theme, a fugue theme, a chorale and the fifth theme of the Te Deum." In addition, he writes in his book "Bruckner. His Life and Work": "Once these themes even towered over one another as in the finale of the 'Eight' (8th Symphony)." However, it is not possible to clearly identify which passage of the finale is actually meant.
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
Some changes were made after the 1884 premiere but before the first publication by Gutmann in 1885. It is widely accepted that Nikisch, Franz Schalk and Ferdinand Löwe had significant influence over this edition, but there is some debate over the extent to which these changes were authorized by Bruckner. These changes mostly affect tempo and orchestration.
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
Symphony No. 6 in A major (WAB 106) by Austrian composer Anton Bruckner (1824–1896) is a work in four movements composed between September 24, 1879 and September 3, 1881 and dedicated to his landlord, Dr. Anton van Ölzelt-Newin. Though it possesses many characteristic features of a Bruckner symphony, it differs the most from the rest of his symphonic repertory. Redlich went so far as to cite the lack of hallmarks of Bruckner's symphonic compositional style in the Sixth Symphony for the somewhat bewildered reaction of supporters and critics alike.
Bruckner rhythm
One example is in the main theme of the first movement of Symphony No. 4, from bars 43 forward:\new Staff \relative es' { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \stemUp \tempo 2 = 55 \clef "tenor" \key es \major \time 2/2Bruckner also used the rhythm with a single pitch repeated, and this is the only way it occurs in Symphony No. 2 (e.g., bars 20 and 122). In Symphony No. 6, the Bruckner rhythm occurs to a much greater extent than in previous works, in several parts at slightly different times. At first it occurs as a string ostinato high in the violins' range against a melody of different rhythm in the cellos (bar 3), while at bars 195 - 209 it serves to articulate hexatonic cycle block chords. The rhythm occurs in somewhat more "manageable" form in the secondary theme group of Symphony No. 8, where it usually occurs in the same way in all the parts.\new Staff { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key c \minor \clef treble \time 2/2 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \stemUp \tempo 2 = 55The Bruckner rhythm also occurs in the works of other composers, such as in Howard Hanson's Romantic Symphony, where it occurs mostly in the horns' and trumpets' parts.
Symphony No. 5 (Bruckner)
\relative c' {Like much of Bruckner's music, this movement's exposition contains three main key regions instead of the usual two. The second theme group is in F minor, and comprises a small ternary form, with sections in F minor, D-flat major, and F minor:
D-flat minor
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative c' {
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative c' {D minor is usually notated as the enharmonic key of C♯ minor, as in the second and third measures of Amy Beach's "Canticle of the Sun". However, unusually, two of Verdi's most well-known operas, "La traviata" and "Rigoletto", both end very decisively in D minor (although written with the five-flat key signature of the parallel major). Mahler's thematic motif "der kleine Appell" ("call to order") from his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies uses both notations: in his Symphony No. 4 (first movement) it is in D minor, but in his Symphony No. 5 it is in C minor. In the "Adagio" of his Symphony No. 9 a solo bassoon interpolation following the main theme appears first in D minor, returning twice more notated in C minor. Likewise, in the "Adagio" of Bruckner's Symphony No. 8, phrases that are tonally in D minor are notated as C minor.
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
This is the only Bruckner symphony exempt from any revisions by the composer. (The Fifth, Sixth and Seventh represent Bruckner's period of confidence as a composer and, along with the unfinished Ninth, are as a group the symphonies he did not extensively revise.) The Sixth was first published in 1899, a task overseen by former Bruckner pupil Cyrill Hynais. This edition did encompass a few minute changes from Bruckner's original: the repetition of the second half of the Trio in the third movement. The next edition appeared only in 1935, from Robert Haas under "Internationale Bruckner-Gesellschaft" auspices. In 1952 Leopold Nowak, who took over Haas's job, published an edition that was a replicate of Bruckner's 1881 original score. In 1986 the "IBG" issued an “audit” of the efforts of Hynais, Haas and Nowak, and in 1997 it republished the Nowak.
Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)
After the lapse of almost a year (during which he composed his String Quintet in F Major), Bruckner took up his Fourth Symphony once again. Between 19 November 1879 and 5 June 1880 he composed a new finale – the third, though it shares much of its thematic material with the first version – and discarded the "Volksfest" finale. Thus the 1880 version is the same as the 1878 version but with a new finale. This was the version performed at the work's premiere on 20 February 1881, which was the first premiere of a Bruckner symphony not to be conducted by Bruckner himself. This version is sometimes referred to as the 1878/80 version.
Curse of the ninth
The difficulties with this analysis are obvious. From Mahler's point of view, the only important victim of any "curse of the ninth" (Mahler is not known to have used the term) would have been Ludwig van Beethoven. Even Anton Bruckner (with whom Mahler had been closely associated) fails to qualify: Bruckner died "before completing" the work that is now played as his (unfinished) "Ninth Symphony", with the result that his symphonic total is eight if only the completed canonical works are counted – and ten if the list includes the early Study Symphony in F minor and the D minor Symphony now known as "No. 0" – both of them withdrawn by the composer. Bruckner was in fact superstitious about his own Ninth Symphony; but this was not because of any belief in a "curse of the ninth", but because it was in the same key as Beethoven's Ninth.
Symphony No. 7 (Mahler)
The movement is in sonata form. It begins with a slow introduction in B minor, launched by a dark melody played by a .
The accompaniment rhythm
was said to have come to Mahler whilst rowing on the lake at Maiernigg after a period of compositional drought. The principal theme, presented by horns in unison in E minor, is accompanied similarly, though much faster and in a higher register.
The second theme is then presented by violins, accompanied by sweeping cello arpeggios.
This theme is infected with chromatic sequences. At one point the violins reach an F (the highest F on a piano). The exposition is wrapped up with a march theme from the introduction, which is followed by a repeat of the principal theme.
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
\new Staff \relative c { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key c \major \clef bass \time 2/2
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
Robert Haas attempted to remove the influence of Nikisch, Schalk and Löwe in order to retrieve Bruckner's original conception of the symphony. Haas used some material from the 1883 autograph but because this autograph also includes later changes much of his work was the product of conjecture. The most prominent feature of Haas's edition is the absence of cymbals, triangle and timpani in the slow movement: Haas asserted that Bruckner decided to omit the percussion, a claim scholar Benjamin Korstvedt deems "implausible".
Symphony No. 7 (Prokofiev)
Keyboard
Symphony No. 2 (Bruckner)
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\new Staff \relative as' { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key aes \major \clef treble \time 4/4
Symphony No. 2 (Bruckner)
\new Staff \relative c" { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key c \minor \clef treble \time 2/2 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 2 = 95
\new Staff \relative g { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key c \minor \clef treble \time 2/2
Symphony No. 8 (Bruckner)
In an 1891 letter to conductor Felix Weingartner, Bruckner gave extramusical associations to several parts of the symphony:
In the first movement, the trumpet and horn passage based on the rhythm of the [main] theme in the "Todesverkündigung" [the annunciation of death], which gradually grows stronger, and finally emerges very strongly. At the end: surrender.
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
Thematically speaking, there are two distinct varieties of themes in Bruckner's symphonies. First, there are themes that are clearly defined in shape and then there are the themes that operate more as motives with a shorter length and a more open-ended shape, as is typical of the Sixth Symphony. Another characteristic thematic feature of Bruckner's symphonies is the intimate relationship between the outer two movements, though there is typically more of an emphasis on thematic contrast within the first movement. Specifically, the amplification of the exposition of the first movement consists of two subsidiary themes as well as the primary theme, which are subsequently developed, a technique that is considered uniquely Brucknerian.
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
Bruckner's tendency to telescope sonata form development and recapitulation finds its fullest realization in this movement, the form of which Robert Simpson describes as "Statement, Counterstatement and Coda." An unusually large number of motifs are given in the first subject group, and these are substantially and richly developed on restatement and in the coda. The main theme of the movement, which is given by the full orchestra, contains an octave fall that is effectively in a quadruple-dotted rhythm (Whole note tied to triple-dotted half note).
Symphony No. 5 (Bruckner)
This remains "unpublished". In 1997 a first attempt at reconstruction — by including in the Finale music from the "1876 First Concept" (Ed. Carragan) — was recorded by Shunsaku Tsutsumi with the Shunyukai Symphony Orchestra. In 2008 Takanobu Kawasaki was able to assemble the original concepts (1875–1877) of the symphony from manuscripts Mus.Hs.19.477 and Mus.Hs.3162 at the Austrian National Library; these were recorded by Akira Naito with the Tokyo New City Orchestra. John F. Berky: “[Naito’s] is the best available CD to present some of Bruckner’s early thoughts for this massive symphony.” In this version the symphony is scored without a bass tuba, and more prominence is given to the string instruments. The tempo of the Adagio introductions to Movements 1 and 4, and that of Movement 2, are scored "alla breve", i.e. notably faster than in 1878.
D-flat major
In orchestral music, the examples are fewer. Gustav Mahler concluded his last completed Ninth Symphony with an adagio in D-flat major, rather than the home key of D major of the first movement. Anton Bruckner wrote the third movement of his Symphony No. 8 in D-flat major, while every other movement is in C minor. Antonín Dvořák wrote the second movement of his Symphony No. 9 in D-flat major, while every other movement is in E minor. The first piano concerto of Sergei Prokofiev is also written in D-flat major, with a short slow movement in G-sharp minor. Aram Khachaturian wrote his Piano Concerto, Op. 38, in the key of D-flat major. Choral writing explores D-flat infrequently, a notable example being Robert Schumann's "Requiem", Op. 148, and Gabriel Fauré's "Cantique de Jean Racine". Vincent d'Indy's String Quartet No. 3, Op. 96, is in D-flat.
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
The fugue of the final movement is particularly central to Schaller's completion - the heightened contrapuntal tension concentrated into this fugue is used in the finale as a lead to the climax to the thematic material at the start of the symphony, transposed to the major key, and as a polythematic review of all movements as in the Eighth Symphony. In his completion of the coda of the final movement, Schaller draws on themes and motives from across Bruckner's works in the form of a compositional retrospective with building-blocks from earlier symphonies, choral symphonic works and thematic references to other movements of the Ninth.
String Quintet (Bruckner)
"Certainly this finale is one of the strangest in Master's oeuvre. First of all, his key is completely veiled, but there is nothing to be assumed in Meister's sense of tonality except that it strives to return to the main key of the work." the Bruckner biographers Max Auer and August Göllerich declare" and recommend the finale directly to the Adagio at the performance of the work The ¾-measure of the first movement is juxtaposed with the 4/4-measure of the final movement. Above a pulsating organ point Des, the quartet-containing main theme sounds in the Second Violin. First Viola and First Violin respond with a sweeping melodic phrase. Striking is the frequent use of Sesto in the Ländler-like eighth-note of the first viola, which is due to the line of the second violin and the violoncello of the first part and refers directly to the trio in Scherzo. An airy counterpart of the first violin pushes playfully unstoppable upwards. The actual implementation theme becomes the starting point of a fugue whose theme is contrasted with a striking triplet figure. Finally, the recapitulation follows in D flat major. The coda is a jubilant conclusion.
String Quintet (Bruckner)
Bruckner's only large chamber music work is symphonic as well as with clearly distinct instrumental part writing.A wealth of musical ideas is unfolded: Polyphony and motive-thematic work play a significant role, and a colourful pattern lords the work over by the deployment of the tessituras and the voices of all the instruments, with audacious modulations, theme inversions and half-tone key changes ("e.g.", the Adagio in G-flat major).Differently from in Bruckner's symphonies, the form is more compact and the score starts with a clear melodic profile in 3/4 on a pedal point of the cello. On the other hand, the finale starts as in the symphonies with a tremolo. The combination of all musical ideas at the end of the first movement, and the three-thematic setting of the finale are also similar to that of Bruckner's symphonies. Alike that of the next Seventh Symphony, the finale is in "arch form".
Anton Bruckner
In the 2001 Second Edition of the "New Grove", Mark Evan Bonds called the Bruckner symphonies "monumental in scope and design, combining lyricism with an inherently polyphonic design... Bruckner favored an approach to large-scale form that relied more on large-scale thematic and harmonic juxtaposition. Over the course of his output, one senses an ever-increasing interest in cyclic integration that culminates in his masterpiece, the Symphony No. 8 in C minor, a work whose final page integrates the main themes of all four movements simultaneously."
In 1990, The American artist, Jack Ox, gave a paper called "The Systematic Translation of Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony into a series of Thirteen Paintings" at the Bruckner Symposium in Linz Austria; here she structurally analyzed all of the Eighth Symphony's themes. She then proceeded to show how she mapped this musical data into a series of twelve large, painted visualizations. The conference report was published in 1993,
Symphony Number One
Anton Bruckner
Symphony No. 7 (Prokofiev)
Brass
List of symphonies by Anton Bruckner
The Symphony No. 7 in E major was the most beloved of Bruckner's symphonies with audiences of the time, and is still popular. It was written 1881–1883 and revised in 1885. During the time that Bruckner began work on this symphony, he was aware that Wagner's death was imminent, and so the Adagio is slow mournful music for Wagner (the climax of the movement comes at rehearsal letter W), and for the first time in Bruckner's oeuvre, Wagner tubas are included in the orchestra.
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
The fugue is extraordinary in the final movement of the Ninth Symphony, although the inclusion of a fugue in the symphonic context of Bruckner is not uncommon. However, the fugue in the finale of the Ninth has a prominent position, as Rainer Boss explained: "Compared to the other use of the finals main themes as Fugenthema the main theme of the finale of the 9th Symphony has a peculiarity, because it is not accepted unchanged, but for the Fugue transformed in its last two bars. [...] So also for Bruckner conditions 'unusual' form of joint exposure is to explain that exceptionally without the two-bar extension of the comes for the purpose of modulatory regression dux."
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
About a possible transition music to the Te Deum it continues: "The Master's student August Stradal and Altwirth assure that he had played them a 'transition to the Tedeum' Stradal noted the memory. This transition music was to lead from E major to C major, the key of the Te Deum. Surrounded by the string figures of the Te Deum, there was a chorale that is not included in the Te Deum. Stradall's remark that the manuscript is in Schalk's seems to indicate that it refers to the final bars of the Finale score, which Bruckner has overwritten with 'Choral 2. Abtheilung'. [...] That Bruckner deliberately wanted to bring the Te Deum motif, proves the remark, Te Deum 'thirteen bars before the Te Deum figure. The master does not seem to have devised an independent transitional music from the Adagio to the Te Deum, but rather one from the point of reprise, where the coda begins, from the communication of the aforementioned informants, whose correctness can be proved by the hand of the manuscript should".
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
The score calls for three each of flutes, oboes, clarinets in B♭ and A, bassoons, with eight horns (5.–8. Hn. doubling on Wagner tubas), three trumpets in F, three trombones, contrabass tuba, timpani and strings.The first movement in D minor (alla breve) is a freely designed sonata movement with three thematic parts. At the beginning, the strings in the tremolo intone the root note d, which is solidified in the third bar by the woodwinds. A first thematic nucleus sounds in the horns as a "(fundamental) tone repetition in the triple-dotted rhythm, from which the interval of the third, then the fifth dissolves, fits into the underlying metric order structure by caesurating strokes of the timpani and trumpets. A symphony can hardly begin more primitive, elemental, archetypal." The typical phenomenon of sound splitting for Bruckner occurs in bar 19: the root note D is dissociated into its neighboring notes E♭ and D♭. A bold E-flat major upswing of the horns announces something auspicious. As a result, an extended development phase prepares the entry of the main theme. Manfred Wagner points to the specificity of Bruckner's music, which underlies the principle of development and the exploration of sound: "Bruckner still believes in the compelling musical thought, but concludes it as the culmination of development, but he knows that in the future it will be much more about the circumstances, how something will be than what it will be." Bruckner's path of theme creation is getting longer; it takes more and more time for the main idea to break out.
Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)
There exists much evidence that Bruckner had a program in mind for the Fourth Symphony. In a letter to conductor Hermann Levi of 8 December 1884, Bruckner wrote: "In the first movement after a full night's sleep the day is announced by the horn, 2nd movement song, 3rd movement hunting trio, musical entertainment of the hunters in the wood. There is a similar passage in a letter from the composer to Paul Heyse of 22 December 1890: "In the first movement of the 'Romantic' Fourth Symphony the intention is to depict the horn that proclaims the day from the town hall! Then life goes on; in the "Gesangsperiode" [the second subject] the theme is the song of the great tit [a bird] "Zizipe". 2nd movement: song, prayer, serenade. 3rd: hunt and in the Trio how a barrel-organ plays during the midday meal in the forest.
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
As can be seen from the cited sources, August Göllerich, Anton Meißner, August Stradal and Theodor Altwirth, persons who knew Bruckner personally and were familiar with him, report in unison that Bruckner was no longer able to complete an instrumental finale: "Realizing that the completion of a purely instrumental final movement was impossible, he attempted to establish an organic connection to the Te Deum, which was finally proposed to him, and thus to produce an emergency closure of the work, contrary to the tonal misgivings." Bruckner, therefore, certainly had tonal misgivings about ending the D minor symphony in C major. Nevertheless, he drew the variant with the Te Deum as a final replacement - at least according to the testimony of various eyewitnesses - into consideration.
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
The chamber arrangement has been recorded, by among others, the Thomas Christian Ensemble, proving to one reviewer "beyond doubt that it simply takes more than 10 musicians, no matter how good they are, to play a Bruckner symphony."
Major seventh
The major seventh interval is considered one of the most dissonant intervals after its inversion the minor second. For this reason, its melodic use is infrequent in classical music. However, in the genial Gavotte from J.S. Bach’s Partita in E major for solo violin , a major seventh features both as a chord (bar 1) and as a melodic interval (bar 5): Another piece that makes more dramatic use of the major seventh is "The Hut on Fowl's Legs" from Mussorgsky's piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition" (1874). 
Another is the closing duet from Verdi's "Aida", "O terra addio." During the early 20th century, the major seventh was used increasingly both as a melodic and a harmonic interval, particularly by composers of the Second Viennese School. Anton Webern's Variations for Piano, Op. 27, opens with a major seventh and the interval recurs frequently throughout the piece.
Under equal temperament this interval is enharmonically equivalent to a diminished octave (which has a similar musical use to the augmented unison).
A major
Although not as rare in the symphonic literature as sharper keys, examples of symphonies in A major are not as numerous as for D major or G major. Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, Bruckner's Symphony No. 6 and Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4 comprise a nearly complete list of symphonies in this key in the Romantic era. Mozart's Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet are both in A major, along with his 23rd piano concerto, and generally Mozart was more likely to use clarinets in A major than in any other key besides E-flat major. Moreover, the climax part of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto is also in A major.
Anton Bruckner
alone succeeded in creating a new school of symphonic writing... Some have classified him as a conservative, some as a radical. Really he was neither, or alternatively was a fusion of both... [H]is music, though Wagnerian in its orchestration and in its huge rising and falling periods, patently has its roots in older styles. Bruckner took Beethoven's Ninth Symphony as his starting-point... The introduction to the first movement, beginning mysteriously and climbing slowly with fragments of the first theme to the gigantic full statement of that theme, was taken over by Bruckner; so was the awe-inspiring coda of the first movement. The scherzo and slow movement, with their alternation of melodies, are models for Bruckner's spacious middle movements, while the finale with a grand culminating hymn is a feature of almost every Bruckner symphony.
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
The Bruckner researcher Max Auer sighted in 1911 the surviving final material, which was then in the possession of the Bruckner student Joseph Schalk, and refers to a sketch sheet of Bruckner, which is no longer available today. In his book "Bruckner" he explains: "The sketches of the same reveal a main theme, a fugue theme, a chorale and the quintet theme of Te Deum." In addition, he writes in his book "Bruckner. His life and work": "Once these topics even towered over one another as in the Finale of the 'Eighth'." However, which part of the finale is actually meant with this can not be clearly identified.
Symphony No. 2 (Bruckner)
This rhythm is an important device and will recur throughout the movement. The first theme group closes with one of the symphony's characteristic pauses and leads to the second theme group in E flat major:The third theme group is also in E flat major:
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
The orchestration of the Sixth Symphony complies with Bruckner's customary, albeit peculiar, techniques. Just as in his other symphonic works, there are no marks of extreme virtuosity apparent in the score and the lines are straightforward. The Sixth Symphony is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, bass tuba, timpani, and string section. Bruckner commonly alternates between solo and tutti sections, as well as layering instruments to provide texture and show different subject groups.
Christus factus est, WAB 11
Bruckner composed the piece when he was in preparation to have his seventh symphony performed and revised his Te Deum. The second part of the Grail-motif from Wagner's "Parsifal" which the composer had heard in Bayreuth in 1882 is also the "Dresdner Amen".
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
\new Staff \relative c { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"string ensemble 1" \key aes \major \clef bass \time 4/4
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
Furthermore, Max Auer explains in his Bruckner book, published by the Amalthea publishing house: "It is true that Bruckner led the pen until the last day of his life to finish his 'Ninth' with a Finale. The extensive sketches show that the master also wanted to conclude this work, like the Fifth Symphony, with a purely instrumental Finale and a powerful fugue. In the middle of his work on the Fugue, death robbed him of the pen." - And indeed, the last almost completely orchestrated score pages are traceable in the fugue. The subsequent score pages are only incompletely instrumented, although the strings are quoted extensively, but the winds are incomplete or only hinted at.
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
In the Ninth Symphony, Bruckner consistently continues his chosen symphonic path by adhering to the sonata form (extended to the third theme). At the same time he expands the form and enhances it to the monumental. The expansion of the orchestra apparatus is also an expression of this mass increase. The Bruckner researcher Alfred Orel states: "If one looks at the overall apparatus that Bruckner uses, the most striking thing is the amount of sound that was hitherto unknown in absolute music." - and Orel draws the conclusion: "The orchestra of the IX , Bruckner's symphony is only the end point of Bruckner's aural development line with regard to the means used. [...] The decisive factor, however, is not the mass of means of expression, but the way in which they are used. "With reference to the Adagio of the Ninth, he emphasizes:" As in Strings of the group, woodwinds and brass instruments are soon to be juxtaposed, soon to be coupled again in the most diverse ways, and united to form an inseparable whole, as well as in individual sound the instruments of these groups. On the one hand the open work, on the other hand Bruckner's peculiarity to form his themes often out of short phrases, mean that an instrument seldom emerges solo for a long time without interruption."
Symphony No. 7 (Mahler)
Symphony No. 7 by Gustav Mahler was written in 1904–05, with repeated revisions to the scoring. It is sometimes referred to by the title Song of the Night (), which Mahler never knew (and certainly would be unlikely to have sanctioned). Although the symphony is often described as being in the key of E minor, its tonal scheme is more complicated. The symphony's first movement moves from B minor (introduction) to E minor, and the work ends with a rondo finale in C major. Thus, as Dika Newlin has pointed out, "in this symphony Mahler returns to the ideal of 'progressive tonality' which he had abandoned in the Sixth". The complexity of the work's tonal scheme was analysed in terms of "interlocking structures" by Graham George.
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
Here, Hanslick touched on the most common complaint about Bruckner's symphonic writing: the seemingly endless journey to a conclusion of musical thought. Dyneley Hussey critiqued the Sixth Symphony in a 1957 review for "The Musical Times" and reached the same conclusions half a century later, writing: 
His [Bruckner's] most tiresome habit is his way of pulling up dead at frequent intervals, and then starting the argument all over again...One has the impression...that we are traversing a town with innumerable traffic lights, all of which turn red as we approach them.
Harsh critical reception of the Sixth Symphony, as well as his entire body of work, can also be attributed to critical reception of Bruckner as a person. He was a devout Catholic whose religious fervor often had a negative effect on those he encountered. One of his pupils, Franz Schalk, commented that it was the age of moral and spiritual liberalism...but also in which he [Bruckner] intruded...with his medieval, monasterial concept of humankind and life.
String Quintet (Bruckner)
Bruckner biographer Derek Watson finds the work "by no means a 'symphony for five strings' and it never stretches the quintet medium beyond its capabilities, save perhaps for the last seventeen bars of the finale, where [Bruckner] is thinking too much in orchestral terms." Robert Simpson, in the revised, 1992 edition of "The Essence of Bruckner", withdrew the reservations he had expressed about this work in the first two editions of that work and declared it "one of the most idiosyncratic but deepest chamber works since Beethoven."
E major
Even in the 19th century, symphonies in this key were rare, with Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 being one of very few examples (see list of symphonies in E major). For Bruckner, "the key of E major is frequently associated with music of contemplation."
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
About a possible transition music to the Te Deum it continues in the biography: "The Master's student August Stradal and Altwirth assure that he had played for them a 'transition to the Tedeum', Stradal noted out of his memory. This transition music was to lead from E major to C major, the key of the Te Deum. Surrounded by the string figures of the Te Deum, there was a chorale that is not included in the Te Deum. Stradal's remark that the manuscript, that is in Schalk's hands, seems to indicate that it refers to the final bars of the finale score, which Bruckner has overwritten with 'Chorale 2nd Division'. [...] That Bruckner deliberately wanted to bring the Te Deum motif, proves the remark 'Te Deum thirteen bars before the entrance of the Te Deum figure'. As can be proved from the communication of the aforementioned informants, whose correctness can be proved by the hand of the manuscript, the master does not seem to have devised an independent transitional music from the Adagio to the Te Deum, but rather one from the point of reprise, where the coda begins."
Symphony No. 1 (Bruckner)
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 in C minor (WAB 101) was the first symphony the composer thought worthy of performing, and bequeathing to the Austrian National Library. Chronologically it comes after the Study Symphony in F minor and before the "nullified" Symphony in D minor. (Symphony No. 2 in C minor was completed after the "nullified" Symphony in D minor.) The composer gave it the nickname “Das kecke Beserl,” or “The Saucy Maid,” and conducted its 1868 premiere. Much later, after Bruckner was granted an honorary University of Vienna doctorate in 1891, he dedicated the 1890 version of the work to that institution. 
The symphony has four movements:The choices of key for the first two movements mirror Beethoven’s for his Fifth Symphony, but Bruckner has the timpani retune to A-flat and E-flat.
Symphony No. 7 (Simpson)
Robert Simpson composed his Seventh Symphony in 1977, the same year he completed his Sixth Symphony. The work is dedicated to Hans Keller and his wife, Milein Keller, and was first performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Brian Wright at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool on 30 October 1984. It is a one-movement work of approximately 28 minutes duration, and since its first performance it has become one of Simpson’s most frequently heard symphonies.
Symphony No. 8 (Bruckner)
Finale: At the time our Emperor received the visit of the Czars at Olmütz; thus, strings: the Cossacks; brass: military music; trumpets: fanfares, as the Majesties meet. In closing, all themes … thus as "deutscher Michel" arrives home from his journey, everything is already gloriously brilliant. In the Finale there is also the death march and then (brass) transfiguration.
Bruckner's associates report other comments that the composer is said to have made about the symphony. The coda to the first movement is "how it is when one is on his deathbed, and opposite hangs a clock, which, while his life comes to an end, beats on ever steadily: tick, tock, tick, tock" while in the slow movement "I have gazed too deeply into a maiden's eyes".
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
Although Bruckner is supposed to have suggested using his "Te Deum" as the finale of the Ninth Symphony, there have been several attempts to complete the symphony with a fourth movement based on Bruckner's surviving manuscripts for the Finale. Indeed, Bruckner's suggestion has been used as a justification for completing the fourth movement, since, in addition to the existence of the fragment of the Finale, it shows (according to scholars such as John A. Phillips), that the composer did not want this work to end with the Adagio.
Sonata form
Exceptions include the first movement of Brahms's Piano Sonata No. 1. The general key of the movement is C major, and it would then follow that the retransition should stress the dominant seventh chord on G. Instead, it builds in strength over the dominant seventh chord on C, as if the music were proceeding to F major, only to take up immediately the first theme in C major. Another exception is the fourth movement of Schubert's Symphony No. 9. The home key of the movement is C major. The retransition prolongates over the dominant chord on G, but suddenly takes up the first theme in the flattened mediant E major.
List of symphonies by Anton Bruckner
The Symphony No. 6 in A major written in 1879 to 1881, is an oft-neglected work; whereas the Bruckner rhythm (two quarters plus a quarter triplet or vice versa) is an important part of his previous symphonies, it pervades this work, particularly in the first movement, making it particularly difficult to perform.
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
Except for the third movement where the use of timpani figures prominently, usage of percussion in the symphony is extremely limited. A timpani roll enters at the coda of the first movement. In some performance editions, the timpani re-enters along with cymbals and triangle together in the climax of the second movement (the only movement employing cymbals and triangle). Many conductors perform the second movement without percussion (as in the Haas edition), however; the decision is generally settled by the performers' preferences. In the last movement, the timpani rolls in brief climaxes before crescendoing with orchestral tutti in the final bars.
Symphony No. 8 (Bruckner)
The symphony has four movements. The total duration varies by performance and the edition of the score used, but is typically around 80 minutes.The symphony begins in a tonally ambiguous manner with a theme rhythmically reminiscent of the main theme of the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor and of the March in D minor of 1862. According to theorist Heinrich Schenker this passage is "like the beginning of the world."
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
The first commercial recording was made by Oskar Fried with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra in 1924 for Polydor. Along with Symphony No. 4, the Seventh is the most popular Bruckner symphony both in the concert hall and on record.
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
As already pointed out by Hans-Hubert Schönzeler, Bruckner has "his roots in the music of Palestrina, Bach, Beethoven, Schubert". At the same time, however, Bruckner is also regarded as one of the key innovators of late 19th-century harmony alongside Franz Liszt.
Symphony No. 8 (Bruckner)
Bruckner began work on the Eighth Symphony in July 1884. Working mainly during the summer vacations from his duties at the University of Vienna and the Vienna Conservatory, the composer had all four movements completed in draft form by August 1885. The orchestration of the work took Bruckner until April 1887 to complete: during this stage of composition the order of the inner movements was reversed, leaving the scherzo second and the Adagio as the third movement.
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
The Coda once again encompasses a broad range of keys and juxtaposes the primary theme with the main theme from the first movement. A final massive statement of A major asserts itself (bar 397) seemingly out of nowhere, embodying Bruckner's amazing ability to establish the tonic without a doubt and without the kind of preparation one would normally expect. This movement does not, nor was it intended to have the vast impact of the Finale of Bruckner's Symphony No. 5, but it is infinitely more refined than the Finale of his Fourth Symphony. According to Watson, the victorious conclusion of Bruckner's quest for a new and ideal finale form will be celebrated in his Eighth Symphony, but the Sixth Symphony's development is an eminent and profoundly satisfying landmark on that triumphant march.
Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
The second theme group is in the distant key of A-flat major:The third theme group is a characteristic "octave theme" given by the whole orchestra in A minor:
Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs
Since 1996 Cohrs contributes to international music magazines, presents pre-concert-talks as well as own radio programmes (Radio Bremen, SWR, WDR, ORF), writes programme notes, booklet notes, reports on musicological conferences and is a successful editor of music. From 1995 to 2012 he was a co-editor of the "Bruckner-Gesamtausgabe" (Bruckner complete edition, Vienna). Today he is a well-known Bruckner-scholar, in particular due to his studies and editions on Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. He was also part of the editorial team of Nicola Samale which prepared the Completed Performing Version of the unfinished Finale of Bruckner’s Ninth (1986–2006). For the Magazine Musik-Konzepte he compiled Vol. 120/121/122 on request of the earlier editors, Heinz-Klaus Metzger and Rainer Riehn ("Bruckners Neunte im Fegefeuer der Rezeption", Munich 2003). He also edited new completed performing versions of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony in b-minor, the Great Mass in C minor and the Requiem by Mozart, both based on original sources. Since 2012 he is Editor in Chief of the Anton Bruckner Edition Wien (Alexander Hermann publishing group, Vienna), in which all collected works by Anton Bruckner will appear in new, modern Urtext editions. As the first volume of the Anton Bruckner Urtext Gesamtausgabe (Patron: Nikolaus Harnoncourt), the Seventh Symphony will appear in Summer 2015. (First Performance: 2 May 2015, Milano/La Scala; 3 May 2015, Vienna/Musikverein; Berliner Philharmoniker, Simon Rattle)
Symphony No. 8 (Bruckner)
The main difference between versions is at the climax, for which in the 1887 version Bruckner managed to insert six cymbal clashes. He must have thought that excessive, as he pared it down to two in the 1890 version. The key of this climax was also altered from C major in 1887 to E-flat major in 1890. The coda of this movement is recalled in the coda of the Adagio of the Ninth Symphony.
Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)
The second movement is in obvious sonata form, the only example of a sonata structure "Adagio" in Bruckner's symphonies, apart from that of the "nullified" Symphony in D minor and the early draft of the Adagio of the First Symphony, dating from 1865. Simpson went so far as to describe the movement as the most perfectly realized slow sonata design since the "Adagio" of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" sonata The movement opens with a theme in the strings, a yearning love song that is joined (bar 5) by a mournful lament on the oboe:
Harmonic seventh
The harmonic seventh interval , also known as the septimal minor seventh, or subminor seventh, is one with an exact 7:4 ratio (about 969 cents). This is somewhat narrower than and is, "particularly sweet," "sweeter in quality" than an "ordinary" Just minor seventh, which has an intonation ratio of 9:5 (about 1018 cents), or very nearly an equal-temperament ratio of 2^(5÷6):1 (1000 cents).
The harmonic seventh arises from the harmonic series as the interval between the fourth harmonic (second octave of the fundamental) and the seventh harmonic; in that octave, harmonics 4, 5, 6, and 7 constitute a purely consonant major chord with added seventh (first inversion).
When played on the natural horn, as a compromise the note is often adjusted to 16:9 of the root (for C maj, the substituted note is B, 996.09 cents), but some pieces call for the pure harmonic seventh, including Britten's "Serenade for tenor, horn and strings". Composer Ben Johnston uses a small "7" as an accidental to indicate a note is lowered 49 cents (1018 − 969 = 49), or an upside-down "7" to indicate a note is raised 49 cents. Thus, in C major, "the seventh partial," or harmonic seventh, is notated as note with "7" written above the flat.
The harmonic seventh is also expected from barbershop quartet singers when they tune dominant seventh chords (harmonic seventh chord), and is considered an essential aspect of the barbershop style.
In ¼ comma meantone tuning, standard in the Baroque and earlier, the augmented sixth is 965.78 cents – only 3 cents below 7:4, well within normal tuning error and vibrato. Pipe organs were the last fixed-tuning instrument to adopt equal temperament. With the transition of organ tuning from meantone to equal-temperament in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the formerly harmonic G and B became “lost chords” (among other chords).
Symphony No. 9 (Bruckner)
At the end of the exposure, there is a pause on the note F. Seamlessly follows the implementation. With regard to the formal design of the performance and the subsequent reprise, Bruckner takes his symphonic path a step further by not separating the two sections, but merging them. Already Alfred Orel emphasizes: "These two parts [execution and recapitulation] have become the internal plant not only by soldering the seam into a unified whole. The implementation consists of an extension of the main theme, but without changing the arrangement of the motif material in its tripartite division. Thus, the first part of the main theme experiences a repetition - not true to the original but the inner essence. The repetition, however, is combined with the motif material of the second part in the inversion as accompaniment. The second part is also extended and, as in the exposition, leads to the third part and climax with the same increase as in the exposition. [...] This climax is also extended by repeated, increasing sequencing. The sudden conclusion of the exposition is avoided; It is replaced by a short performance of the motif material of this climax with a new motive for independent accompaniment that determines the character of this passage." Finally, a summit point results on the third part of the main theme. A repeated transfer is omitted. An organ point on the note a slows down the movement and prepares the varied page set. The seemingly incomplete reprise begins - the three-part sonata form here returns to its original bipartite nature. The coda again dominates the material of the main theme, which is enhanced by a persistent, punctuated rhythm and the repeated juxtaposition of E flat major and D minor to a provisional, yet to be released apotheosis.