2nd symphony (Bruckner)

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The Symphony no. 2 in C minor ( WAB 102) is the work of Anton Bruckner .

Emergence

In October 1868 Bruckner moved to Vienna to take up his position at the Conservatory (professor for harmony and counterpoint) as the successor to the famous Simon Sechter . During this time he also traveled to England and France to perform as an organ virtuoso, which brought him great success. More than two years after completing the symphony in D minor , which was canceled a short time later , he began composing his Second Symphony in October 1871, the first parts of which were still entitled "Symphony No. 3". Bruckner completed the first movement - presumably after a long break in work - in July 1872 and composed the following movements in the order Scherzo - Adagio - Finale. In June, Bruckner's Mass in F minor had a successful premiere; it is present through several quotations in the Second Symphony. Bruckner completed the symphony in September 1872 during his summer stay in St. Florian.

In October 1872 the new symphony was rehearsed with the Vienna Philharmonic under Otto Dessoff , but the response was divided. A performance was ultimately rejected, presumably because of Dessoff's vehement rejection. On October 26, 1873, at the end of the Vienna World Exhibition and thanks to the mediation and financial help of some patrons - such as the parliamentarian August Göllerich, father of the Bruckner biographer August Göllerich , and Prince Johann Liechtenstein II - the Vienna Philharmonic played under Bruckner's direction then the world premiere of the Second Symphony. The work met with an extremely positive response from the audience and the musicians. The press was divided, and even Eduard Hanslick found words of praise. On February 20, 1876 there was a second performance by the Vienna Philharmonic, again under Bruckner's direction.

The Second Symphony was offered to Franz Liszt for dedication in 1884. The latter, however, forgot the score and the dedication was not printed; the Vienna Philharmonic had previously refused to be dedicatee. This makes this symphony the only Bruckner that was not dedicated.

Revisions and versions

Bruckner made important changes to the symphony during the composing process. Even before the rehearsal in October 1872 under Dessoff, the order of the middle movements was reversed, so that the traditional sequence resulted: first movement - Adagio - Scherzo - Finale. The slow movement was supplemented by an extensive fifth section before the coda with sextoles in the first violins. Before the premiere in 1873, further revisions were made: the fifth section of the Adagio was given an extended violin solo and the horn solo at the end was probably moved to the clarinet and violas for technical reasons. In addition, a harmoniously daring section in the implementation of the finale was shortened and replaced by a section labeled "New Movement". At the end of the finale, the second crescendo was canceled, so that the fortissimo closing bars immediately followed the quiet quotation of earlier themes. A fourth trombone was added for the last bars, the main motif of which was only in the lower strings, which aroused associations with an organ pedal solo.

For the second performance in 1876, further changes were made: the end of the first movement was shortened by a crescendo, and the end of the finale was modified again: the second crescendo was reinserted, but the first including the theme quotations was deleted. The fourth trumpet at the end was abandoned; instead, the motif was placed in all strings.

As part of the extensive revision process in 1876/77, the Second Symphony was revised again and the title of the movement changed. In the slow movement, an extensive passage was removed in the second section, the violin solo was dropped and the wind section of the last section was further elaborated. The "new sentence" in the finale has been replaced by an even shorter passage. Individual sections of the shape, especially in the final, were shortened or completely deleted.

Bruckner also made minor changes to the first edition of the Second Symphony, which appeared in 1892 with the collaboration of Bruckner's pupil Cyrill Hynais, mainly affecting the instrumentation, dynamics and articulation instructions. In the finale, Vi-de was proposed as a large line that encompasses almost the entire recapitulation. The conclusions of the key clauses were slightly expanded or supplemented with voices. Individual instructions, such as the pianissimo at the beginning of the final bars in the first movement, are almost certainly from Hynais.

In 1938 the edition of the Second Symphony appeared as part of the first Bruckner Complete Edition, edited by Robert Haas . He took the view that the first edition - the only available edition at that time - contained a large number of cuts and changes that were not made by Bruckner or that advisers such as Johann Herbeck forced him against his will. In principle, he based his edition on the last version from 1877, but resorted to the first version in many places and undone the lines by printing them with Vi-de characters. Haas added an extensive and very carefully designed “master report” to the large conducting score, in which he printed the bars originally composed by Bruckner and also the alternative clauses of the first and second movements. While he left the drafts in the nomenclature typical of Bruckner - Italian instrument names and the timpani below the trumpets - the alternative clauses were engraved in the same layout as the rest of the score. So Nowak was able to use it later for his edition. However, the orchestral material only contains Haas' favored solution of the first version - with the beautiful horn solo of the second movement. In the second pair of horns - notated throughout in E flat - the key signatures are missing in the complicated passages of the second movement, which is partly in B major. As a practitioner, he came to meet the horn players who play the horn in F with key signature without any problems, but are reluctant to transpose complicated keys in E-flat notation.

This principle of the mixed version was heavily criticized by Haas' successor as head of the complete edition, Leopold Nowak . His version of the Second Symphony, which appeared in 1965, reverted to the last version in the relevant places, but continued to print the Vi-de lines, so that the differences are very small overall.

Only William Carragan took the sources into account with his two editions for the complete edition and distinguished between the first version from 1872 (published in 2005) and the version from 1877 (published in 2007). He consequently decided against publishing the versions of the two performances led by Bruckner in 1873 and 1876 and created an imaginary "original version" with his version in 1872 , in which, among other things, he arranged the movements in the order in which they were composed, but never were listed. Its 1877 version draws on information from the first print from 1892 in many details, but retains the 1877 annual payment, to which Haas and Nowak had already referred.

Work data

  • Orchestra : 2222-4230-Pk-Str.
  • Duration of version 1872 : approx. 65 min.
  • Duration of version 1877 : approx. 50 min.

Work (version 1877)

1st movement: Moderato

With the Moderato , Bruckner opens for the first time a symphony with the typical tremoli of the strings. The first theme of the cellos is characterized by chromatics and modulation , it is initially only two measures. From these two bars, however, a whole complex develops, which is performed by several groups of instruments. The second theme is, as usual, a quiet rural theme, performed again by the cellos, over a pizzicato of the basses. The third and last theme - this is also typical for Bruckner - is a unison theme over a string ostinato . In the first version of the module on were separated by general pauses, which the symphony the nickname break Symphony earned.

2nd movement: Andante. Solemn, something moved

In the Andante Bruckner, quoted even namely from the Benedictus minor Mass f the. The movement is in the form AB-A'-B'-A '' with coda, which all later Adagio movements except that of the Sixth Symphony have.

3rd movement: Scherzo. Moderately fast - trio. Same pace

The original version of the Scherzo came before the Andante (see Beethoven's 9th Symphony ). This movement consists of very small musical elements and ends with “brute force” (orchestral tutti - C minor sound). As usual, the trio has an idyllic character.

4th movement: Finale. Quite fast

The first theme of the finale unfolds from the beginning (piano) in a continuous increase and crescendo until the first climax is reached in bar 33. The second topic looks like a blatant counterpart to this "volcano topic". The epilogue in the exposition and in the first version of the epilogue of the recapitulation quote the Kyrie from the F minor Mass. The movement is a sonata movement with Rondo elements. At the end of the first version, the theme of the first movement is taken up before a crescendo referring to the beginning of the sentence leads to the final apotheosis.

Discography (selection)

Version 1872

Version 1873

  • 1991: Kurt Eichhorn, Bruckner Orchester Linz - Camerata

Version 1876

  • 1991: Kurt Eichhorn, Bruckner Orchester Linz - Abruckner.com BSVD-0103

Version 1877

Haas edition

Nowak edition

Carragan edition

Version 1892

literature

Web links