8th Symphony (Bruckner)

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The 8th Symphony in C minor ( WAB 108) was completed in its first version by Anton Bruckner on July 3, 1887 after three years of work. The symphony was dedicated to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria .

After presenting the first version to the conductor Hermann Levi , the latter expressed his horror at the new, enormous work. The desperate composer did what he used to do so often: he made a second version, which was finished in 1890. In between, however, he temporarily put the work down again, in favor of the writing of a new version of the 3rd Symphony in D minor (1888/89), the third version of the work that is often preferred up to the present day.

The second version of the 8th Symphony, published later by Leopold Nowak , still differs from a mixed version of both editions published by Robert Haas . In concerts today, one comes across the pure second version from 1890 most often. The differences to the first version are considerable, but not comparable with the former revisions of the symphonies 3 and 4 .

The actual work on the new version of the 8th Symphony began precisely in April 1889 and dragged on until March 1890. A performance planned by Felix Weingartner in Mannheim in 1891 could not take place. The extraordinarily successful world premiere of the 8th symphony in its second version did not take place until December 18, 1892 by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Hans Richter .

occupation

Three  flutes , three  oboes , three  clarinets , three  bassoons (the third also contrabassoon ), eight  horns (four alternate with Wagner tubas ), three  trumpets , three  trombones , bass tuba , timpani , triangle , cymbals and three  harps , I. violin , II. Violin, viola , violoncello , double bass

Performance duration: approx. 82 min.

To the music

The symphony consists of four movements , whereby the slow movement and the scherzo are reversed contrary to the principles of the classical symphony , as had already been used by other composers (e.g. Beethoven in his ninth and Schumann in his second symphony ). It is noteworthy, however, that Bruckner officially uses this procedure for the first time in a symphony after the string quintet, although looking back to 1872 the first draft of his 2nd symphony in C minor ordered this type of movement sequence.

The four sentences are named:

  1. Allegro moderato (playing time approx. 17 min)
  2. Scherzo. Allegro moderato (playing time approx. 15 min)
  3. Adagio. Solemnly slow, but not sluggish (playing time approx. 27 min)
  4. Final. Solemn, not fast (duration approx. 23 min)

With an average playing time of a good 80 minutes, Bruckner's “Eighth” is the first symphony to have reached such a time scale ( Mahler's symphonies will follow this example afterwards), and at the same time also Bruckner's longest symphony.

1st movement: Allegro moderato

The movement begins in a mysterious mood with a key indeterminate F in strings and horn, whereupon an almost dark-toned motif can be heard immediately followed by double dotting of the lower strings. With this, the bracketing with the end of the entire symphony is determined in compelling brevity; what has just been declared will be repeated in a threatening gesture towards the end of the final movement before the start of the coda.

In a roundabout way, the device main theme with a not desperate to hearing finding a resolution of the tension to the main key of C minor. The rhythm used by Bruckner here agrees with that of the first D minor theme in Beethoven's 9th Symphony (bars 17-18 of the 9th Symphony). The powerful repetition of the presented material leads, after a short transition to the 2nd topic with ascending scales in G major. This phase, which is quite broad in the short first movement, is followed by the third theme, a unison motif. It develops harmonious sharpness in the reversal of descending cascades of the once ascending duol / triplet motif from the beginning of the second theme. Dramatic increases with a steady change of keys pushing forward lead to a thunderous finale in the brass, immediately heralding the end of the exposition .

The implementation accommodate the shattering sound discharge a large-scale increase wave: The second theme, in time about the middle of the first set depicting initially unfolds in its reversal, resulting in an overwhelming outbreak of those passages in which thread 1 and 2 layered sound. With regard to its dramatic intensity, this section only finds one equivalent in the further course of the movement, namely in the last climax before the coda.

The transition to the recapitulation is fluid - the scale theme spreads once more in all its beauty until the third theme, which also sounds again, enters the escalation, which rears up and breaks off with an inexorable C minor evocation and affirming trumpet blasts.

The coda is the only end of Bruckner's corner movements that fades away softly. In 1887 the movement ended with a pithy fortissimo passage over 29 bars, which was removed in the 1890 version. Bruckner himself described the coda from 1890 as a death clock . Quote from Bruckner: "Dos is like when someone is dying and opposite the clock hangs, which, while his life is coming to an end, always strikes steadily ..."

2nd movement: Scherzo. Allegro moderato - trio. Slowly

“The German Michel dreams out into the country” is a programmatic declaration by Bruckner on the C minor Scherzo of his 8th Symphony. This scherzo of considerable proportions, in the form of ABACABA, breaks previous conventions, paces along with its steady rhythm, but the delicate and even dreamy episodes are not neglected either.

The symbolic figure of the German Michel , can be described in many ways, represents the national figure of a peace-loving, dreamy honest man, simple-minded, sleepy, but good-natured. “When this peasant farmer's son is dreaming into the landscape”, then the musical illustration can be discovered in the broad A flat major trio of Scherzo. And in the end it is Bruckner himself who dreams into this peaceful landscape.

Already in the version from 1887 the trio introduced a comforting melody in A flat major at the beginning, at that time a little more agitated in tempo, while the trio of the second version from 1890 worked on the same material in extensive modification and included it within the framing Scherzo parts creates a small adagio.

In the first version the harps were still missing, which in the second version develop a magical atmosphere here and not in the third movement (Adagio). The trio is again made up of three parts, after the first appearance of the harps the musical expression experiences a further internalization - according to Bruckner it is the place "where Michel pauses briefly in prayer". After returning to the first part of the trio, the music ends again with the sound of a harp, before the repetition of the massive scherzo begins and the movement ends in triumphant C major.

3rd movement: Adagio. Solemnly slow, but not sluggish

The Adagio as a five-part rondo (AB-A'-B'-A '') and its arch structure, as already tried out in the time of the Second Symphony, is Bruckner's longest symphony movement and is in D flat major. After gently floating introductory bars, built on the resulting rhythm through the use of syncopation, the motto of the movement sounds, a tender and drawn-out dotted string note on A flat, followed by heses and again a flat. Here Bruckner succeeds in using a motif which is in Its expansion is advised extremely briefly to develop the greatest forces in the course of the movement to the end, and to do so repeatedly, be it hidden or audibly present. The first climax of the theme with its up-and-coming quintole, as in the second theme of the first movement, immediately brings back memories of the rising theme of the first movement of the 7th symphony.

Bruckner has often been reproached for the recurring echoes of the previous work. The allegations are invalidated if one examines the quite intentional interrelated quotations of the entire late work in more detail. The first appearance of the main theme of the 7th Symphony creates a wide arc right up to the end of the Adagio from the Ninth, including works such as Helgoland or the 150th Psalm .

In the Adagio of the 8th Symphony, as in the first and second versions, Bruckner used harps, which, for example, give the continued episode of the first theme with its chorale upsurges an unmistakable timbre. Harps do not otherwise appear in Bruckner's symphonies; Regarding its use in the eighth, Bruckner says the following: “A harf'n g'hert in ka symphony; I have a need to help! "

The second theme of the Adagio contains the sext as a descending interval, which runs through the entire symphony, either hidden or clearly emerging, later clearly emerging again at the beginning of the second theme in the finale. After the presentation of the second adagio theme, several waves of heightening or suddenly breaking sound blocks of sublime size follow in a prolonged sequence; in the fifth part the main theme is also given filigree-like play around by the violas. One of the highlights contains Wagner's Siegfried motif as a quote, “as a reminder of the master”. The final climax of the movement uses the cymbal stroke, after which a repetition of the passages with the chorale upsurges, which in the first version still had an echo of Wagner's Parsifal , leads over to the broad coda, which in its warm tuba and deep strings also includes the Lets sound the downward tone sequence of the dead clock from the first movement.

4th movement: Finale. Solemnly, not quickly

After a short introductory crescendo by the strings, the monumental final movement opens with huge brass chords. Bruckner comments on this first section of the subject with reference to the “Dreikaiserzreffen” that took place at the time of the composition: “At that time, our emperor received a visit from the Tsar in Olomouc, hence Streicher; Ride of the Cossacks; Brass: military music: trumpets; Fanfares as the majesties meet ”.

However, Bruckner researchers repeatedly point out that Bruckner may only want to meet an alleged taste of the times with such statements. Whether he actually had the three emperors in mind when composing is more than questionable today and is one of the many secrets, mysteries and ambiguities that surround Bruckner's person.

The second theme again contains the descending and ascending sext in the strings at the beginning, evoking a delicate memory of the preceding Adagio. The third complex of themes, permeated by a march-like character, connects to the beginning of the final movement. The exposure ends in a relaxed manner using the brass theme from the beginning of the lecture with three flutes with the effect of an echo.

In the development, which definitely requires an attentive and concentrated listener, there are, as is usual with Bruckner, great dramatic increases before the recapitulation breaks in with a force that intensifies the inferno at the beginning of the movement.

The recapitulation of the second theme promises a short respite before the last two big increases in the movement that are still to come. The first is the fugato processing of the third theme, which leads to the desperate breakout of the main theme (here in F minor) from the first movement and reinforces the bracketing of the entire work from beginning to end. But the grand finale is the extensive coda, in the last 13 bars of which all the main themes of the four movements are heard simultaneously. The main theme of the first movement has its conciliatory variant in C major at the very end.

Nickname

The monumentality of Bruckner's 8th Symphony has often prompted people to give it epithets. Bruckner himself spoke of his "mystery", the nickname "Apocalyptic" can be read here and there. The eighth is often referred to as the “crown of 19th century music”.

Discography (selection)

The respective running times of the individual rates in brackets:

Version 1887

Intermediate variant 1888

Version 1890

literature

Web links