International Bruckner Society
The International Bruckner Society deals with the publication of editions of the music of the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner and the related literature. It was originally founded in Leipzig in 1927 and then officially in Vienna in 1929.
history
Most of Bruckner's music was published during his lifetime or shortly after his death, but often with numerous changes at the suggestion of his friends and students. In the case of Bruckner's incomplete 9th Symphony , Bruckner's pupil Ferdinand Löwe made several unauthorized changes after Bruckner's death. The task of the International Bruckner Society was to publish versions of Bruckner's work that were based directly on the original scores ( autographs ) that Bruckner had bequeathed to the Austrian National Library .
The society hired Robert Haas , the then head of the music collection of the Austrian National Library, as overall scientific director with Alfred Orel as assistant. Orel prepared the edition of the 9th Symphony that Siegmund von Hausegger performed with the Munich Philharmonic . He performed the symphony twice, once in the Löwesch version known up to then and then based on the musical text of the autograph restored by Orel. The majority of the listeners opted for the Orel version.
Between 1935 and 1944, Haas published editions of Bruckner's symphonies apart from the Third (it was destroyed by the effects of the war). In some cases, multiple versions of a single symphony existed, and Haas did not hesitate to mix and match the versions to create what he believed to be an “ideal” version (even if parts did not correspond to any of the composer's own handwriting).
Immediately after the annexation of Austria in 1938, the society was dissolved (even if the publication of the complete edition in Leipzig continued). After the Second World War , the company was re-established in Vienna. Haas was dismissed because of his National Socialist past and the work of the overall academic editor Leopold Nowak , who had worked in the company since 1937, was entrusted to him.
Nowak remained scientific editor until 1989. During this time, the society published multiple versions of Bruckner's symphonies and numerous other works. Nowak was more scientific and less creative than Haas. He saw it as his task to restore the various versions of Bruckner's work on the basis of autographs and printed sources and to document the differences in detail. Nowak's post-war editions were performed more frequently than Haasschen's pre-war editions, even if a significant number of conductors (e.g. Herbert von Karajan , Günter Wand , Bernard Haitink ) preferred Haas.
Publications
The company continues to publish new editions by Bruckner even after Nowak has left. It publishes a newsletter (studies and reports) and awards grants dedicated to Bruckner.
Fonts
- Adelheid Geck : humble adoration - cheering hymn of praise. Anton Bruckner as prayer leader. Dominus-Verlag, Augsburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-940879-43-1 .