Anton Bruckner

Symphony No. 3 ("Wagner Symphony")

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) is one of the most misunderstood composers. Among the ten symphonies he wrote, his Symphony No.3, the so-called Wagner Symphony, was written and rewritten at least six times (1873, 1874, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1889) with two different versions printed in his lifetime. Indeed this work possesses a unique position in the history of western music. Most versions are in print today. Yet all of them contain serious problems with structural form, performability, and blatant typographical errors.

Richard Wagner’s acceptance of Bruckner’s dedication led the symphony to be known as the Wagner-Sinfonie. More than a simple dedication, Bruckner actually used melodies, harmonies, sometimes even an entire passage from various Wagner operas into this work.

Regret and embarrassment must motivated Bruckner to cut out most of the Wagner quotes in the very first of his many revisions. Vestiges of the surviving quotes in later revised versions are so beguiling that even a trained musician would not easily recognize Wagner’s music there.

Bruckner remained insecure about the structure and length and continued to prune the work throughout his life, lopping off hundreds of bars to reduce the meandering pace. His last revision, made after his monumental Symphony No. 8, goes so far as to damage the basic structure of the last movement, rendering various integral parts in earlier versions irrelevant and incoherent.

Another reason for revision has never been discussed. Bruckner was a phenomenal organist who never learned the mechanism and intricacies of stringed instruments. Like Wagner, who was a pianist, Bruckner wrote mercilessly difficult string parts. Difficult, not because the music has virtuosic passages, but because the figurations, based on keyboard techniques, are unidiomatic and unreasonable for strings. Passages in the original version of the Wagner Symphony are impossible to play at the prescribed tempo. In later versions, Bruckner often left the melody and harmony intact while struggling to accommodate the limits of the strings. Improvements, yes. Hardly solutions.

Bruckner’s last thoughts on his Wagner Symphony must be respected as the composer’s definitive view of his work. Beside the last version (despite the structural problem mentioned above), earlier versions seem half-baked while the first version is still-born.

In more than thirty years of contemplation, I labored to retain Bruckner’s final thoughts on his Wagner Symphony while struggling with the troubling disconnects caused by the musical diet imposed by its own creator. Some of Bruckner’s music from earlier versions have been restored to make more natural links. Two bars written by his well-intentioned student Franz Schalk to mend the bleeding cuts was weeded out. Whenever possible, efforts were made to revert to Bruckner’s original wishes for dynamic markings which often changed in the last version by unknown sources. Symbolically, one long Wagner quotation--eighteen bars long and occurring only in the original version--was restored. This quote, the “Magic Sleep” leitmotiv from Wagner’s Die Walküre, occurs in the middle of the first movement as the emotional climax. Curiously, Bruckner not only retained the quote (it occurs again near the end of the second movement) but also enhanced it in his final version by adding a musical cryptogram. Indeed, there are many other cryptic hints throughout this symphony including quotes from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Extra care was taken to remove wrong notes from previously printed versions. In sum, every note in my edition was written by Bruckner himself.

Yerevan
March 10, 2013