Symphony No. 3 (Bruckner)

Symphony No. 3
by Anton Bruckner
Dedication to Wagner
KeyD minor
CatalogueWAB 103
Composed
  • 1872–1873
  • 1876–1877
  • 1889
DedicationRichard Wagner
Published
1890 (1890)
  • 1950 (1950) (ed. Fritz Oeser)
  • 1959 (1959) (ed. Leopold Nowak) (1889 version)
  • 1977 (1977) (ed. Leopold Nowak) (1873 version)
  • 1981 (1981) (ed. Leopold Nowak) (1877 version)
Recorded1952 (1952) Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester
Movements4
Premiere
Date16 December 1877 (1877-12-16)
LocationVienna
ConductorAnton Bruckner

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 in D minor, WAB 103, was dedicated to Richard Wagner and is sometimes known as his "Wagner Symphony".[1] It was written in 1873, revised in 1877 and again in 1889.

The work has been characterised as "difficult", and is regarded by some as Bruckner's artistic breakthrough.[2] According to Rudolf Kloiber, the third symphony "opens the sequence of Bruckner's masterpieces, in which his creativity meets monumental ability of symphonic construction."[3] The work is notorious as the most-revised of Bruckner's symphonies, and there exist no fewer than six versions, with three of them being widely performed today.

  1. ^ Ethan Mordden, A Guide to Orchestral Music: The Handbook for Non-Musicians. New York: Oxford University Press: 211, 1980. "Bruckner himself called his Third the "Wagner" Symphony because he was hoping for Wagner's support in some small way, such as being permitted to dedicate the score to him."
  2. ^ Hinrichsen 2010, p. 164: Das schwierige Durchbruchswerk, quote from Peter Gülke: Brahms. Bruckner. Zwei Studien. Bärenreiter 1989. ISBN 9783761809495
  3. ^ Kloiber 1964, p. [page needed] "So eröffnet die Dritte die Reihe der Brucknerschen Meisterschöpfungen, bei denen sich Erfindungskraft mit monumentalem symphonischem Gestaltungsvermögen paaren."