The Cambridge companion to Bruckner / edited by John Williamson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Williamson, John, 1949-

Series:

Cambridge companions to music

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bruckner, Anton, 1824-1896--Criticism and interpretation.

Bruckner, Anton.

Bruckner, Anton, 1824-1896.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

xxii, 303 pages : music ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, U.K. ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Summary:

This Companion provides an overview of the composer Anton Bruckner (1824-96). Sixteen chapters by leading scholars investigate aspects of his life and works and consider the manner in which critical appreciation has changed in the twentieth century. The first section deals with Bruckner's Austrian background, investigating the historical circumstances in which he worked, his upbringing in Upper Austria and his career in Vienna. A number of misunderstandings are dealt with in the light of recent research. The remainder of the book covers Bruckner's career as church musician and symphonist, with a chapter on the neglected secular vocal music. Religious, aesthetic, formal, harmonic, and instrumental aspects are considered, while one chapter confronts the problem of the editions of the symphonies. Two concluding chapters discuss the symphonies in performance, and the history of Bruckner-reception with particular reference to German Nationalism, the Third Reich and the appropriation of Bruckner by the Nazis.

Contents:

1 Introduction: a Catholic composer in the age of Bismarck / John Williamson 3

2 Musical life in Upper Austria in the mid-nineteenth century / Andrea Harrandt 15

3 Bruckner in Vienna / Andrea Harrandt 26

Part II Choral music

4 Bruckner's large sacred compositions / Paul Hawkshaw 41

5 Bruckner and the motet / A. Crawford Howie 54

6 Bruckner and secular vocal music / A. Crawford Howie 64

Part III The symphonist

7 The Brucknerian symphony: an overview / John Williamson 79

8 Bruckner's symphonies - a reinterpretation: the dialectic of darkness and light / Derek B. Scott 92

9 Programme symphony and absolute music / John Williamson 108

10 Bruckner editions: the revolution revisited / Benjamin M. Korstvedt 121

11 Bruckner and the symphony orchestra / Julian Horton 138

12 Between formlessness and formality: aspects of Bruckner's approach to symphonic form / Benjamin M. Korstvedt 170

13 Formal process as spiritual progress: the symphonic slow movements / Margaret Notley 190

14 Bruckner and harmony / Kevin Swinden 205

Part IV Reception

15 Conductors and Bruckner / John Williamson 231

16 The musical image of Bruckner / Christa Brustle 244.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-297) and index.

ISBN:

0521804043

0521008786

OCLC:

187705668

Online:

Publisher description