Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)

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Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major (WAB 104) is one of the composer's most popular works. It was written in 1874 and revised several times through 1888. It was dedicated to Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. It was premiered in 1881 by Hans Richter in Vienna with great success. (In a well-known and amusing story that illustrates Bruckner's good-natured naivety, the composer gave a coin to the aristocratic conductor after a successful rehearsal and told him to buy himself a beer.)

The symphony's nickname of Romantic is derived from the program that Bruckner was persuaded to attach to it.

Contents

[edit] Description

The symphony has four movements:

  1. Allegro in E-flat major
  2. Andante quasi Allegretto in C minor
  3. Scherzo in B-flat major
  4. Allegro moderato in E-flat major

[edit] Program

Bruckner halfheartedly devised a program for the symphony at the urging of its friends. The first movement is described as "Dawn at a medieval citadel...knights sally forth from the gates on proud chargers...the wonder of nature surrounds them...". The second movement is said to represent a tryst between two medieval lovers. The scherzo represents a hunt.

[edit] Versions

[edit] 1874 version

Bruckner's original version: published in an edition by Leopold Nowak in 1975.

[edit] 1878 version

All movements of the 1874 version were revised: a completely new Scherzo (sometimes called the "Hunt" Scherzo) was written. The finale from this version is known as the Volksfest finale. The Volksfest finale was published in an edition by Nowak in 1981.

[edit] 1880 version

The same as the 1878 version but with a new finale. This was the version performed at the work's premiere.

[edit] 1881 version

The same as the 1880 version but including some changes made after the first performance (notably a cut in the slow movement and a reworking of the finale). Available in an edition by Robert Haas, published in 1936. Haas published another edition in 1944 which is a mixture of the 1881 and 1878 versions. Sometimes called the 1880 version.

[edit] 1886 version

The same as the 1881 version but including a few more changes by Bruckner in preparation for sending the score to Anton Seidl in New York. Published in an edition by Nowak in 1953, based on a score found in Columbia University. Sometimes called the 1880 version.

[edit] 1888 version

The first published edition, edited by Ferdinand Löwe. Although Löwe made some changes, they are thought to be mostly authorized by Bruckner.

[edit] Mahler reorchestration

Gustav Mahler made an arrangement of the 1888 version which is heavily cut and reorchestrated. It is available in a recording by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky.

[edit] Instrumentation

The symphony requires an instrumentation of one pair each flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, with four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, timpani and strings. From the 1878 revision onwards, a single bass tuba is also incorporated into the instrumentation.

[edit] Discography

The first commercial recording of part of the symphony was of the scherzo from the 1888 version, made by Clemens Krauss with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1929. The first commercial recording of the entire symphony was made by Karl Böhm with the Dresden Staatskapelle in 1936, in the Haas/1881 version.

The versions most often recorded are the Haas and Nowak editions of the 1880 score (referred to as the 1881 and 1886 versions in the list above). Any modern recording that does not specify this can be safely assumed to be one of these versions, while early LPs and CD remasterings of old recordings are usually of Ferdinand Löwe's 1888 edition (for example, those by Wilhelm Furtwängler and Hans Knappertsbusch).

Eliahu Inbal was the first to record the original 1874 version, edited by Leopold Nowak, with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra. The recording is available on Teldec LPs and CDs. Robert Haas's edition of the 1878 version has never been recorded as a whole, although the Volksfest finale has been recorded individually, for example by Georg Tintner.

[edit] Notable Recordings

[edit] Links

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