The Bruckner Problem

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The Bruckner Problem is a term that refers to the difficulties and complications resulting from the numerous contrasting versions and editions that exist for most of the symphonies of Anton Bruckner. These alternate versions were not all produced directly by the composer. Several were released by him reluctantly or as temporary 'stop-gaps', after Bruckner himself had been attacked by critics and/or badgered by well-meaning friends. Many of his works were modified to facilitate their timely premieres and bolster acclaim by audiences.

The term stemmed from the first major English article to deal with the subject, 'The Bruckner Problem Simplified', by musicologist Deryck Cooke.

The unmanageably complex and confusing situation that had come to exist by the middle of the 20th century—with scholars aware of three or four times as many versions as there were symphonies—was addressed by such Brucknerians as Cooke and composer/musicologist Robert Simpson.

As a result of such efforts, musicians and listeners are better informed about differences between the various versions, and the most inauthentic and corrupt scores have become the least often performed.

1 Approaches to The Bruckner Problem
- 1.1 Robert Haas
- 1.2 Deryck Cooke
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Approaches to The Bruckner Problem

[edit] Robert Haas

In the case of Symphonies No. 2 and No. 8, Haas mixed and matched passages from an early version and a later version to create "hybrid" scores.^[1]

[edit] Deryck Cooke

In the case of the Third Symphony, Cooke identified and compared the following six scores:

1873 original version (then still unpublished);
1874 first revision (then still unpublished);
1877 second revision, published in 1878 as the first edition;
1877 Fritz Oeser edition of the same (published by the International Bruckner Society in the 1930s);
1889 another revision (Cooke called this a Bruckner-Schalk revision), edited by Theodor Raettig, published 1890;
1889 the same, edited by Leopold Nowak as part of the Complete Edition.

Cooke considered the 1873 and 1874 versions to be "pure pedantry" and that "the first two scores were mere discarded attempts, which have never been published or performed [at that time]" (Cooke 362). Therefore he concluded that there was only a choice between the 1877 version and the discredited (in his opinion) 1889 Bruckner-Schalk revision.

Cooke's position on the first versions has been severely criticised by later musicologists, most notably Julian Horton, saying that "his dismissal of the first version of the Third [Symphony] ... on the grounds that they were not performing versions is untenable. The fact that this score was not performed before it was revised does not render it illegitimate" (Horton 2004).

[edit] References

Cooke, Deryck, "The Bruckner Problem Simplified", Musical Times Vol. CX (1969), 142, 362, 479, 828.
Horton, Julian, "Bruckner's Symphonies: Analysis, Reception and Cultural Politics", 2004, Cambridge.
James R. Oestreich, "Problems and Detours On Bruckner's Timeline", New York Times, July 10, 2005, Sec. Arts and Leisure, Pg. 23.