Bruckner rhythm

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The Bruckner rhythm is a 2 + 3 (duplet + triplet) or 3 + 2 rhythm in Anton Bruckner's symphonic music, where it occurs prevalently.^[1]

One example is in the main theme of his Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major:

The Bruckner rhythm can occur separate of a melody (that is, on a single pitch), and this is the only way it occurs in the Symphony No. 2 in C minor.^[2] In the Symphony No. 6 in A major the Bruckner rhythm occurs to a much greater extent than in previous works, in several parts at slightly different times. The rhythm occurs in somewhat more "manageable" form in Symphony No. 8 in C minor, where it usually occurs in the same way in all the parts.

[edit] References

1. ^ Milton John Cross & David Ewen, Encyclopedia of the Great Composers and Their Music. New York: Doubleday (1962): 158. "The second element is a rhythmic pattern so often employed by the composer that it is known as the "Bruckner rhythm."
2. ^ Derek Watson, Bruckner. New York: Schuster & Macmillan (1997): 81