Anton Bruckner

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Symphony No. 8
Mozarteumorchester Salzburg
Ivor Bolton, conductor

Ivor Bolton is known throughout the world for his superlative performances of baroque and early classic music. At the same time, he also pursues a career as a conductor of the classic-romantic repertoire. He has executed a great deal of these activities as the GMD of the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg. And with this orchestra, he has completed the fifth volume in the series; he has previously released symphonies no. 3, 5, 7 and 9.
The Eighth Symphony is performed by the Mozarteumorchester in the second version from 1890, in the edition by Leopold Nowak.

Final return of the “death theme”

No other great composer in history – not even the great symphonist Beethoven – struggled so much as Anton Bruckner to arrive at the final versions of his works and to continue developing the form. The nine numbered works, taken together with the early F minor Symphony and the so-called “Number Zero”, constitute eleven separate symphonies. On the other hand, if each of the often extremely divergent versions is counted as a valid composition, the total rises to nineteen. This has less to do with the fact that Bruckner was continually breaking new ground and incessantly strove for the perfect realization of his visions than with the fact that his music was not understood, that conductors undertook arbitrary changes and forced him to make “improvements” that were supposed to make his music easier to comprehend. Up to 1875, when he tackled the Fifth Symphony, Bruckner had simply written work after work; then he reworked the Second, Third and Fourth Symphonies, a process which led to an overwhelming conclusion, especially in the case of the Fourth, but which increasingly prevented him from composing new works and would ultimately result in his not being able to bring the last movement of his Ninth into its final form.

Two versions of Bruckner’s Eighth Symphony exist which differ greatly from each other at decisive moments. The version that is usually played today is the second and final one. That version in turn exists in two very different scores in complete editions, the one by Robert Haas being musically more logical and the one by Leopold Nowak being philologically more correct. Bruckner began work on the first version in the summer of 1884 and completed it on August 10, 1887. Since Hermann Levi had achieved the most overwhelming success with the Seventh Symphony in Munich, Bruckner approached him to premiere the Eighth. But Levi, who had at first been delighted by the idea, was not able to cope with the new work and in a letter dated September 30 to Josef Schalk and others, immediately reported as follows: “… the instrumentation is impossible and what particularly startled me is its great similarity to the 7th, the almost stereotyped form.” He advised Bruckner to revise the work. Extremely distressed, Bruckner set to work on the new version in October, writing to Levi on February 27, 1888: “Of course I have reason to feel ashamed – at least for this time – because of the 8th. What an ass I am!! It’s already looking different now.” But it would be a long time before the new version was complete. Delayed by the third reworking of the Third and revisions of the Fourth Symphony, the final version of the Eighth was finally ready two years later, on March 10, 1890. Levi did not conduct the premiere, however, recommending Felix Weingartner in Mannheim, to whom Bruckner sent the following curious “programme” of the work on January 27, 1891: “In the first movement the trumpet and horn parts are from the rhythm of the theme: the annunciation of death which, sporadically ever stronger, finally appears very strongly; at the end: the surrender. Scherzo: principal theme: called Deutscher Michel [the plain, honest rural German]; in the second section the chap wants to sleep, and in his dream he does not find his little song; in the end, complainingly, it turns itself round. / Finale. At that time our Emperor received a visit from the Czar in Olmütz [Olomouc]; therefore strings: ride of the Cossacks; brass: military band music; trumpets: fanfare as their majesties meet. Finally all themes; (comical), as when the king comes in Act 2 of Tannhäuser, so when the Deutscher Michel comes back from his journey, everything is splendid. The finale also features the death march and then (brass) transfiguration.“

Weingartner, who found the finale „somewhat bleak“, did not conduct the premiere either; the work was finally performed in the same year by the Philharmonic Orchestra under Hans Richter in Vienna on December 18, 1892 and represented a triumph for Bruckner.

First movement

The opening movement of the Eighth Symphony in C minor begins with a pedal point on F, a fifth lower; against it, the principal theme, gloomily stretching upwards, jagged and interspersed with rests, is immediately expounded. The expressive falling violin melody of the after-phrase attempts to reach the main key in a cadence, but the F beginning returns instead, now in fortissimo. The searching and restless quality of the entire first-theme complex is symptomatic of the whole movement, which in the first version ended with the dying away of the closing phrase of the principal theme, followed by a powerful fortissimo developed from that theme. Bruckner simply omitted this close in the second version, that being the most striking and psychologically most momentous change he undertook in reworking the symphony. That ending derived its motivation not from the concept of the first movement, but unquestionably from the general conception of the symphony, in order to create a more compelling link to the finale, for the principal theme, which dies away at the end of the first movement, rises again in fourfold augmentation at the end of the last movement. The exposition of the first movement confronts the brusque world of the principal theme with two opposing worlds. The lyrical second theme has Bruckner’s “favourite rhythm” of duple against triple time (anticipated in the falling sequenced melody in the development of the first theme); the energetically striding third theme has the second theme woven into it. Just as the newly introduced themes are preceded by preparatory phases, the large formal divisions are also provided with preparatory material. In the development section, it is the opposition of the thematic essences which dominates the confrontation, the development of the thematic worlds being left to the exposition and the recapitulation. In the development section, the principal theme appears on three levels, counterpointed by the second theme (F, A flat and C), the third marking the climax, whose ebbing away articulates a powerful unison wave that is motivically derived from the principal theme. Here, in the development section, Bruckner lent the modulatory plan still more wide-ranging stringency in the second version than in the acoustically rougher first version. The recapitulation comes, in initially unrecognizable tonality, disguised as a development section; its hallmark is the return of the thematic continuation, but the expectation of reassurance is not fulfilled. The third theme now leads into a crescendo that quite unexpectedly precipitates an outburst in which all that is left of the principal theme is the insistent rhythm. Here the relationships are turned upside down in most dramatic manner: the first part of the theme freezes completely on C, whereas the harmony is agitative. The frozen motif is carried over in the trumpets and horns alone and comes to a halt. The C of the kettledrum leads into a shadowy echo, now again of the fully melodized theme, of which only the closing phrase now remains and is developed to the point of exhaustion as the dwindling after-effect of the shock of the outburst.

Second movement

The Eighth Symphony is the first of Bruckner’s symphonies in which the scherzo forms the second movement and precedes the slow movement as in Beethoven’s Ninth. As always in Bruckner’s works, it is in A-B-A form, with an identically repeated, energetic scherzo framing a more easy-going trio (only in the Ninth – as in Beethoven’s Ninth if the tempo indications are adhered to – is the trio faster than the scherzo). The scherzo is in C minor, the trio in the closely related A-flat major. In themselves, both scherzo and trio are also in A-B-A form. The obsessive scherzo theme is Bruckner’s cryptic homage to the Deutscher Michel. In the second version, the trio has been completely recomposed, includes harps and is headed „Slow“ instead of Allegro moderato. All that remains of the theme with which the trio began in the first version is found in the enraptured middle part, directly before the recapitulation of the new trio theme, initially enraptured in the oboe (this is the extremely introverted climax of the movement), then “expressively broad” in the violas, separated from the preceding and following material by rests and seeming to be a greeting from another world.

Third movement

The conception of the Adagio is five-part in the twofold alternation of two thematic worlds and the resultant large crescendo with its hefty aftershocks and the coda which resolves all tension. This five-part form derives, even in its energetic morphology, from the Adagio in Beethoven’s Ninth, which Bruckner had taken up still more recognizably in the slow movement in his Seventh, where the alternation of a very broad tempo with a slightly faster one likewise refers to Beethoven’s model. But the parallels end there, and in the Adagio of the Eighth the contrast in tempo no longer applies. Headed “Solemnly slow; yet not dragging”, this, Bruckner’s harmonically furthest removed Adagio (in D flat major) begins with a string background that is rhythmically difficult to grasp and strangely weightless, over which the principal theme enters in the first violins, initially circling the quint A-flat. Wound around a single note, this first part of the theme is really symbolic of the motivic and harmonic persistence of the entire movement, which always perceptibly strives to return to the main key of D-flat major. The world of the second theme which, after the second exposition of the first theme, first enters in the cellos, starting on the falling minor sixth, is in its modulatory mobility in extreme contrast to the main section and finds relative peace only in the charming tuba writing. The second development of the first-theme world has stretches that are pervaded by abysmal despair (comparable at most to the slow movement of the Fifth Symphony); in its contrapuntal compression, it has more the character of a development section and leads to a first climax. The second-theme world again intervenes, before the true large crescendo (first-theme-bound) begins with the sextuplet figuration in the violas. As for the inner tension, the climax is marked in relentless flow with the rearing up of the principal theme in harsh fortissimo (trumpets, trombones, woodwinds), the later climax in outward intensity (with cymbals and triangle) being a transformation of this dark energy into radiant energy. Compared with the first version, Bruckner undertook considerable abridgements between these two crucial stations, which made the movement appear more convincing overall. Shifting the outer climax from C major to E-flat major (with the gigantic sound of the C-flat major deceptive cadence) was also a happier decision in the overall context, later making the C major of the end of the finale seem fresher. The accumulated, bursting tension is resolved with unshakeable grandness and calm in the peaceful breadth of the coda of this visionary Adagio.

Fourth movement

The final movement (actually more like another slow movement, but seeming quite brisk after the Adagio) begins like the opening movement without the secure ground of the main key, this time with the tritone F-sharp. C minor constitutes itself only in the course of the stormy, sharply dotted “Cossack theme”. The very fervent second theme must be taken distinctly slower. This so resembles the Adagio of the Seventh Symphony that Bruckner can risk a quotation in an altogether organic manner (bar 93 ff.). The third theme clearly unites drive and gravity. The contrast between the three thematic worlds is much greater here than in the first movement. The exposition closes with a powerful fortissimo affirmation of a combination of first theme (winds) and third theme (kettledrums and strings). Constant change in character and in the themes and their illumination dominates the development section, and yet, considering the contrast potential, the climax (arrived at in three stages, as in the first movement) is disappointing in its effect. Making several starts, the long way back to the recapitulation also fails to bring true relief. The recapitulation of the first theme condenses into two massive culminations that disturb the peace considerably. The brief recapitulation of the second theme is then followed by the much broader return of the third theme, which now delivers the motivation for the final culmination – the climax not only of this movement, but of the entire symphony. The “death theme”, the principal theme of the opening movement, returns in trumpets and trombones, “as a sign of the Last Judgement”. The movement then collapses, all resistance is broken, the coda commences with the archetypally melancholy melody in the tenor tuba and modulates in compelling manner to C major, in which the four main themes of the four movements form the crowning close by towering one over the other in contrapuntal buttressing (the theme of the Adagio appearing more clearly on paper than it sounds to the ear). The last word in this symbolic union of the themes is given to the principal theme of the opening movement, the closing phrase of which, in contrast to the desolate end of the first movement, triumphantly spans the whole orchestra at the end.