Work of the Week – Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 in E Major

Summer, sun, symphony concert: The Bayreuth Festival invites everyone to the open-air concert ‘Wagner for all’ with a picnic on 30 July. With free admission, the festival orchestra under the direction of Nathalie Stutzmann will present musical and spatial references to Wagner, including Anton Bruckner's 7th Symphony. 

The music world celebrates Bruckner's 200th birthday this year on 4 September. His works are being published in a new scholarly-critical form in the Bruckner Edition Wien of the Verlagsgruppe Hermann publishers. The editions and performance material are available worldwide from Schott Music.

Symphony No. 7 by Anton Bruckner: The Well-Deserved Breakthrough

The 7th Symphony was a very special work for the Upper Austrian composer Bruckner. Not only did it mark his late breakthrough, but the work also pays homage to Richard Wagner, who died during its composition. Bruckner's admiration is expressed above all in the solemn Adagio, in which the typical Wagner tubas are also used.

Nothing even similar has been written since Beethoven. (Arthur Nikisch)

The Bayreuth Festival Orchestra combines Bruckner's perhaps most impressive work with the overture to Wagner's opera Rienzi from the complete Richard Wagner edition by Schott Music. Bruckner's 4th Symphony from the Bruckner Edition Vienna will be performed on 5 September at the BBC Proms under Simon Rattle and his Missa Solemnis will be heard at the same time in Turku. In September and October, the 5th Symphony will follow in Seoul and Daegu (South Korea) as well as in Salzburg under Pietari Inkinen.

Further Reading:

Anton Bruckner: Composer Profile

Symphony No. 7: Work Details and Online Score

Website Bruckner Edition Wien at Verlagsgruppe Hermann

Website Bayreuth Festival

photo: Josef Löwy, background crated with artificial intelligence