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Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)

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 to great acclaim.

Symphony No. 4

E-flat major

WAB 104

  • 1873 (1873)–1874
  • 1878 (1878)–1880
  • 1887 (1887)–1888

Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst

1889 (1889)–1890
  • 1936 (1936) (ed. Robert Haas)
    (original version)
  • 1953 (1953) (ed. Leopold Nowak)
    (1878–1880 version)
  • 1975 (1975) (ed. Leopold Nowak)
    (1874 version)
  • 1981 (1981) (ed. Leopold Nowak)
    (1878 finale)
  • 2004 (2004) (ed. Benjamin Korstvedt)
    (1899 version)

4

20 February 1881 (1881-02-20)

Vienna

Hans Richter

Vienna Philharmonic

The symphony's nickname of Romantic was used by the composer himself. This was at the height of the Romantic movement in the arts as depicted, amongst others, in the operas Lohengrin and Siegfried of Richard Wagner.[1]


According to Albert Speer, the symphony was performed before the fall of Berlin, in a concert on 12 April 1945. Speer chose the symphony as a signal that the Nazis were about to lose the war.[2]

Version I: 1874

Version II: 1878-1880

Version III: 1888

Instrumentation[edit]

The symphony requires an instrumentation of one pair each of 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. The published score of 1889 introduces a part for third flute (doubling on the piccolo) and a pair of cymbals.

conducting the Munich Philharmonic, live performance, 1975 (Bruckner Haus Linz LP 2/12430-315) (premiere of this version).

Kurt Wöss

conducting the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, studio recording, 1982 (Teldec) (first commercial recording of this version)

Eliahu Inbal

conducting the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, live performance, 1982 (JVC)

Chitaru Asahina

conducting the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, live performance, 2003 (Arte Nova)

Dennis Russell Davies

conducting the Bavarian State Orchestra, studio recording, 2007 (Sony)

Kent Nagano

conducting the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, live performance, 2007 (Hänssler)

Roger Norrington

conducting the Hamburg Philharmonic, live performance, 2007 (Oehms)

Simone Young

conducting the Philharmonie Festiva, live performance, 2021 (Profil Günter Hänssler, PH 22010)

Gerd Schaller

conducting the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, live performance, 2022 (Myrios Classics)

Francois-Xavier Roth

Bruckner, Anton (1890). . Vienna: A. J. Gutmann. OCLC 7059652.

Vierte (romantische) Symphonie (Es dur): für grosses Orchester

— (1936). (ed.). Sämtliche Werke, Kritische Gesamtausgabe – Band 4/I: IV. Symphonie Es-Dur (Fassung von 1878 mit dem Finale von 1880) – Finale von 1878. Leipzig: Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag. OCLC 65881359.

Robert Haas

— (1974). (ed.). Sämtliche Werke: Band IV/1: IV. Symphonie, Es-dur: Romantische, Fassung von 1874. Vienna: Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft. OCLC 37668282.

Leopold Nowak

— (1953). Leopold Nowak (ed.). Sämtliche Werke: Band IV/2: IV. Symphonie Es-Dur: Fassung von 1878–80. Vienna: Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft.  1740968.

OCLC

— (1981). Leopold Nowak (ed.). Sämtliche Werke: Band IV/2F: IV. Symphonie Es-Dur: Finale von 1878. Vienna: Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft.  8202970.

OCLC

— (2004). Korstvedt, Benjamin M. (ed.). Sämtliche Werke: Band IV/3: IV. Symphonie, Es-Dur : Fassung von 1888 (Stichvorlage für den Erstdruck von 1889). Vienna: Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft.  56823813.

OCLC

— (2021). Benjamin M Korstvedt (ed.). Neue Anton Bruckner Gesamtausgabe: Band IV/1: IV. Symphonie, Es-Dur : Erste Fassung. Vienna: Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft.

— (2019). Benjamin M Korstvedt (ed.). Neue Anton Bruckner Gesamtausgabe: Band IV/2: IV. Symphonie, Es-Dur : Zweite Fassung. Vienna: Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft.

(2020). Anton Bruckner – Eleven Symphonies. Windsor, Connecticut: Bruckner Society of America. ISBN 978-1-938911-59-0.

Carragan, William

(April 1969). "The Bruckner Problem Simplified". The Musical Times. 110 (1514): 362–365. doi:10.2307/951471. JSTOR 951471.

Cooke, Deryck

Korstvedt, Benjamin (October 1996). "The First Published Edition of Anton Bruckner's Fourth Symphony: Collaboration and Authenticity". . 20 (1). University of California Press: 3–26. doi:10.2307/746665. ISSN 0148-2076. JSTOR 746665.

19th-Century Music

Korstvedt, Benjamin (2004). "Bruckner editions: the revolution revisited". In Williamson, John (ed.). . Cambridge University Press. p. 129. ISBN 0-521-00878-6.

The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner

Redlich, Hans (1954). Introduction to Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in E♭ major (Romantische). London, New York: Eulenburg.

(1992) [1966]. The Essence of Bruckner: An Essay Towards the Understanding of his Music (Revised ed.). London: Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-05221-X.

Simpson, Robert

(1925). Bruckner (in German). Berlin: M. Hesse. OCLC 6731647.

Kurth, Ernst

(1935). Essays in Musical Analysis. Vol. II: Symphonies. London: Oxford University Press. OCLC 912417.

Tovey, Donald Francis

Anton Bruckner Critical Complete Edition – Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major

: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)

from the Indiana University school of music

Free score (1888 edition)

Program notes for a performance of the 1888 version of the symphony

Program notes for a San Francisco Symphony performance of the 1880 version

Article by Wayne Reisig at AllMusic.com

Complete discography by John Berky

Bruckner Symphony Versions by David Griegel

William Carragan

Time analysis versions 1874, 1880 and 1888