first authoritative book in English THEon Anton Bruckner, this full-length bi- ography will .be welcomed by the ever- increasing friends of the Austrian composer, who is granted today a place in the musical hierarchy which began with Haydn and ended with Brahms. Needless to say this work is a labor of love. From the beginning of his career as a conductor and teacher in Germany and Austria, Werner Wolff has steadily endeavored to create a wider public for Anton Bruckner. As a child he was fortunate enough to meet Bruckner in person at his parents' home, and he was deeply impressed. Bruckner's appearance was unforgettable. He had kept his country ways and habitually wore clothing made in his home village. In fact, he had all the earmarks of a naive stranger lost in a great metropolis. But he was more than a peculiar sight; he was a lonely man. However, in the solitude in which he lived in Vienna, his music grew to sublime heights. Slowly his genius became apparent, and his work gained fhe recognition it deserves. jfBjruckner's idol was Richard Wagner, and %ause ^ his adulation of the older composer * was made to suffer by the partisans of 3rahms, who declared him a mere Wagner fol- lower. After the First World War, however, his works, so thoroughly original, won him world acclaim. Bruckner was a devout Catholic, and, faithful to his religion, he remained celibate although strongly attracted to women. His life abounded with innocent little romantic episodes. And his peculiarities furnished innumerable charming anecdotes. ... A rich, intimate biography by a man whose knowledge and love of the com- poser's work, equips him ideally for the task of bringing Bruckner, the man, to the American people.* m 4 THE AUTHOR Dr. Werner Wolff was born in Berlin, Ger-i and educated at the of Berlin. many University ] He has directed the famous orchestras and choirs of Central Europe, Italy, Spain and Hol- land conducted at the Royal National Theatre in Prague, and the Hamburg Opera House, and the arranged regular orchestra evenings with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for several years. and Among his pupils in musical theory history are some of the world's outstanding musicians. He is now in America, and is the Head of the Music Department at Tennessee Wesleyan Col- here. lege. He has applied for citizenship m o i -, c !H n o? c y ;?- >^ c & >, o o r/) cc O ?:;) O O gj 01 CG f-5 O C:? co c .p *iH o X O H ' O **' c 01 Anton Bruckner in the iSSo's ANTON BRUCKNER RUSTIC GENIUS BY WERNER WOLFF HEAD OF MUSIC DEPARTMENT TENNESSEE WESLEYAN COLLEGE I With Music and Illustrations Introduction by WALTER DAMROSCH NEW YORK E. P. BUTTON & CO., INC. 1942 Copyright, 1942 By E. P. Button & Co., Inc. Printed in the U. S A. FIRST EDITION - All rights reserved no part of this book may be repro- duced in my form "without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in magazine or newspaper or radio broadcast. S. A. JACOBS, THE GOLDEN EAGLE PRESS, MOUNT VERNON, N. Y. DEDICATION TO THAT DISTINGUISHED FOUNDATION, AND GENEROUS HELPER OF THE AMERICAN PROFESSOR, THE PHILAJEEPHIA, 'PA. WITHOUT WHOSE ASSISTANCE THIS BOOK WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN CITY (10.) PUBLIC 691OOS2 PREFACE I SAW him face to face. It was in the early 1 890*5 that our parents told us the fa- mous composer Anton Bruckner was coming to have dinner with us. They warned us to be on our good behavior. We did not pay an unusual amount of attention to their admoni- tion, for we fortunate children had seen such celebrities as Tschaikowsky, Brahms, Saint-Saens, and Anton Rubinstein in our home. Although they did not in the least resemble one another physically, they all had something in common in attitude and behavior which we young ones recognized as characteristic of celebrities. It was the cosmopolitan manner of the "grand seigneur." Then the day came and Anton Bruckner really entered our living room. Although we had seen pictures of him, we were surprised, even startled. There was something peculiar in his appearance. It was not that his head seemed rather had Brahms' skull still in it was small (I powerful mind) ; not the length of his eyelids, either. It was something less personal and therefore more striking to childish eyes. It was his clothes. Certainly musicians at that time were no models of elegance; they rather distinguished themselves from their lay brothers by nonchalance in attire. This man, however, was so very different from the musicians we had seen in our house that we were perplexed. His short black jacket and his voluminous baggy trousers reminded me of the countrymen I had seen on our annual trips to the Alps. He did not say much until my little sister entered the room. Then he fell on his knees and addressed her in his Upper Austrian patois: "Jessas, das gnaedige Fraeulein" (Jeez, the little lady! ) The poor child was scared out of her wits and fell to weeping. But that was only the beginning of our embarrassment. At din- ner Bruckner picked up the fish with his fingers and broke PREFACE the bones. Then we knew why we had been told to behave ourselves. As soon as I heard the old man's music, however, I forgot the oddity of his appearance and manners. How different seemed the man who had written the Second and the Fifth Symphony, which my father later played for me! I can still see my father playing the scores on the piano, stopping now and then to shake his head at the general rests, yet going on and working out the compositions. The themes became as familiar to me as those from Beethoven's symphonies or from Bach's Mass in B Minor themes which to first , belong my musical memories. So I began to love Bruckner and what happened to me happens to everyone who loves Bruckner once you love him, you love him forever. I have seen musi- cians converted to Bruckner's music late in their careers but I have never seen anyone, once converted, who abandoned him. Devotion to Bruckner is not a matter of taste or fashion but of character and conviction. While I was studying law at the University of Berlin and pursuing music under the instruction of Engelbert Humper- dinck, I heard the first performance of Bruckner's Ninth Symphony under the direction of Arthur Nikisch. I wrote in my diary: "I am overwhelmed. It makes me suffer. It works in and me on me with the power of a catastrophe of nature. The rhythm of the clarinets at the end of the First Move- over ment the inexorable organ point on D will never cease haunting me." I came to a definite decision; I would make music my life- work. I opened my first concert in Berlin with Bruckner's Eighth Symphony. In my symphonic concerts in Hamburg I began a systematic campaign for Bruckner and had the satisfaction of great converting many concert-goers to this master of music. Even before this time I had noticed I could do much more for him I could remove certain prejudices against him which were in danger of becoming set in the PREFACE minds of the music world. I began writing explanatory notes for the Nikisch concerts and I started lecturing on Bruckner. The first public lecture ran for two and a half hours instead of the scheduled hour. Something unforeseen had occurred while I was lecturing: the "Problem Bruckner" had arisen in my mind. It has kept me busy to the present day. When I came to this country three years ago, I wrote an article for The Neiv York Times in which I pointed out my belief that Bruckner's music should become more familiar to American concert-goers. I did not need to wait very long. Interest in the composer grew strong enough to make an ex- tended biography necessary. I was happy and honored in be- ing chosen to write it after my half century of familiarity with Bruckner's music. It will probably be my last contribu- tion to Bruckner's cause. May it be a helpful one! WERNER WOLFF ACKNOWLEDGMENT For assistance in the work, I wish to express my heartiest thanks to Lorna Dietz, and to Mr. Harold Byrns, New York City, and to the Associated Music Publishers, Inc. Silhouettes in this book are by Dr. Otto Eohler TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE ix INTRODUCTION by Dr. Walter Damrosch xiii PART I 7 Bruckner s Life and Personality 1 5 PART II Bruckner in the Light of His Biographers 141 PART III 7 Psychic Forces Back of Bruckner s Creative Imagination 149 PART IV Bruckner' s Works 161 FIRST STEPS IN THE SYMPHONIC FIELD 177 THE NINE SYMPHONIES 1 80 THE STRING QUINTET, IN F MAJOR 253 PART V Manuscript and Revised Score, a Bruckner Problem of Recent Date 2 6 1 APPENDIX Chronology 273 Bibliography 275 Index 277 INTRODUCTION By Walter Damrosch MUSICIANS and music lovers generally will read with great interest this full-length biography of Anton Bruckner, Aus- trian peasant and symphonic composer who is worthy of included in being that hierarchy beginning with Haydn and ending with Brahms. The author, Werner Wolff, has written this book as a labor of love. For years he was a conductor of opera and symphony in Hamburg, Germany, and he has now settled in America.