Anton Bruckner
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Born in Ansfeld, Austria in 1824, Died in Vienna in 1896
Austrian symphonist
He also composed liturgical music
Son of a village schoolmaster and organist from whom he first studied
He served as the organist in Linz and later as the court organist in Vienna
Bruckner began his life in an unremarkable way, following the path of his father as a
school teacher and organist, working in various small church posts until about 1855
In 1855, he began studying with Simon Sechter, who was the leading theorist of his
day. Sechter taught extremely strict counterpoint and believed that no matter how
chromatic the counterpoint was, the underlying harmony was diatonic. Among
Sechter’s pupils were Marxsen (Brahms’ teacher) and Vieuxtemps. Robert Simpson
believes that Sechter’s extremely strict teaching style initially suppressed Bruckner’s
originality, which later immerged.
From 1855 until about 1868, Bruckner continued to study with Sechter. When
Sechter died, he succeeded him at the Vienna Conservatory.
In 1863, Bruckner encountered Wagner’s music, especially Tannhäuser and Tristan
und Isolde. Symphony No. 1 and three masses dating from 1864-68 show this
influence.
Bruckner was a lifelong admirer of Wagner in an almost sycophantic way. He
became swept up in the Wagner-Brahms controversy.
Bruckner composed nine numbered symphonies, plus several other symphonies, one
known as “Die Nullte” (zero) and the other unnumbered. At the urging of his friends
and students (especially Schalk), he rewrote many of these symphonies after their
first performances, re-orchestrating them, making cuts, and sometimes replacing
whole movements. He also composed a large volume of religious music, including
choral works, a cappela motets, a Te Deum, masses, psalms, and a requiem. The
ninth symphony is incomplete, lacking a finale.
The principal symphonic model for Bruckner’s symphonies is Beethoven’s Ninth
symphony plus certain elements taken from Wagner. These elements include:
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Large scale
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Mysterious openings, often with string tremolos accompanying horn calls,
modeled after Beethoven’s Ninth
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Heavy brass (Wagner influence) including the use of Wagner tubas in
Symphony No. 7
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Sonata-form expositions with three key-centers and chorale-like second
themes
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Unrelenting crescendos which sometimes fail to find resolution, leading to
silences
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Scherzos in ¾ time, in one beat per bar. The trios are slower, sometimes
using laendler-like melodies and rhythms.
Hugo Wolf
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Born in 1860 in Slovenj Gradec, which is in Slovenia. He died in 1903 in Vienna
As Bruckner adapted Wagner’s methods to the symphony, Wolf adopted them to the
lied
Wolf contracted syphilis sometime between 1878-80. His life was plagued with a
mood swings and depression which were either the result of the syphilis or manicdepression. He died in an asylum in a state of insanity.
Wolf sided with Wagner in the culture wars between Brahms and Wagner. He wrote
biting criticism for the Wiener Salonblatt.
In the early 1880s (possibly 1884), he also began a secret love affair with Melanie
Köchert who was the wife of his friend Heinrich Köchert. His opera “Der
Corregidor” is based on the Spanish story “The Three Cornered Hat”, which was
later used as a comic ballet by da Falla. The story is about an adulterous love
triangle, which may have drawn Wolf to the story. Their affair was discovered by
Heinrich in 1893. Melanie never broke off her devotion to Wolf. Wolf was
committed to an asylum around 1899. He died in 1903 and Melanie killed herself in
1906.
Sources for Wolf’s song texts are poems by Goethe, Mörike, Eichendorff.
Wolf’s songs often have two tonal areas which highlight the ambiguity or emotional
tension of the song/text.
His chromatic voice-leading in reminiscent of Tristan. The main melodic material is
often in the piano, with the vocal part following speech rhythms, again similar to
Wagner’s approach.
Wolf composed 100s of lieder, one complete opera, incidental music to plays, choral
music, some chamber music, and an orchestral work titled “Italian Serenade” which
he first wrote for string quartet and later reworked for orchestra. Besides the 53
Mörike-lieder, Eichendorff-lieder and 51 Goethe-lieder, there is a 44 songs in the
Spanish Song Book and an Italian Song Book, and a set of lieder based on
Michelangelo’s sonnets. He conceived of the songbooks as larger dramatic forms.
There are religious or erotic themes in both the Spanish and Italian songbooks.
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) was a Bohemian-Austrian composer of Jewish descent.
Mahler was best known during his lifetime as one of the leading conductors of his day.
Jews were given surnames around the time of emaciation of the Jews, and the origins of
the name have been proposed to be “miller”, painter (“Maler” in German), or “Mohel”
(“circumciser” in Hebrew). Mahler grew up in Iglau, Moravia near an army barracks, and
the sounds of the woods near his childhood home and the barracks trumpets echo in his
music. He took piano lessons from the age of six. At fifteen, he entered the Vienna
Conservatory, studying with prestigious teachers and hearing Bruckner lecture. His
cantata Das Klagende Lied failed to win a prize.
In 1880, Mahler began his conducting career. He worked his way up from minor opera
houses, finally reaching Prague, Leipzig and Budapest (1888). In 1887, he took over
conducting Der Ring from the ailing Arthur Nikisch, which established his reputation.
Mahler’s completion of Weber’s Die drei Pintos brought him greater recognition and
financial reward. Brahms recognized his talent, and he gained a long-term appointment at
the Hamburg Opera.
From 1897-1908 he conducted the Vienna Opera, raising its standards by performing
masterpieces as the composers wrote them (it was the standard of the day to alter operas,
insert music from other operas even by other composers, etc.), improving the standard of
singing and the sets. His productions of Gluck and Mozart, as well as Fidelio, Tristan
und Isolde, Der Ring, were widely regarded but earned him enemies. Some critics have
argued that Mahler’s reforms have been exaggerated, however. Since the Stadtsoper was
an Imperial post, Mahler had to convert to Catholicism to hold it. He was never a
religious Jew, but he eventually lost his Christian faith.
Mahler married Alma Schindler, the step-daughter of Viennese painter Carl Moll, in
1902. Alma was a famous beauty and a young composer. She was studying with
Alexander Zemlinsky (and having an affair with him) when Mahler met her. Mahler’s
condition of marriage was that Alma give up composing. He built a villa for the family
on the lake in Maiernigg. The pattern of their lives was a hectic conducting schedule in
the winter, with summers devoted to and composition. Alma bore Gustav two daughters
(Maria Anna and Anna). Maria died in 1907 of either scarlet fever or diphtheria. Mahler
himself was diagnosed as having a heart condition from an infection (endocarditis). The
story goes that the child was fearful of the doctor’s stethoscope, so he volunteered to
examined first, and during the exam his heart condition was discovered.
He was forced to limit his physical activity and he began to experience anti-Semitic
attacks in the press and attacks from enemies at the opera.
The impetus to leave Vienna came from a lucrative offer from the Metropolitan Opera.
In New York, he was initially successful, but fell out of favor with the Board of the Met.
Also, his wife’s infidelity was revealed. Mahler visited Freud. In a famous one-hour
session, Freud “diagnosed” Mahler’s problems which seemed to have been helpful and he
and Alma were reconciled. He accepted a contract to conduct the New York
Philharmonic and traveled back to the United States with his family. He fell ill during the
1911 season from a streptococcal infection. He returned to Europe, first seeking treatment
in Paris, but died in Vienna.
Alma quoted him as saying: “I am thrice homeless, as a Bohemian in Austria, and
Austrian in Germany and a Jew throughout the world.”
Works:
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10 symphonies: the first 4 symphonies are known as the “Wunderhorn”
symphonies because they draw on songs Mahler composed on a collection of
poetry called “Des Knaben Wunderhorn”; symphonies 5-7 and 9 are instrumental
works; Symphony No. 8 is a symphonic cantata for eight soloists, double chorus
and orchestra; Symphony No. 10 is incomplete.
Vocal works: fives orchestral song cycles for voice and piano and/or voice(s) and
orchestra, including Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Des Knaben Wunderhorn,
Kindertotenlieder, and Rückert Lieder; also, a symphonic song cycle for tenor and
alto called Das Lied von der Erde based on German translations of Chinese
poetry.
Style points—Mahler:
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believed that a symphony must express a whole world,
uses “progressive tonality” so that works end in a key other than the one in which
they commence. For example, the Fifth Symphony begins in C# minor and ends
in D major, the tonal trajectory being predicted by large scale tonal motion in the
earlier movements.
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) was the one of the leading German romantic composers of
the late 19th and early 20th century. He was also a noted conductor. Born in Munich, his
father was the principal hornist of the Court Opera. Richard received a thorough but
conservative musical education. In 1874, he heard his first Wagner operas and was
converted to the “cause”. His youthful style was conservative, following Mendelssohn
and Schumann. However, when he met the composer/violinist Alexander Ritter (husband
of one of Wagner’s nieces), Ritter persuaded him to give up his conservative style.
Strauss married Pauline Maria de Ahna, a noted soprano. There marriage was happy and
she was a lifelong inspiration to him—his early songs were written for her as were his
“Four Last Songs (1948), and he wrote brilliantly for the soprano voice.
Strauss composed primarily tone poems and operas, as follows:
Tone poems:
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Don Juan (1889, based on Nikolaus Lenau’s poem). Strauss’s first completely
mature work. He was 25 when he wrote it. Qualifies as his breakthrough work.
Death and Transfiguration (1888 on a poem by Ritter). Predates Don Juan.
Basically, a sonata form with extended introduction and coda.
Till Eulenspiegels lustige spiele (1895). A “vividly representational” work. Till
was a legendary medieval folk hero. Strauss uses themes to represent Till’s
exploits like leitmotifs. The work is a rondo. The opening theme represents the
phrase “es war einmal geschehen”
Also sprach Zarathustra (1896, based on Nietzsche’s long prose poem).
Zoroaster’s address to the Sun is represented by the opening. Science is
represented by a 12-tone fugue.
Don Quixote (1897, based on Cervantes). A set of variations on two themes is
used for this work. Solo instrumnents represent the various characters (cello =
Don Quixote; bass clarinet, tenor tuba and viola represent Sancho Panza.) Strauss
uses Liszt’s technique of thematic transformation on the themes.
Ein Heldenleben (1897, autobiographical)
Symphonia Domestica (1903)
Eine Alpensinfonie (1915)
Operas:
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Guntram (1894, written for Pauline de Ahna)
Feuersnot (1901, the and Guntram were failures)
Salome (1905, based on a German translation of Oscar Wilde’s play). Dissonance
is used to represent Salome’s erotic world. Consonance is used to represent John
the Baptist’s prophetic character.
Elektra (libretto by Hoffmansthal, based on his own play). First collaboration with
von Hoffmansthal that resulted in seven operas. Strauss intensifies the dissonance
he used in Salome. He also uses leitmotifs and associates keys with characters.
De Rosenkavalier (libretto Hoffmansthal). The score is a period piece,
anachronistically mingling 18th century Vienna with the waltz of Strauss’s own
period.
Ariadne auf Naxos (1912, libretto Hoffmansthal, )
Die Frau ohne Shatten (1918, libretto Hoffmansthal)
Intermezzo (1923, libretto Hoffmansthal)
Die ägyptische Helena (1927, libretto Hoffmansthal)
Die schweigsame Frau (1934, libretto Stefan Zweig, who was Jewish)
Daphne (1937, libretto begun by Zwieg, finished by Gregor under Nazi pressure)
Die Liebe der Danae (1940, libretto by Gregor)
Capriccio (1941, libretto by Clemens Krauss)
There are some instrumental works, including two horn concerti, two wind serenades,
and other works.
Strauss was appointed, without his knowledge or consent, to be Minister of Music under
the Nazis by Goebbels. He was essentially apolitical.
He was obviously not anti-Semitic, since one of his favored librettists was half-Jewish
(Hugo von Hoffmansthal), another was Jewish (Zweig), as was his daughter-in-law. The
librettist Stephan Zweig, a Zionist, was fervently defended by Strauss, who insisted on
his name appearing as the librettist for Die schweigsame Frau and Daphne. He had to
rescue his daughter-in-law and her family from the Gestapo, which placed them under
house arrest. There is a streak of Pacificism in his music, also. On the other hand, Strauss
maintained silence in the face on the worst of the Nazis atrocities.