Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony was a long-awaited triumph for the sixty-year-old composer. Following its premiere under the baton of Arthur Nikisch which took place in Leipzig on 30 December 1884, the fame of the composer who had long remained in the shadows began to grow and spread. The Seventh Symphony is truly one of Bruckner’s finest; the titanic scale of the work is combined with romantic charm and, in places, with mystical illumination. Biographical circumstances also played a role in the success of the symphony. In February 1883 while the composer was working on the slow movement, news came of the death of Wagner, a man Bruckner deeply revered. As a result this movement became a requiem for the maestro. The music features two quotations from
Te Deum, which Bruckner was working on at the time:
Aeterna fac cum Sanctis and
In te, Domine, speravi and the orchestra features a quartet of “Wagnerian” tenor trumpets. When this became known, the army of Wagner’s devotees joined the ranks of the new symphony’s grateful listeners.
Anna Bulycheva
