No. 2072 Subscription (Program A)

Anton Bruckner (1824–1896) was born in Ansfelden, a small village in Upper Austria. After receiving music instruction in nearby St. Florian, he trained as a schoolteacher and held several teaching posts, but he continued to have lessons in composition in the hope of becoming a composer. In 1850 he became organist at the monastery in St. Florian, and subsequently at the Cathedral in Linz from 1855.
His earliest compositions, mainly choral works, date from the 1840s, but it was only in 1866, when he was 42, that he completed his first mature symphony, No. 1 in C minor. He went on to compose eight more large-scale (numbered) symphonies, but they were often misunderstood or maligned by the public and were performed through the efforts of his students and supporters. In fact, he never made a living from composition, and teaching remained his main source of income. In 1868, he moved to Vienna and became professor of harmony and counterpoint (also organ) at the Vienna Conservatory.
Because of his insecurities, Bruckner would often revise his works after completion, sometimes giving in to the suggestion of his colleagues. This is why there have been many different versions/editions to his symphonies, although the Fifth symphony has essentially one primary version.
Bruckner began composing his Symphony No. 5 in February 1875, shortly after finishing the draft of Symphony No. 4. He composed the work in the order of second movement, first movement, third movement, and final movement, completing it on 16 May 1876 (he made some revisions in 1877–1878). The first performance took place eleven years later (!) in 1887, but only in a version for two pianos. The first orchestral performance took place in 1894 in a heavily cut version by his pupil Franz Schalk, but Bruckner was too ill to attend, so he never heard the work performed by an orchestra.
The first movement, in B-flat major, opens with a solemn chorale-like introduction. The Allegro section is based on three thematic groups; in particular, the tonally ambiguous first theme introduced by the violas and cellos and the soulful lyrical melody that initially appears in the first violins are elaborated in the development section. The second movement, in D minor, features a plangent oboe melody followed by a stirring string melody. The third movement is a scherzo and trio; the scherzo alternates between a fast dance and Ländler-like country dance. The beginning of the finale mirrors the solemn introduction of the first movement, but thereafter the angular theme introduced by the clarinet plays a central role. Undoubtedly the climax of this symphony is the huge double fugue in the development section, a combination of the main theme and the brass chorale theme that appears at the end of the exposition. It was the culmination of Bruckner’s meticulous studies in counterpoint, and he was reportedly very proud of it.

[Nahoko Gotoh]