| Symphony No. 5 | |
| Key: | B-flat major |
| Dedication: | Karl von Stremayr |
| Composer: | Anton Bruckner |
| Catalogue: | WAB 105 |
| Movements: | 4 |
| Composed: |
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| Premiere Date: | [1] |
| Premiere Location: | Graz |
| Premiere Conductor: | Franz Schalk |
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major WAB 105, was written in 1875–1876, with minor changes over the next two years. It came at a time of trouble and disillusion for the composer: a lawsuit, from which he was exonerated, and a reduction in salary. Dedicated to Karl von Stremayr, education minister in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the symphony has at times been nicknamed the "Tragic", the "Church of Faith" or the "Pizzicato"; Bruckner himself referred to it as the "Fantastic" without applying this or any other name formally.
The Fifth was first performed in public on two pianos by Joseph Schalk and Franz Zottmann on 20 April 1887 in the Bösendorfersaal in Vienna. The first orchestral performance – in the inauthentic "Schalk version", with a changed orchestration in Wagnerian fashion and omitting 122 bars of the finale – was conducted by Franz Schalk in Graz on 8 April 1894. Bruckner, who died two years later, was sick and unable to attend. He in fact never heard this symphony performed by an orchestra.
The score calls for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones and one bass tuba along with timpani and strings. The tuba was added in 1878 (the same year Bruckner added one to his Fourth Symphony). See versions below.
The symphony is not outwardly a work of storm and stress, but it is a piece of "working out", one of Bruckner's most contrapuntally intricate works. There are four movements; the climax comes unusually late, in the chorale at the end of the last movement, posing a huge interpretive challenge:
All but the third movement begin with pizzicato strings, hence the above-mentioned nickname. The pizzicato figures are symmetrical in the sense that the outer movements share one figure while the middle movements share another.
Noted Bruckner conductor Eugen Jochum wrote in detail about the symphony's interpretive challenges, noting that, in contrast to the Seventh Symphony, "the climax... is not merely in the last movement but at the very end, in the chorale. ... The first, second and third movements seem almost a... vast preparation. ... The preparatory character applies especially to the first movement [whose] introduction ... is a large-scale foundation... destined to bear the weight of all four movements."[2] As evidence, he detailed the way the introduction's thematic materials function in later movements, and said the interpreter "must direct everything towards the Finale and its ending... and continually keep something in reserve for the conclusion."
Jochum also discussed the choice of tempo, and its relationships and modifications, as an element in achieving overall direction and unity throughout the symphony, regarding the quarter notes in the first-movement introduction as "the fundamental tempo". Also, he wrote that in the Finale's double fugue, "it is not enough to bring out themes as such [because] subsidiary parts would be too loud." To get the desired contrapuntal clarity, he detailed dynamic subtleties required. Jochum ascribed elements of Bruckner's orchestration, as well as his precise indications of articulation, to his familiarity with the organ.
The work begins with a majestic slow introduction which, although beginning in B major, traverses several keys:
Like much of Bruckner's music, this movement's exposition contains three main key regions instead of the usual two. The second theme group is in F minor, and comprises a small ternary form, with sections in F minor, D major, and F minor:
The main material of the Adagio and Scherzo movements is similar, although heard of course at different tempos and launching different developments. The Adagio primarily relies upon the alternation of two thematic sections, the first of which contains a metrical superimposition of six against four:
The Scherzo of this symphony is unique in all of Bruckner's scherzi; the scherzo is in a three-theme sonata form instead of the usual binary form. The movement opens at a high tempo before slowing down for the second theme (note the bassline is the same as the one that opens the Adagio):
The long Finale opens in the same way as the first movement but veers off soon to gradually introduce new material which becomes the source of the themes of the Allegro moderato, another sonata form which contains in its course fugal and chorale sections of elaborate counterpoint. The hybridization of sonata form and fugal elements is a hallmark of this movement.
The first theme group is treated as a fugue exposition with the main theme of the movement as its subject:
This remains unpublished. In 1997 a first attempt at reconstruction – by including in the Finale music from the "1876 First Concept" (ed. William Carragan) – was recorded by Shunsaku Tsutsumi with the Shunyukai Symphony Orchestra.[4] In 2008 Takanobu Kawasaki was able to assemble the original concepts (1875–1877) of the symphony from manuscripts Mus.Hs.19.477 and Mus.Hs.3162 at the Austrian National Library; these were recorded by Akira Naito with the Tokyo New City Orchestra. In the opinion of John F. Berky, Naito's recording "is the best available CD to present some of Bruckner's early thoughts for this massive symphony."[5] In this version the symphony is scored without a bass tuba, and more prominence is given to the string instruments. The tempo of the Adagio introductions to Movements 1 and 4, and that of Movement 2, are scored alla breve, i.e. notably faster than in 1878.
This is the version normally performed. It exists in almost identical editions by Robert Haas (published 1935) and Leopold Nowak (1951). The Nowak has been amended twice, in 1989 (the "Second Revised Edition") and 2005 (the "Third Revised Edition"). All of these are under the auspices of the MWV, the Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft in Vienna. Another edition has been issued by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs for the German: Anton Bruckner Urtext Gesamtausgabe in 2018. Regardless of edition, the 1878 version is sometimes redundantly called the "Original Version", perhaps to distinguish it from the inauthentic Schalk.
This first published edition, heard at the work's 1894 premiere, was prepared by conductor Franz Schalk. It is unknown how much of its difference from Bruckner's 1878 version reflects Bruckner and how much Schalk, but 15 to 20 minutes of music is cut, and most of the changes were unapproved by the composer. Schalk made Bruckner's music sound Wagnerian by means of re-orchestration. Obvious differences occur in the coda of the Finale, where Schalk adds triangle and cymbals and an offstage brass band.
The first recording of any part of the symphony was made by Dol Dauber with his salon orchestra in 1928 for HMV; it included only the Scherzo, in an arrangement of the Schalk edition. The first of the complete work was made by Karl Böhm with the Dresden Staatskapelle in 1937 using the new Haas edition. (Böhm never returned to this music.)
Jochum, in addition to broadcasts issued on CD, made four commercial recordings: the Haas edition in 1938 with the Hamburg Philharmonic for Telefunken; and the Nowak edition in 1958 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon, in 1964 with the Concertgebouworkest for Philips, and in 1980 with the Dresden Staatskapelle for EMI.[6] Conductor Kenneth Woods in his essay on Jochum quotes Herbert Glass: "the Fifth drove [Jochum] to distraction and he would regard his every performance of it as an interpretation-in-progress. In rehearsal, such doubts could sorely test an orchestra's patience – this despite his courtly, respectful treatment of his players."[7]
Also noteworthy is Bernard Haitink, who recorded the symphony commercially three times. In 1971[8] he recorded the Haas edition with the Concertgebouworkest for Philips.[9] In 1988 he returned to the Haas edition, this time with the Vienna Philharmonic. Then, in 2010 he recorded the Nowak edition with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for BR Klassik; this recording has won particular esteem.[10] [11]
Sergiu Celibidache, Herbert von Karajan, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, Herbert Blomstedt and Daniel Barenboim are among other noted contributors to the Bruckner Fifth discography. Takashi Asahina, Japan's most-recorded musician, recorded the Bruckner Fifth numerous times.[12] Norman Lebrecht has singled out Georg Tintner's recording on Naxos Records as one of the 100 best discs of the century and credits it with changing critics' attitude towards that record label: "It actually sounds as if Tintner had been waiting all of his life to give this performance."[13]