Overview
Introduction
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is the last symphony the composer completed. It exists in two major versions of 1887 and 1890. It was premiered under conductor Hans Richter in 1892 in Vienna. It is dedicated to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.
This symphony is sometimes nicknamed The Apocalyptic, but this was not a name Bruckner gave to the work himself.
Composition and publication
Bruckner began work on the Eighth Symphony in July 1884.
In September 1887 Bruckner had the score copied and sent to conductor Hermann Levi. Levi was one of Bruckner's closest collaborators, having given a performance of the Seventh Symphony in Munich that was "the greatest triumph Bruckner had yet experienced".
I find it impossible to perform the Eighth in its current form. I just can't make it my own! As much as the themes are magnificent and direct, their working-out seems to me dubious; indeed, I consider the orchestration quite impossible... Don't lose your courage, take another look at your work, talk it over with your friends, with Schalk, maybe a reworking can achieve something.
By January 1888 Bruckner had come to agree with Levi that the symphony would benefit from further work.
Premiere and reception
By the time the 1890 revision was complete Levi was no longer conducting concerts in Munich: as a result he recommended that his protege Felix Weingartner, Kapellmeister of Mannheim, lead the first performance of the symphony. The premiere was twice scheduled to occur under the young conductor's direction during 1891, but each time Weingartner substituted another work at the last minute.
After a Munich performance by Levi was canceled because of a feared outbreak of cholera, Bruckner focused his efforts on securing a Vienna premiere for the symphony. At last Hans Richter, subscription conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, agreed to conduct the work. The first performance took place on 18 December 1892. Although some of the more conservative members of the audience left at the end of each movement, many of Bruckner's supporters were also present, including Hugo Wolf and Johann Strauss.
The well known critic Eduard Hanslick left after the slow movement. His review described the symphony as "interesting in detail, but strange as a whole, indeed repellent. The peculiarity of this work consists, to put it briefly, in importing Wagner's dramatic style into the symphony."
The symphony was slow to enter the orchestral repertoire. Only two further performances occurred during Bruckner's lifetime. while the symphony had to wait until 1929 for its first London performance.
