Anton Bruckner: The Man and the Work. 2. Revised Edition

ISBN-13: 9783631662038 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 234 str.

Constantin Floros; Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch

Opis

While unappreciated and controversial during most of his life, Anton Bruckner is today regarded as the greatest symphonist between Beethoven and Gustav Mahler in terms of originality, boldness and monumentality of his music. The image of Bruckner the man, however, is still extreme instance of the tenacious power of prejudice. No less a figure than Gustav Mahler coined the apercu about Bruckner being -a simpleton half genius, half imbecile-. The author is out to correct that misperception. His thesis in this study is that contrary to what has hitherto been asserted, there is an intimate relation between Bruckner s sacred music and his symphonies from multiple perspectives: biographical data, sources and influences, the psychology of creation, musical structure, contemporary testimony and reception history. Additional chapters assess important Bruckner recordings and interpreters and the progressiveness of his music."

Recenzje

«A masterful achievement» (Süddeutsche Zeitung about the German edition of the book)
«All in all, this is a thought-provoking book that helps to widen our understanding of Bruckner's multi-faced compositional style.» (Professor Crawford Howie)

Spis treści

Contents: Who was Bruckner? - Neurosis - Libido - Emotionality - Persecution Mania - Religiosity - Personality and uvre - Music as Religious Confession - A new Dramatic Conception of the Mass - The Fiction of «Absolute Music» - Originality and Modernity - Imaginations.

O autorze

Constantin Floros is professor emeritus of musicology at the University of Hamburg and a prolific writer on diverse subjects. He is an honorary member of the Anton Bruckner Institute in Linz and of the Austrian Society for Music Research.
Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch is professor emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at Indiana University. A specialist in English and European Romanticism, he has worked as a translator since his retirement.