Symphony No. 5 (Bruckner)
| Symphony No. 5 | |
|---|---|
| by Anton Bruckner | |
Portrait of Anton Bruckner
|
|
| Key | B-flat major |
| Catalogue | WAB 105 |
| Composed |
|
| Dedication | Karl von Stremayr |
| Published |
1896
|
| Recorded | 1937 |
| Movements | 4 |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 8 April 1894 |
| Location | Graz |
| Conductor | Franz Schalk |
The Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major (WAB 105) of Anton Bruckner was written in 1875–1876, with a few minor changes over the next few years. It was first performed in public on two pianos by Joseph Schalk and Franz Zottmann on 20 April 1887 at the Bösendorfersaal in Vienna. The first orchestral performance - in a non-authenticated version ('Schalk-version'), a.o. with a changed orchestration in a Wagnerian fashion and with omitting 122 bars of the finale - was conducted by Franz Schalk in Graz on 8 April 1894 (Bruckner was sick and unable to attend: he never heard this symphony performed by an orchestra). It was dedicated to Karl von Stremayr, minister of education in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The symphony is sometimes referred to as the "Tragic", "Church of Faith", or "Pizzicato" symphony.
The symphony was written at a time of much trouble and disillusionment during the composer's life, a court suit (from which he was exonerated), and a reduction in salary. It is not outwardly a work of storm and stress, but it is a piece of "working out", one of his most contrapuntally intricate works.
It has four movements:
Movements 1, 2 and 4 begin with pizzicato strings, hence the nickname Pizzicato. The pizzicato figures are symmetrical, in the sense that the outer movements share one figure while the middle movements share a different figure.
The work begins with a majestic slow introduction which, although beginning in B-flat major, traverses through several keys. It eventually leans heavily toward D major without actually tonicizing it. The introduction progresses into a main movement in sonata form. After a climax in A major, the texture is thinned until only a violin tremolo remains. This tremolo, which starts on A, then moves to D, suggesting that D will become a tonal focal point. Instead, the opening theme is in B-flat minor. 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-flat major, and F minor. Bruckner introduces the third theme as an unprepared tonality (D-flat major). In the recapitulation, the themes' tonality progresses from B-flat minor to G minor to E-flat major. The coda begins in B-flat minor, but eventually shifts to the parallel major mode.
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