Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896) was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and considerable length. Bruckner’s compositions helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving harmonies.
Symphony No. 0, in D minor (« Die Nullte »), WAB 100 (c. 1863)
1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Scherzo. Presto – Trio. Langsamer und ruhiger
4. Finale. Moderato
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink
Description by Wayne Reisig [-]
The curious numeration of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 0 would imply that its composition preceded his First (1868). Yet its date is ambiguous. It is most generally agreed that its genesis was in 1863 and it was substantially revised into its definitive form in 1869, after Bruckner had made the significant acquaintance of Beethoven’s Ninth. In its first rehearsal by the Vienna Philharmonic, conductor Otto Dessoff, upon examining the first movement, asked where the main theme was. This was all it took for the sensitive composer to shelve the work until the penultimate year of his life. Although reluctant to include the symphony in his official canon, he was hesistant to discard it altogether and thus appended the curious designation for which it is famous, along with the words « only an attempt. »
It shows many anticipations of Bruckner’s mature style and the composer used the work as a sort of thematic woodshed for the creation of subsequent works. The scurrying opening motive is so unusual that it is understandable that Dessoff could not identify it as a theme. The overall harmonic layout is strikingly similar to the opening of the Third Symphony, also in D minor. The second theme is similar in mood to that of the Seventh Symphony, its lyricism set against a softly tread march. What is unusual is the brief reappearance of the opening theme before the third theme is stated, a typical Brucknerian hymn-theme. Anticipation of the Third Symphony can be heard in the development, where a whirlwind transformation of the main theme vies with a chorale-like transformation of the other themes. The recapitulation already reveals Bruckner’s tendency to telescope this section while avoiding verbatim restatement. The beginning of the coda uses a motive heard later in the Sixth Symphony and the Te Deum. The second movement is more in the mood of an andante than a typical Bruckner adagio, although it does unfold at a leisurely pace. In song form, a hymn-like theme alternates with lighter lyrical one. Most conspicuously absent is the working up to a steeple-like climax present in all of Bruckner’s slow movements from the Third on. The following scherzo is neither heavy-footed nor Valkyrie-like, but shows the influence of Schubert’s symphonic scherzi, while the trio is chromatic in a way somewhat different from Bruckner’s later style. A brooding introduction over pulsating woodwinds opens the finale, with the first theme proper bursting forth forte in unison, quite similar to the opening of Beethoven’s Ninth. The second theme is unusual for being mercurial, a mood rare in any Bruckner, but the typical « gesangperiod » follows in the third theme. The development shows many Brucknerian devices including insistent unisons and trailing woodwind figurations. Again the recapitulation is terse. A brief diminuendo precedes the short vigorous coda, not yet the deliberate inexorable buildup against a reverberating tonic typical of the composer. None the less, the « Zero » symphony is a worthy work in perspective, accepted as part of the canon with the other nine.
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