Anton Bruckner,: Rustic genius,

289 Pages·1942·13.68 MB·English

by  Werner Wolff

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T
HE first authoritative book in English
on Anton Bruckner, this full-length bi
ography will .be welcomed by the ever
increasing friends of the Austrian composer,
who is granted today a place in the musical
hierarchy which began with Haydn and ended
with Brahms.
Needless to say this work is a labor of love.
From the beginning of his career as a conductor
and teacher in Germany and Austria, Werner
Wolff has steadily endeavored to create a wider
public for Anton Bruckner. As a child he was
fortunate enough to meet Bruckner in person at
his parents' home, and he was deeply impressed.
Bruckner's appearance was unforgettable. He
had kept his country ways and habitually wore
clothing made in his home village. In fact, he
had all the earmarks of a naive str'anger lost in
a great metropolis. But he was more than a
peculiar sight; he was a lonely man. However,
jn the solitude in which he lived in Vienna, his
music grew to sublime heights. Slowly his
genius became apparent, and his work gained
rhe recognition it deserves.
IB.ruckner's idol was Richard Wagner, and
!ltr..ause / his adulation of the older composer
• was , made to suffer by the partisans of
.3rahms, who declared him a mere Wagner fol
lower. After the First World War, however, his
works, so thoroughly original, won him world
acclaim.
Bruckner was a devout Catholic, and, faithful
to his religion, he remained celibate although
strongly attracted to women. His life abounded
with innocent little romantic episodes. And his
peculiarities furnished innumerable charming
anecdotes. . . . A rich, intimate biography by a
man whose knowledse and love of the com
poser's work, equips hi.in ideally for the task of
bringing Bruckner, the man, to the American)
people:
NOV _1 11996
'THE AUTHOR
Dr. Werner Wolff was born in Berlin, Ger-!
many and educated at the University of Berlin. I
He has directed the famous orchestras and
choirs of Central Europe, Italy, Spain and Hol
land-conducted at the Royal National Theatre
in Prague, and the Hamburg Opera House, and
arranged regular orchestra evenings with the
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for several years.
Among his pupils in musical theory and history
are some of the world's outstanding musicians.
He is now in America, and is the Head of the
Music Department at Tennessee W~sleyan Col
lege. He has applied for citizenship here.
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Anton Bruckner in the 188o's
ANTON BRUCl{NER
RUSTIC GENIUS
BY WERNER WOLFF
HEAD OF MUSIC DEPARTMENT
TENN~SSEE WESLEYAN COLLEGE
With
Music and Illustrations
Introduction by WALTER DAMROSCH
NEW YORK· E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.
I 9 4 2
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