Bruckner - The Bruckner Problem

The Bruckner Problem is a term that refers to the difficulties and complications resulting from the numerous contrasting versions and editions that exist for most of the symphonies of Anton Bruckner. The term gained currency following the publication (in 1969) of an article dealing with the subject, "The Bruckner Problem Simplified," by musicologist Deryck Cooke, which brought the issue to the attention of English-speaking musicians.

In the case of the Third Symphony, Cooke identified and compared the following six scores:

1. 1873 original version (then still unpublished);
2. 1874 first revision (then still unpublished);
3. 1877 second revision, published in 1878 as the first edition;
4. 1877 Fritz Oeser edition of the same (published by the International Bruckner Society in 1950);
5. 1889 another revision (Cooke called this a Bruckner-Schalk revision), edited by Theodor Raettig, published 1890;
6. 1889 the same, edited by Leopold Nowak as part of the Complete Edition.

Cooke considered the 1873 and 1874 versions to be "pure pedantry" and that "the first two scores were mere discarded attempts, which have never been published or performed " (Cooke 362). Therefore he concluded that there was only a choice between the 1877 version and the discredited (in his opinion) 1889 Bruckner-Schalk revision.

Cooke's position on the first versions has been severely criticised by later musicologists, most notably Julian Horton, saying that "his dismissal of the first version of the Third ... on the grounds that they were not performing versions is untenable. The fact that this score was not performed before it was revised does not render it illegitimate" (Horton 2004).