Description
The symphony has four movements:
- Allegro moderato E major. Starts with tremolo strings and the cellos presenting "a complete, divinely given melodic whole." "Bruckner declared he heard it in a dream, played on a viola, and wrote it down on awakening, but the tune incorporates a quotation from the Credo of his D Minor Mass (1864) which he was currently revising.
- Adagio. Sehr feierlich und sehr langsam C-sharp minor. This movement was composed between January and April 1883. Bruckner began writing it in anticipation of Wagner's death and funeral, as he was in poor health. The first part of the movement features four Wagner tubas. It also features a bass tuba, which Wagner had invented, and was the first appearance in a symphony. Legend has it that Bruckner wrote the cymbal clash at the climax of this movement upon hearing the news that Wagner had died. By way of contrast, Williman Mann states that "at the climax of the slow movement Nikisch persuaded Bruckner to add a cymbal clash supported by a triangle; later this addition to the manuscript was marked 'invalid' - but not in the composer's hand, so who was the purist?"
- Scherzo. Sehr schnell A minor with Trio in F major
- Finale. Bewegt, doch nicht schnell E major. In the recapitulation, the subject groups are reversed in order (a form sometimes called "tragic sonata form").
Read more about this topic: Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)
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