Composition History
The following table summarizes the Fourth Symphony's complicated history of composition (or Wirkungsgeschichte, to use the critical term preferred by Bruckner scholars). The principal sources for these data are Korstvedt (1996) and Redlich (1954). (B = Bruckner; FS = Fourth Symphony; mvt = movement.)
- 1874
- 2 January
- 24 January
- 21 February
- 10 April
- 13 June
- 25 July
- 5 August
- 22 November
- -
- 1875
- passim
- -
- 1876
- August
- September
- -
- 12 October
- -
- -
- 1878
- 18 January
- 1 August
- 30 Sept
- 9 October
- -
- December
- -
- 1879
- 19 November
- -
- 1880
- 5 June
- -
- 1881
- 20 February
- ??
- December
- -
- 1885
- ??
- -
- 1886
- ??
- 4 June
- ??
- Summer
- August
- 1 October
- October?
- 16 November
- -
- 1887
- 3 January
- Spring?
- 9 May
- December?
- 14 December
- -
- 1888
- 22 January
- February
- 23 February
- 27 February
- -
- 9 March
- 4 April
- 15 May
- 20 June
- -
- 1889
- September
- -
- 1890
- ??
- 10 December
- 11 December
- -
- 1891
- 18 April
- ??
- -
- 1892
- Spring
- 15 June
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- -
- B sketches the 1st mvt of his FS
- 1st mvt: sketch of score is completed
- 1st mvt: full score and instrumentation are worked out
- B begins to sketch 2nd mvt
- B begins to sketch 3rd mvt
- 3rd mvt is completed
- B begins to sketch 4th mvt
- 1st version (1874) of the FS is completed
- -
- -
- Unsuccessful attempts by B to have his FS performed
- -
- -
- B meets the progressive music critic Wilhelm Tappert at the inaugural Bayreuth Festival
- Tappert persuades the conductor Benjamin Bilse to perform the FS in Berlin
- B sends Bilse a score and a set of orchestral parts
- B writes to Tappert, declaring his intention to thoroughly revise the FS before any performance
- He engages Tappert's efforts to recover the score and parts from Bilse (without success)
- -
- -
- B begins to revise the FS
- B begins composition of the Volksfest finale
- 1st revision completed (1878 version)
- B writes to Tappert; another unsuccessful attempt to recover score and parts from Bilse
- B describes the revised version of his FS and announces his intention of replacing the Scherzo with a new "Hunt" Scherzo
- "Hunt" Scherzo is composed
- -
- -
- B begins to compose a 3rd version of the finale to replace the Volksfest finale
- -
- -
- New finale is completed (1880 version)
- -
- -
- 1880 version premiered in Vienna by the VPO conducted by Richter; 1st premiere of a B symphony to be conducted by someone other than B
- B makes some changes to the symphony after the first performance, resulting in the 1881 version
- A performance of the 1881 version in Karlsruhe under Felix Mottl is a failure; 1st performance of a B symphony at which the composer is not present
- -
- -
- B sends the score of the 1881 version to publishers Bote and Bock of Berlin with a view to publication, but it is rejected
- -
- -
- B sends the score of the 1881 version to publishers Schott of Mainz with a view to publication, but it is again rejected
- 1st and 3rd movements of the 1881 version are performed at the Sondershausen Musikfest in Thuringia
- B makes some further changes while preparing the score to be sent with Anton Seidl to New York, resulting in the 1886 version
- B sends a copy of the score of the 1886 version to Anton Seidl, who takes it to New York
- 2nd version (1878-1886) of the symphony set aside by B
- Hermann Levi sends a postcard to Viennese publisher Albert Gutmann interesting him in the publication of the FS
- Gutmann agrees to publish the FS, but demands an advance fee of 1,000 marks (1,000 fl.)
- B writes to Levi rejecting Gutmann's terms as impossible for him to meet
- -
- -
- B relents and agrees to Gutmann's terms when it becomes clear that Levi will be able to raise the 1,000 fl. (does Gutmann reveives the 1,000 fl. now?)
- B and his collaborators (Ferdinand Löwe, Franz Schalk and Joseph Schalk) begin to revise the FS for publication
- Franz Scalk writes to his brother Joseph, telling him that Löwe has reorchestrated much of the FS with B's approval
- 1887 version completed (partially preserved in some surviving orchestral parts from the premiere)
- A planned performance of 1887 version in Munich under Levi is cancelled due to the unavailability of orchestral parts
- -
- -
- 1887 version is premiered in Vienna by the Vienna Philharmonic under Hans Richter
- The Stichvorlage (engraver’s copy of the 1887 version) is extensively revised in B's hand, completed and dated, resulting in the 1888 version
- B writes to Franz Schalk: asks him to thank Löwe for list of differences between score used at premiere on 22 January 1888 and revised Stichvorlage
- B sends Levi the Stichvorlage for a concert Levi was preparing to give in Munich on 14 April 1888 (the concert was cancelled when Levi fell ill)
- and asks him to have the orchestral parts amended accordingly at his, B's, expense; attached to the Stichvorlage is Löwe's list of revisions
- B writes to Levi: requests that the Stichvorlage and revised parts be sent to him (Levi actually had a new set of parts drawn up from scratch)
- 1886 version performed in New York under Anton Seidl
- B signs the contract for the publication of the FS (does Gutmann receive his 1,000 fl. now?)
- B writes to Arthur Nikisch: the Stichvorlage has been sent via Gutmann to the printers Engelmann & Mühlberg of Leipzig
- -
- -
- Gutmann finally publishes the 1888 version of B's FS; this is the first printed edition of the work
- -
- -
- Gutmann issues a corrected edition of the 1888 version
- The 1888 version is performed in Munich under Franz Fischer (deputizing for the indisposed Hermann Levi)
- Fischer writes to B: first rehearsal has had to be abandoned; the handwritten orchestral parts were defective and had to be revised by a local copyist
- -
- -
- B writes to Levi, asking him to send Fischer's revised orchestral parts to Gutmann for printing
- 3 more performances of the 1888 version take place using Fischer's revised handwritten orchestral parts
- -
- -
- Gutmann publishes the orchestral parts of the FS (1888 version) and another print of the full score
- 1st performance of the FS using Gutmann's printed orchestral parts takes place in Vienna under Joseph Schalk
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