The High-Classical German Instrumental Style as the Foundation of Anton Bruckner’s Thematic Designs

Abstract

Anton Bruckner’s symphonies have long been recognized as vital contributions to the canon of late- Romantic western art music. Yet this body of work has not been without controversy. One frequent criticism involves the vast length of his themes and the enormous size of each movement – features that have often been attributed to Bruckner’s unremitting adulation of Wagner. Rather than situate Bruckner’s art as a product of post-Wagnerian aesthetics, in this paper I argue that it is more profitable to examine Bruckner’s melodic style as an expansion upon the instrumental themes of the high Classical German style, paradigms formalized in William Caplin’s Classical Form (1998). By outlining the relationships between the thematic material from Bruckner’s and Beethoven’s works, I show that the foundation of Bruckner’s melodic style is more reactionary than has been acknowledged. More specifically, I show that the themes from these works are enlarged – in Caplin’s terms, loosened – versions of Caplinian theme types. Through the course of the discussion, I identify in Bruckner’s symphonies comparable loosening techniques, suggesting stylistic conventions. I end with some remarks about further areas of inquiry with respect to the relationship between the thematic construction and formal designs in other symphonies by Bruckner.