The Fourth Symphony “Romantic"

The FOURTH SYMPHONY, nicknamed “ROMANTIC”, remains one of Bruckner’s relatively better known works. It was created between January and November 1874, but by 1888 the composer had edited it several times as was his practice with most of his works. The premiere of the work on 20 February 1881 in Vienna, in the performance of the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Hans Richter, was a great success. This is the only Bruckner symphony that was given a title and the composer apparently had a specific program in mind, as he described it later in his letter to conductor Herman Levi from 8 December 1884: “In the first movement the day is announced by the horn, the second movement is a song, the trio in the third a musical entertainment of the hunters in the wood.” There is a similar passage in a letter from the composer to Paul Heyse of 22 December 1890: “In the first movement of the “Romantic” Fourth Symphony the intention is to depict the horn that proclaims the day from the town hall! Then life goes on; in the Gesangsperiode [the second subject] the theme is the song of the great tit [a bird] Zizipe. Second movement: song, prayer, serenade. Third: hunt and in the Trio - how a barrel-organ plays during the midday meal in the forest.” The autograph of the Scherzo and Finale of the 1878 version of the symphony contains markings such as Jagdthema (hunting theme), Tanzweise während der Mahlzeit auf der Jagd (dance tune during the lunch break while hunting) and Volksfest (people’s festival). Subsequent editions of the symphony were made by Bruckner in the period 1878-1886 and 1887-1888, with researchers finding seven authoritative versions. The edition made by the composer prior to the first performance of the symphony in 1881 has been accepted as “original version”. The first printed edition of the work dates from 1889. After the composer’s death more publications of the symphony were to follow, with publishers opting for one of the author’s versions. In the same manner each conductor presents his preferred edition. In fact, all the different versions have been performed and recorded over the years. The first recording of the symphony is in the performance of the Staatskapelle Dresden under the baton of Karl Böhm in 1936. The most famous recordings in the discography of the Fourth Symphony were made by conductors Clemens Kraus, Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Otto Klemperer, Herbert von Karajan, Sergiu Celibidache, Sir Georg Solti, Ricardo Muti, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, George Tintner, Akira Naito and others. Tonight’s performance is of the original version of the Fourth Symphony.