Bruckner's New York debut

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1885, at an open public rehearsal at the Old Metropolitan Opera House, the New York Symphony gave the first performance in America of any symphony by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. It was a fresh-faced 23-year-old conductor named Walter Damrosch who programmed the 61-year-old Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 in d minor, a score dedicated to Richard Wagner and quoting themes from Wagner’s operas.

The New York Times critic, in fairness to this “new” music by a totally unfamiliar composer, attended both the December 4th rehearsal and the December 5th concert before venturing an official opinion:

“As to form and workmanship,” he wrote, “it is a highly commendable achievement. The composer’s motives are distinct and fluent, the instrumentation is rich, though not cloying, and vivid without being clangorous. Unfortunately, there is not in the whole composition a measure in which a spark of inspiration, or a grain of inventiveness is discernible.”

Some of the other New York papers were more blunt: “A dreary waste of sound… formless, weird, flimsy, uncongenial and empty” wrote the Sun, and, according to the Post: “The first movement is marked ‘misterioso,’ but the only mystery about it is how it ever came to be written, printed and performed.”

In fairness to the music critics of 1885, it would take another hundred years or so before American audiences started to acquire a taste for Bruckner’s particular blend of music and mystery.

In his Preface to a 1942 book by Werner Wolff entitled "Anton Bruckner: Rustic Genius," Damrosch incorrectly states it was Bruckner's Fourth Symphony (in E-flat Major, subtitled "Romantic") that he performed on Dec. 4-5, 1885, and some other reference works and lists have unfortunately passed on this error; In his earlier 1923 autobiography entitled "My Musical Life," however, Damrosch correctly records it was Bruckner's Third in D minor (also confirmed by contemporary program listings and newspaper reviews).

Music Played in Today's Program

Anton Bruckner (1824–1896) Symphony No. 3 in d BBC Scottish Symphony; Osmo Vänskä, cond. Hyperion 67200

On This Day

Births

• 1660 - Baptism of French composer André Campra, in Aix-en-Provence;

• 1667 - Baptism of French composer and theorist Michel Pignolet de Montéclair, in Andelot;

• 1879 - Irish composer and conductor (Sir) Hamilton Harty, in Hillsborough, County Down;

Deaths

• 1935 - Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen, age 71, in Oslo;

• 1953 - American composer and writer on music Daniel Gregory Mason, age 80, Greenwich, Conn.;

• 1976 - British composer Benjamin Britten, age 63, in Aldeburgh;

• 1993 - American composer and guitarist Frank Zappa, age 52, in Los Angeles;

Premieres

• 1693 - M.-A, Charpentier: opera, "Médée," in Paris;

• 1816 - Rossini: opera "Otello," in Naples at the Teatro del Fondo;

• 1920 - Korngold: opera "Die tote Stadt," simultaneously in Hamburg and Cologne; The Hamburg premiere was conducted by Egon Pollak, the Cologne premiere by Otto Klemperer;

• 1845 - R. Schumann: Piano Concerto in a, Op. 54, in Dresden, Ferdinand Hiller conducting, with Clara Schumann the soloist;

• 1881 - Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto, in Vienna by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Hans Richter, with Adolf Brodsky as soloist;

• 1885 - American premiere of Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 in d, at the Old Metropolitan Opera House in New York, during an afternoon public rehearsal by the New York Symphony Society, with the 23-year old Walter Damrosch; The “official” concert occurred the following evening; This was the first time any Bruckner Symphony was performed in America; In his Preface to a 1942 book by Werner Wolff entitled “Anton Bruckner: Rustic Genius,” Damrosch incorrectly states it was Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony (in E-flat Major, subtitled “Romantic”) that he performed on Dec. 5, 1885;

• 1895 - Rachmaninoff: “Caprice bohémien” (Capriccio on Gypsy Themes), in Moscow, with the composer conducting (Julian date: Nov. 22);

• 1898 - Dvorák: symphonic poem "Hero's Song," Op. 111, in Vienna;

• 1909 - Wolf-Ferrari: opera, "Il segreto di Susanna," in Munich, at the Hoftheater;

• 1922 - Bax: Symphony No. 1, in London;

• 1949 - Dallapiccola: opera "I Prigioniero" (The Prisoner), in a broadcast concert performance in Turin by the Italian Radio; The first staged performance of this opera took place on May 20, 1950, in Florence.