Symphony No. 8 (Bruckner)

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is the last symphony the composer completed. It exists in two major versions of 1887 and 1890. It was premiered under conductor Hans Richter in 1892 in Vienna. It is dedicated to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.

This symphony is sometimes nicknamed The Apocalyptic, but this was not a name Bruckner gave to the work himself.

Composition and publication

Bruckner began work on the Eighth Symphony in July 1884. Working mainly during the summer vacations from his duties at the University of Vienna and the Vienna Conservatory, the composer had all four movements completed in draft form by August 1885. The orchestration of the work took Bruckner until April 1887 to complete: during this stage of composition the order of the inner movements was reversed, leaving the scherzo second and the Adagio as the third movement.

In September 1887 Bruckner had the score copied and sent to conductor Hermann Levi. Levi was one of Bruckner's closest collaborators, having given a performance of the Seventh Symphony in Munich that was "the greatest triumph Bruckner had yet experienced". He had also arranged for Bruckner's career to be supported in other ways, including financial assistance from the nobility, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna. However the conductor wrote back to Bruckner that:

Symphony No. 8 (Piston)

The Symphony No. 8 by Walter Piston is a symphony dating from 1965.

History

The Boston Symphony Orchestra commissioned the Eighth Symphony and gave its first performance on March 5, 1965, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf, to whom the score is dedicated (Archibald 1978, 267). Initially, Piston had preferred to write a flute concerto for the Boston Symphony's principal flautist, Doriot Anthony Dwyer, but Leinsdorf preferred a symphony. The concerto was eventually composed in 1971 (Pollack 1982, 156). According to another account, however, it was Piston himself who expressed a preference for a symphony (Pollack 1982, 141).

Analysis

The work is in three movements:

Moderato mosso ( = 80)

The symphony is 20 minutes in duration (Archibald 1969, 597).

Although Piston had occasionally employed twelve-tone technique from early on, it is much more in evidence in the Eighth Symphony than ever before, and this brings with it a heightened level of impassioned, almost tragic expression. The first movement begins with a melody constructed from a twelve-tone series, C D♭ E F A♭ G F♯ E♭ D A B B♭, accompanied by two six-note chords consisting of the second and first hexachords of the same row. This series lends the music a dark solemnity because of its emphasis on minor seconds and minor thirds (Archibald 1978, 267). After such a slow, prelude-like opening movement, a slow second movement is somewhat surprising. It is in variation form. The theme is announced in the bassoon followed by the flute, with subsequent variations in the strings, a moderato mosso, and three further variations (Pollack 1982, 143). The concluding Allegro marcato is in a large binary form with a short coda. Like most Piston finales, it is rhythmically propulsive. Inversion of melodic lines is a significant feature of this movement, which concludes with a spirited timpani solo (Archibald 1969, 597).

Symphony No. 8 (Kabeláč)

The 8th Symphony "Antiphonies", Op. 54, by Miloslav Kabeláč was written in 1970 as a reflection of the composer's feelings from the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the onset of so-called "normalization" process in the society, which means renewal of strong dictate of the regime of pro-Soviet communist rulers, including heavy loss of basic freedoms for citizens of the country.

The composition consists of nine parts – five movements and four interludes, structure of which is controlled by a firm logical order, proportionally and symmetry. Its structural and expressive axis is the third – the longest movement. The intermedia linking the individual movements correspond both in time and music and differ only in an alternately opposite dynamic succession. The work is written for a percussion ensemble (6 musicians), the organ, a coloration soprano and two mixed choirs (large and small). The text of the vocal part is taken from the Old testament.

Symphony No. 8 (Michael Haydn)

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 8 in D major, Perger 38, Sherman 8, Sherman-adjusted 10, MH 64, is believed to have been written in Salzburg, some time after 1764.

Scored for flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings, in four movements:

References