Bruckner - Symphony No. 2 in C minor

A manuscript page from Bruckner’s Symphony No. 2, initially rejected by the Vienna Philharmonic as “unperformable.”

During the 19th century, composers increasingly turned toward works of greater scale and ambition. No one had pushed musical architecture to the monumental extremes of Richard Wagner, whose music dramas reshaped ideas of duration, weight, and expressive density. Anton Bruckner, a devoted admirer of Wagner, absorbed these qualities into his symphonic thinking, expanding his works toward breadth, grandeur, and spiritual gravity.

Like Wagner, Bruckner labored over his compositions for years. His symphonies underwent repeated revisions, often driven by insecurity and external pressure. Some critics famously—and unfairly—claimed that Bruckner had written the same symphony nine times (or ten, counting the anomalous “Symphony No. 0”). While it is true that he wrestled with similar formal and stylistic problems throughout his life—particularly those of extended form and large-scale coherence—each symphony represents a distinct stage in his evolving musical language. This struggle continued until his death, leaving his final symphony unfinished.

Bruckner began composing Symphony No. 2 in C minor in August 1871, while he was in London enjoying considerable success as an organ recitalist. Although it is his third completed symphony, it appears as No. 2 in the catalogue. He finished the work in Vienna on September 11, 1872.

A crushing verdict

Bruckner’s notorious lack of self-confidence is reflected in the fate of this symphony. He submitted it to Otto Dessoff, conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic. During rehearsals, the orchestra reacted negatively, and Dessoff returned the score with the devastating judgment: “unperformable.” Critics soon followed, mocking the work without even hearing it.

Desperate for acceptance, Bruckner revised the symphony in 1877 and again during the 1890s. These later versions, however, are generally regarded as less successful. As Bruckner himself later admitted of his critics, “They frightened me so much that I forgot to be myself.” Today, the original version—first performed by the composer in Vienna in October 1873—is usually preferred.

Though an early work, the Second Symphony already reveals the emergence of Bruckner’s distinctive voice. The opening movement begins with a broad, song-like melody that alternates between cellos and horns, while violins provide a gentle tremolo backdrop. The music unfolds patiently, emphasizing spaciousness and tonal resonance.

The slow movement opens with a nostalgic, vocal theme in the strings, followed by an intimate dialogue between pizzicato strings and a solitary horn. The third movement is marked by sudden, forceful contrasts and is built around the lively motif of a rustic dance.

In the finale, Bruckner combines elements of sonata form and rondo, weaving together material from earlier movements. This technique of cyclical recall evokes the contrapuntal thinking of Johann Sebastian Bach and earlier traditions, anchoring Bruckner’s vast symphonic vision within a lineage of sacred and architectural musical thought.

Symphony No. 2 stands at the threshold of Bruckner’s mature style: tentative yet ambitious, vulnerable yet monumental—a work in which his symphonic identity first begins to assert itself with conviction.