The 'Bruckner Problem' is a term that refers to the difficulties and complications resulting from the fact that most of the symphonies of Anton Bruckner exist in a number of contrasting versions and editions – not all of which were produced by the composer himself, and several of which were released by him reluctantly or as supposedly temporary 'stop-gaps' after he had been attacked by critics or/and badgered by well-meaning friends. SYMPHONY is an acronym standing for Single- or Multi-Process Optimization over Networks. ... Anton Bruckner Anton Bruckner (September 4, 1824 – October 11, 1896) was an Austrian composer of the Romantic era. ...

The unmanageably complex and confusing situation which had come to exist by the middle of the 20th century – with scholars aware of three or four times as many versions and editions as there were numbered symphonies – was addressed by such Brucknerians as Robert Simpson and Deryck Cooke. In the latter's important article 'The Bruckner Problem Simplified' (1969), the extent of the confusion then known to surround each symphony was made clear. In the case of the 'Third Symphony', for example, Cooke identified and compared the following six versions: Robert Simpson may refer to: Robert Simpson, Canadian founder of Simpsons Department Store Robert Simpson, English musician Bob Simpson, American meteorologist and co-developer of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale Robert Simson, Scottish mathematician This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise... Deryck Cooke (September 14, 1919 - October 27, 1975) was a British musicologist who was born in Leicester. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ...

(i) 1873 original version (then still unpublished); (ii) 1874 first revision (then still unpublished); (iii) 1877 second revision, published in 1878 as the first edition; (iv) 1877 Fritz Oeser edition of the same (published by the International Bruckner Society in the 1930s); (v) 1889 another revision, published in 1890; (vi) 1889 the same, edited by Leopold Nowak.

As a result of such efforts, musicians and listeners are today much better informed about how the various versions differ from each other, and the most inauthentic and corrupt scores are now the least often performed.

Bibliography

Deryck Cooke: 'The Bruckner Problem Simplified'; Musical Times Vol.CX (1969), 142, 362, 479, 828.

External links

• Detailed information on the various editions and revisions of Bruckner's symphonies