Anton Bruckner's Symphony in F minor, WAB 99, was written in 1863, at the end of his study period in form and orchestration by Otto Kitzler.
Bruckner gave the score of the Symphony in F minor to his friend Cyrill Hynais, together with that of the Four Orchestral Pieces of 1862 and the Overture in G minor. The symphony, which was not played in Bruckner's lifetime, received its first full performance at Klosterneuburg on 12 October 1924.[1][2][3] It is available in only one edition, by Leopold Nowak published in 1973.[4]
Biographer Derek Watson says that compared to the Overture in G minor, the F minor Symphony "is certainly thematically uninspired and less characterful," but that it does have "some moments of warm melodiousness and consistently fine if unoriginal scoring."[5] Also, the score is quite lacking in dynamics and phrasing marks compared to Bruckner's later works.[6]
Much about the work betrays the style of the times, but Bruckner’s own mode of expression can already be recognized in a number of other traits. The composer's teacher Otto Kitzler wrote the work off as "not particularly inspired", which was why Bruckner laid it aside. Fortunately, however, he did not destroy it when later screening his manuscripts.[4]
Bruckner's F-minor symphony of 1863 was initially designated Symphony No. 1, and, in a letter to his friend Rudolf Weinwurm dated 29 January 1865, Bruckner described the C-minor symphony he was working on at the time as his Symphony No. 2. Later Bruckner decided to leave the F-minor symphony unnumbered, and he called the C-minor symphony of 1865–66 his Symphony No. 1.[7]
Kitzler's criticism, which led Bruckner to label the symphony "Schularbeit" (schoolwork),[6] led Georg Tintner to "wonder whether he [Kitzler] had a good look at the Scherzo."[8] Tintner considers the Finale of the work to be the weakest of the four movements. In the words of David Griegel, "Like many other composers, I believe Bruckner was merely being too self-critical, and the unnumbered symphonies are also works worthy of our enjoyment".[7]
Chronology
Scholars at first believed that the next symphony Bruckner wrote was the so-called Symphony "No. 0", so that this symphony is sometimes called Symphony No. 00 in F minor. In any case, musicologists are sure now that the next symphony Bruckner wrote after this one was Symphony No. 1 in C minor.[9] Together with the Linz version of Symphony No. 1, the Study Symphony was not written in Vienna like all Bruckner's other symphonies.[10]
The first recording available on compact disc, was by Eliahu Inbal and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra on the Teldec label in 1991; lasting 47 minutes. Inbal's recording appears slow compared to Tintner's 37-minute recording with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra on Naxos (which is paired with the "Volksfest" Finale of Symphony No. 4 in E♭ major). Tintner skips the exposition repeats in the first and fourth movements, and occasionally dials down brass dynamics.
Brown, A. Peter (2002). The Second Golden Age of the Viennese Symphony: Brahms, Bruckner, Dvořák, Mahler, and Selected Contemporaries. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Kinder, Keith William (2000). The Wind and Wind-Chorus Music of Anton Bruckner. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
Lovallo, Lee T. (1991). "Mass No. 3 in F minor". Anton Bruckner: A Discography. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
Nowak, Leopold (1973). Anton Bruckner: Sämtliche Werke: Band 10: Studiensymphonie F-Moll: Studienpartitur. Translated by Richard Rickett. Vienna: Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag der Internationalen Bruckner-Gesellschaft.
Paul Hawkshaw, "An anatomy of change: Anton Bruckner's Revisions to the Mass in F minor" in: Bruckner Studies edited by Timothy L. Jackson and Paul Hawkshaw, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997
Paul Hawkshaw, "Bruckner's large sacred compositions" in: The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner edited by John Williamson, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004