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A MadAminA! Insert: Publishing Anton Bruckner

Jun. 30, 2025

Herbert Vogg was a musicologist and authority on the works of Anton Bruckner. He became editor of the Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag Wien and headed the team responsible for the Bruckner-Gesamtausgabe. This article first appeared in 1992.

Hardly another composer's editorial history seems as complicated – at least at first glance – as that of Anton Bruckner. Fortunately, the volumes of the Gesamtausgabe (the "blue books" put out by the Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag, Wien) have, in the last decade, produced a clear and unequivocal picture. The master's music exists in scholarly and authentic editions, and Bruckner's music sounds in the whole world's concert halls, for all practical purposes, in the way the composer ultimately bequeathed us his scores.

In Bruckner's lifetime and still for years after his death, the public only got to hear "edited versions." For the most part, the master's truest friends and students talked him into retouches, into cuts and changes that often drastically changed the form and instrumentation of his symphonies. Rough sounding passages were smoothed out, audacious orchestration was made blander, and a concerted effort was made to approach more closely the sound world of Richard Wagner. These things were naturally done with the noblest intentions. Bruckner, in order to facilitate performances of his symphonies, first of all, gave his permission for all of these modifications and, yes, even gave his blessings to printed editions which more closely adapted to the spirit of the time. But, the manuscripts that Bruckner bequeathed to the Austrian National Library in Vienna clearly reflect the master's music in a form in which he wished it to be left to a more understanding world of the future. For the contemporary listener, Bruckner's symphonic vision surely implied, formally and contextually, something totally new, never before heard. It was not only the differing musical camps of the time that blocked the path of an unbiased preoccupation with Bruckner's unique sound language. Anecdotes about Bruckner's alleged or assumed uncertainty and pliability – "Just as Herr Hofkapellmeister wishes" – are legion. The manuscripts, however, point to an equally self-critical and self-assured composer who unrelentingly pursues his personal intentions and casts them unmistakably.

A Publisher for Bruckner

Comparing Bruckner's autographs with the printed scores, the Viennese musicological establishment, still in its youth in the early 20th century, recognized the discrepancies but was powerless in coming up with solutions. By the '20s, Bruckner conductors increasingly clamored for "original" Bruckner. Finally in 1929 in Vienna, the International Bruckner Society was founded with the aim of producing a critical edition of the complete works of Anton Bruckner. The Austrian National Library was to be in charge of its scholarly execution. This meant that the head of the music collection of the National Library, Robert Haas, was to be entrusted with the edition's scholarly direction.

When negotiations with the Leipzig publisher Breitkopf & Hirtel fell through, the Augsburg firm Benno Filser took over the engraving and printing with the result that a first volume, containing the Missa solemnis in B-flat minor and the Requiem in D minor, appeared in 1930. Two years later, however, Filser went under and the Ninth Symphony, whose editing was already at an advanced stage, could no longer be printed.

Again, two years later, on 2 April 1932 to be precise, there was a memorable concert in Munich in which Siegmund von Hausegger conducted two consecutive performances of Bruckner's Ninth, the first in the "adaptation" previously known, the second in the original version made in accordance with the autograph. The result was persuasive! The International Bruckner Society decided to establish its own publishing wing for the publication of the Bruckner Gesanttausgabe and, in 1933, the Musikwissenschaftiicher Verlag, Wien came into being. Its first effort was the volume containing the Ninth Symphony. As globalpolitics tumed sour, the "First Bruckner Gesamtausgabe", edited by Robert Haas in collaboration with Alfred Orel and, as of 1937, with the still very young Leopold Nowak, was thriving. Hitler's annexation of Austria marked he dissolution of the Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag. Wien and a relocation of the Bruckner Society to Leipzig, the center of the German book and music trade. It was there, before the end of World War II, that the entire inventory of the Bruckner Gesanttausgabe fell victim to a bombing attack.

Leopold Nowak writes in an essay on the history and destiny of the Bruckner Collected Works Edition.' "Robert Haas, who lived to see (on 12 March 1945) the destruction of the Music Collection in the Albertina building, had given scholarly form to the Gesamtausgabe, had produced the volumes with untiring diligence, and in so doing, had given Bruckner scholarship the structure to make it eligible for its mission."

Leopold Nowak

The first task, after the end of World War II, was to restore to the Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag the rights of which it had been deprived upon its dissolution in 1938. When Leopold Nowak was appointed director of the Music Collection of the Austrian National Library in 1946, he took on the responsibility of editing the Bruckner Collected Works. Today we know that Nowak took this responsibility very seriously, that it became the focal point of his life. He turned down many other opportunities that came along, choosing instead to funnel his multifaceted and comprehensive knowledge and expertise into the service of the Bruckner Gesamtausgabe. For his Collected Works, Nowak went through each and every score that had been previously edited by Robert Haas and Alfred Orel, once again going through them note by note. Newly discovered mistakes were corrected; newly discovered sources were incorporated.

But Nowak also deduced from the data that Bruckner composed several of his works not only once, but a number of times. even though the same musical material was generally used. Thus, for example the Third Symphony, dedicated to Richard Wagner, exists in three substantially differing scores, even down to the number of measures, and written over a period of many years. The last and today most often performed version stems from the time period of the Eighth Symphony. There are also two versions of the Second and Eightha symphonies, and there is a first version of the often played Fourth ("Romantic") which does not even contain the famous "Hunt Scherzo" yet. These early versions are free-standing and self-contained; it is not enough simply to banish them into a critical commentary under a "Divergencies from the Final Version" rubric. Performances of these first versions that have taken place in recent times have astonished more than music professionals: even the "ordinary" concert audiences have gained exciting insights into Bruckner's musical thought, into his tempestuous, often reckless temperament. Robert Haas, highly musical and a gifted composer, still attempted to make an "ideal version" by combining the differing scores to the Eighth Symphony. He actually took the second version as a basis, but incorporated a number of "beautiful passages" from the first version. This may have its charms, and some great conductors of the old school had and still have only this amalgam with which they grew up in their repertory (Karajan, Tennstedt). But it is not genuine, unfalsified Bruckner as Nowak's scholarly decision attests: we must respect the fact that Bruckner completely rewrote his Eighth Symphony from scratch, that in doing so, he added new material to the first version and deleted details from the old score.

The second Bruckner Gesamtausgabe, edited by Leopold Nowak, is today recognized throughout the world. Its first volume appeared in 1951. By 1980 all of Bruckner's symphonic works (including the various "versions") had been issued, as well as virtually all sacred works and the chamber music. From that point on, Nowak devoted himself to a strictly musicological effort, that is, the compilation of the critical commentary.

World Fame of Study Scores

It is an oddity: Because there was a paper shortage in post-war Vienna, it was decided to put out the Bruckner Gesamtausgabe in reduced size, and the volumes appeared in study score format. Eschewing the large format that is customary with collected works editions turned out to be serendipitous: the handy pocket score format was the basis for the currency of the "authentic" Bruckner throughout the world. Not only the professorial musician bought the "blue books," but primarily the musical amateur acquired them for his library and read along at concert performances or while listening to recordings. Naturally, there are also full scores for conductors.

Leopold Nowak, to whom we are also indebted for the decision in favor of the study score format, underwent a serious operation in 1990 (at the age of 86) that compelled him to give up the direction of the Edition. For all intents and purposes, he brought out the Bruckner Gesamtausgabe as it exists today single-handedly. Only three volumes of music are still to come, but since much preliminary work on these has already been done, it will be possible to conclude the Gesamtausgabe without having to appoint a Nowak successor. (And who, for that matter, could really fill his shoes?)

A future article in MadAminA! Will report on the details of the remaining volumes of the Bruckner Gesamtausgabe, the other activities of the Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag Wien, and on the Hugo Wolf Gesamtausgabe, also nearing completion.

– Translated by John Englander

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