An Analysis Of The Style Evolution Of Bruckner's Symphony Based On Its Three Stages

Bruckner was a unique Romantic musician at the end of 19 century.Later,people respectfully called him the "musician of god".Symphony was the most crucial part of Bruckner' s music creation career.He composed 11 symphonies throughout his life time,although the first two were neither numbered nor published,every piece of his work is magnificent in structure,bold in orchestration.Bruckner endowed his symphonies with sacred light by his life experience and outstanding musical language.This article will firstly go through Bruckner' s life and social experience,and then,will sequentially analyze and explore the factors that have affected the composition of Bruckner' s symphony as well as the influence imposed by the music critics of the time,Hanslick and Wagner.This article strives to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth examination of the reasons for and the comparison between the composition characters of the three different stages of Bruckner.I intend to pin down the internal and external causes for the evolution occurred within the three stages of Bruckner' s symphony on the basis of the context and inspiration of the composition.After that,I will cut to the chase from the points of his orchestration,harmony,musical structures,themes,techniques,and musical features one by one,to illustrate the change of Bruckner' s compositional style.The two early numbered symphonies were influenced by the master of counterpoint,Simon Sechter,and by the character of symphonies created by two Classical composers,Beethoven and Schubert.As well as sticking to the traditional symphony compositional means,Bruckner's own unique style of composition begun to emerge,and was utilized in composing.At the second stage of Bruckner 's career,he further explored his own musical style and at the same time,combined it with the traditional artistry.He audaciously instilled increasingly wider idea and vitality into his work.At the last stage of his career,Bruckner dedicated himself to composing large-scale symphonies,and every one of them expressed individualism,strove to break through the traditional approach,and incorporated new technical breakthrough and ideology.By that time,Bruckner was on the glory path of successful symphony composition.Finally,Bruckner's compositional ideaology and technique gave the later composers tremendous inspirations and thoughts.Especially for the last few pieces,agood deal of creative methods were referred to by later composers.This illustrates Bruckner' s far-reaching influence on the later generation and his deep-rooted position.It can be concluded from collation,examination and study on the above-mentioned materials that the evolution of three stages of Bruckner 's symphony inherited the traditional technique and ideology of Beethoven and Schubert,and at the same time was profoundly influenced by Wagner.Bruckner constantly leaped forward with new musical idea,audaciously created and experimented compositional method.The music as well as the techniques utilized in the three stages were increasingly sophisticated,and became an extraordinary style of the Romantic music at that time.