Double zero

Anton Bruckner’s life and compositions were fueled by a profound spiritual devotion. His Roman Catholic faith was awakened already in his youth at the monastery of St Florian, where he was educated after the premature death of his father. His piety would not be limited to the religious sphere. Bruckner was a composer who had a lifelong devotion to the great masters. Obsessed with Beethoven, a devotee of Wagner.

This constant admiration also found expression during one particular period of Bruckner’s career. In 1855, the composer, at over thirty years of age, decided to start taking music lessons again. Although he had already written several successful compositions by then, he started all over with studies in elementary harmony and counterpoint. He would spend six years pursuing this training, a period in which Bruckner hardly composed any music. Even thereafter, his quest for recognition was not satisfied. In 1861, he asked the Vienna conservatory to be allowed to take the entrance examination. When he appeared for the exam session, the conductor Johann Herbeck, a member of the jury, remarked that “he should be testing us!”

Even after obtaining his diploma and with the recognition of his most important contemporaries, Bruckner continued to be uncertain of his own ability. He always felt like the underdog, certainly in relation to God and his musical heroes. This is no doubt one of the reasons why Bruckner kept on reworking is compositions – especially his symphonies. And why the numbering of his works is so complex, including number zero and even a “double zero”.