A Bequest and a Legacy: Editing Anton Bruckner's Music in 'Later Times'

The present study has been prepared on the occasion of the publication of the New Anton Bruckner Collected Works Edition's first volume, Thomas Roder's score of the Linz version of the First Symphony. The article re-evaluates a fundamental precept of the old Gesamtausgabe of Robert Haas and Leopold Nowak - the supremacy of the readings in Bruckner's autograph manuscripts over those in his first prints. it begins with a brief history of the "Bruckner-Streit" of the 1930s and 40s and a summary of more recent challenges to the Haas-Nowak policy. An overview of the composer's relationship with the brothers Franz and Josef Schalk, who were responsible for the production of many of his early editions, demonstrates that they worked closely with him at first, but began to make alterations without consulting him towards the end of the 1880s. Distinguishing Bruckner from his editors in the Third, Fourth and Eighth Symphonies is difficult, if not impossible. From an editorial perspective, it is pointless because, in these scores, the composer accepted their suggestions and made them his own. Later publications are a different matter. The discussion leads inevitably to a re-examination of a clause in Bruckner's will which exercised a controlling influence over the old Gesamtausgabe and remains a seminal factor in any editorial considerations regarding Bruckner. The article demonstrates that the composer never intended his will to have a bearing on post-mortem editorial issues or to dictate the hierarchy of versions of his pieces.