San Francisco Church – 25 October – Friday 21:30
Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major ‘Romantic’ (Second Version, 1878/1880) by Anton Bruckner
The Guimarães Orchestra closes the 2024 season with a concert under the direction of principal conductor Vítor Matos, in the historic Church of St Francis, presenting Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major ‘Romantic’ (Second Version, 1878/1880) by Anton Bruckner.
Composed in 1874, and revised several times until it reached its final form in 1880, this symphony stands out for its grandeur and evocative themes that refer to images of nature and medieval life, although Bruckner never provided a definitive programme for the work. The composer himself described the first movement as the representation of a ‘horn that announces the dawn of the city tower’. This theme, introduced by the horns, is followed by the awakening of life in the city and the singing of birds. In the second movement Bruckner evokes a ‘song, prayer, serenade’, while the third movement, a dynamic scherzo, depicts a vibrant hunting scene. In the trio, he imagined an organ playing during lunch in the forest. As for the fourth and final movement, Bruckner made the curious observation: ‘I never really knew what I was thinking!’.
The Symphony underwent several revisions, with the 1880 version being the most widely played. This revision especially strengthened the final movement, giving it a grandiose ending, where moments of serenity are interspersed with majestic hunting passages and captivating melodies. Although Bruckner made occasional attempts at programmatic description, many of them seem to have been ironic, perhaps to adjust the work to the aesthetics of the New German School of Liszt and Wagner, which dominated the music scene at the time.
However, when listening to the ‘Romantics’, the audience easily gets caught up in the atmospheric images that the music suggests, without necessarily realising the hard work that Bruckner put into making it. The composer’s ability to transform elements of natural and medieval soundscapes into music of profound spirituality makes this symphony one of the most accessible and comprehensible to the public, as Bruckner himself once stated.
Programme
Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) – Symphony No. 4 in E flat major, Romantic (1878/80 version)
- Bewegt, nicht zu schnell (Agitated, but moderate)
- Andante, quasi allegretto
- Scherzo: Bewegt (Agitated)
- Finale: Bewegt, doch nicht zu schnell (Agitated, but moderate)