100th anniversary of death of Anton Bruckner - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1996 - 100 Pfennig

Anton Bruckner was born on September 4, 1824 in Ansfelden (Upper Austria). He is considered one of the most idiosyncratic and original personalities among the great composers of the 19th century. Not uncontroversial throughout his life, his compositional oeuvre has become an integral part of today's concert halls. Above all, there are the eight symphonies (the Ninth Symphony remained unfinished), which establish the fame of the Austrian and assign his work a significant musical historical place between the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven and Gustav Mahler, as the last important representative of this genre. Of special note are the Fourth Symphony in E flat major, which Bruckner himself provided with the programmatic epithet "the Romantic"; the 7th Symphony in E major, which helped the composer to make a late breakthrough in Leipzig in 1884, and the 8th Symphony in C minor, which impresses with its temporal dimensions (duration of almost 80 minutes) and as »magnum opus« Bruckners may apply. Equally important to the composer was the creative field of church music: Bruckner, a devout Catholic, composed three major (symphonic) masses in d / e and f minor for soli, choir and orchestra and created in his last decade with a solemn Tedeum and a Setting of the 150th Psalm (both in C major) Highlights of Catholic sacred music. The acclaimed organ virtuoso Bruckner also made his mark in the field of chamber music with his early string quartet in C minor and the string quintet in F major from 1879. Anton Bruckner died on October 11, 1896 in Vienna. (Text: Peter Daners M.A., Bonn)