This study provides a fuller account of Bruckner's early and middle years than has hitherto been available, and supplements the more accessible information about his years in Vienna by drawing on a rich source of material in contemporary reviews of performances of his works, comparisons between him and Brahms, and the well-documented accounts of hostility between the conservative pro-Brahms faction (represented by Hanslick, Halbeck and others) and the progressive pro-Wagner and pro-Bruckner faction (represented by the Schalk brothers, Ferdinand Lowe and Hugo Wolf).

Few works in the nineteenth-century repertoire have aroused such extremes of hostility and admiration, or have generated so many scholarly problems, as Anton Bruckner's symphonies. In this 2004 book, Julian Horton seeks fresh ways of understanding the symphonies and the problems they have accrued by treating them as the focus for a variety of inter-disciplinary debates and methodological controversies. He isolates problematic areas in the works' analysis and reception, and approaches them from a range of analytical, historical, philosophical, literary, critical and psychoanalytical viewpoints. The symphonies are thus explored in the context of a number of crucial and sometimes provocative themes, including the political circumstances of the works' production, Bruckner and post-war musical analysis, issues of musical influence, the problem of editions, Bruckner and psychobiography, and the composer's controversial relationship to the Nazis.

Consolidates the research field of topic theory by clarifying its basic concepts and exploring its historical foundations.

This study provides a fuller account of Bruckner's early and middle years than has hitherto been available, and supplements the more accessible information about his years in Vienna by drawing on a rich source of material in contemporary reviews of performances of his works, comparisons between him and Brahms, and the well-documented accounts of hostility between the conservative pro-Brahms faction (represented by Hanslick, Halbeck and others) and the progressive pro-Wagner and pro-Bruckner faction (represented by the Schalk brothers, Ferdinand Lowe and Hugo Wolf).

Few genres of the last 250 years have proved so crucial to the course of music history, or so vital to public musical experience, as the symphony. This Companion offers an accessible guide to the historical, analytical and interpretative issues surrounding this major genre of Western music, discussing an extensive variety of works from the eighteenth century to the present day. The book complements a detailed review of the symphony's history with focused analytical essays from leading scholars on the symphonic music of both mainstream composers, including Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and lesser-known figures, including Carter, Berio and Maxwell Davies. With chapters on a comprehensive range of topics, from the symphony's origins to the politics of its reception in the twentieth century, this is an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in the history, analysis and performance of the symphonic repertoire.

Stocken discusses the context of fundamental-bass theory not only in relation to the history of theory but also in the light of Sechter's compositional practice, including his re-working of Beethoven's Sonata, Op.110. The theory is explained with examples from Bruckner's student exercises. Previous applications of the theory are examined from Mayrberger's use of the theory to analyze Wagner's harmony onwards.