Bruckner's Fifth Symphony

Bruckner's Fifth Symphony

The Fifth is in several respects the centre-piece of Bruckner's nine symphonies, It is the culmination of the preceding four, and a kind of central statement of Truth, or the Word of God, Hearing the tremendous peroration of the chorale and triple fugue which ends the Finale, one can only think of: "In the beginning was the Word", And from this Annunciation the four later symphonies in a sense follow, in the same cosmic or spiritual context, and as consequences; In a certain respect leading towards the Ninth, as a French commentator remarks - specifically in the symbolism of the felling octave, which is developed from the middle of the first movement of the Fifth, to be taken up prominently in the fugal and main theme of the Finale, This falling octave, like the descent of Power or Spirit into incarnation, is the main focus of the Ninth.
Another sense in which the Fifth is central in Bruckner is that, besides being probably the most monumental, it can also be heard as the "most abstract" - as one conductor puts it, Bruckner himself called it his contrapuntal masterpiece, The Finale consists overwhelmingly of the development of an enormous double fugue - or triple towards the end, and this and all the thematic material of the symphony is transformed out of an original motif in three-parts in the slow Introduction; so that in a sense it is formal in emphasis, and derives from very primal and archetypal figures or statements, without becoming involved in any particular scenarios or actual embodiments, It is as though Divine Power itself were the subject, rather than particular manifestations, By contrast, in all the other symphonies it is much easier to associate the music with concrete experiences of life on earth.
In the preamble to a recording of the Fifth by Gunter Wand, this conductor is quoted as saying that what fascinates him in an "almost unreal way" is the mirrroring of cosmic order in Bruckner, This makes Bruckner, in contrast to Mahler, untypical of the Romantic period and completely alien to the modem and "post-modem" era, when it is fashionable to mirror only contemporary chaos and decadence; or, in the case of a great spirit like Shostakovich, deliberately to mirror, as he said himself, what "to put it bluntly is an insane asylum ..., After all, my music says it all", On the other hand it puts Bruckner into line with the other two symphonists on the same level, Beethoven and Sibelius, One could use the word "classical" here, not in a chronoligical sense, but in the sense of what it essentially means, which is epical, all-embracing, balanced in respect of the psychological functions of sense-perception, feeling, thinking (form), and intuition, and concerned with the highest spiritual and historical issues, The symphony for orchestra is in itself, with architecture, the ideal medium for such expression, although in classical periods - that is, in the high hummer (or full-moon phase) of historical cultures, it is typically in architecture that we find it (or painting in China), In the case of music and the West, we have it in 16th century polyphony, and later in instrumental terms in the great organ fugues of Bach, Polyphony generally, and fugue as a polyphonic form, is classical in nature, and was renewed by Beethoven at the end of the sonata period (which is not classical but dramatic), The symphonies of Beethoven, from the third, are classical in content and, as well as addressing issues at the epochal and spiritual level, are the first real symphonies for orchestra in this sense - and are not less but even more relevant to all present than when they were written, Those of Bruckner and Sibelius are on the same level - SibeHus more in the twentieth century's (if also in more concrete or explicitly mythological) terms.
Not only did Bruckner, like Beethoven, write nine symphonies (apart from one labelled opus 0), but it happens that their fifths have a lot in common, They seem to be addressing the same issues, and to be expressions of the Word of God, or divine law; in the case of Beethoven very much in the sense of Divine Justice, and "Fate knocking on the door", at the end of an historical cycle, and possibly we might see this in the fifth of Bruckner too, especially the Finale, They also have in common a feature characteristic of classical art and fugue in particular, of growing out of one basic thematic motive, from which the whole work develops through thematic transformation - in the case of Beethoven's Fifth the initial four notes of Fate persist very obviously throughout the symphony, in one form or another, This kind of formal development is very much in evidence in late Beethoven, especially the quartets, and it is the most striking formal feature in the symphonies of Sibelius, It has the archetypal quality of unity and universality at the same time - or unity in diversity, in contrast to the dualism of sonata form.
At the time of starting on his Fifth, the year after finishing the third and fourth, Bruckner was in a state of despair or depression as regards his personal life: "piling up debts" and expecting to end up in prison, "and there celebrating the folly of moving to Vienna", And a month earlier: "My life has lost all its joy and pleasure - it has been in vain and for nothing", This sounds remarkably like Beethoven just before starting on his Ninth, and in neither case had these personal circumstances and emotions the slightest bearing on their music or its acting as a channel for divine power.
First Movement: Adagio - Allegro
The symphony starts with a slow Introduction (Adagio), pp in the strings, with detached pizzicato notes rising and falling in the 'cellos and basses, perhaps the quiescent cosmic depths or the "vasty deep", Then, after a bar's pause, are sounded in succession, ft for full orchestra, (i) and then (ii) in the brass only, After another pause these are repeated, The first, consisting essentially of ascending octave leaps, suggests a manifestation of cosmic energy - one can think of Fohat, in The Secret Doctrine the creative energy or lightening, the first manifestation of activity after the period of quiescence (Night of Brahma); while the second (ii) sounds like the assertion of Divine Power, One can think of a dawning and sunrise; but it seems on a more cosmic scale, and suggests the dawning of creation, very much as in the Introduction to Beethoven's Ninth.
Next, after a pause, the strings, at first pp and ppp, build up another figure, in allegro tempo, which, after twelve bars, develops, in another tutti for full orchestra, ff, and again adagio, into (iii), forming the main introductory statement, and the nucleus or motive of the thematic material of the first movement, and ultimately of the whole symphony, One can think of: "the original Mind principle in the involutionary descent is a thing of great power ..." (Sri Aurobindo), and the descent of power, or archetypal forms from a higher reality - able "to build more revelatory constructions, more minutely inspired formations , , in which the light of Truth is present and palpable".
The First Movement proper starts after this, Allegro, and in duple time, with the main theme, which we designate I, at first softly in the lower strings, and leading to a big crescendo and tutti, with the theme in trumpets, This is essentially an inversion of (iii), as though the Law or divine power manifest in action, There is a pause, and a reversion to pp and the pizzicato background, with the successive appearance of a group of new figures corresponding to the "second subject" or second group of sonata form, These figures, quoted as I(a), I(b) and I(c) all derive obviously from I, and they could be thought of as the stirring of life below, or against the background, developing and getting rapidly more lively, There are 87 bars of this section, leading up to a crescendo and tutti of 20 bars involving and ending in a short figure (z), derived from I, but forming the obvious origin of the second phrase of the future fugue theme of the Finale, The section ending here corresponds to the Exposition of sonata form.
The middle section starts as in the beginning of the Introduction, leading to (i), followed immediately by the main Allegro theme, I, From here on and for about 100 bars it is nearly all a tutti (full orchestra) and ff development of I and its inversion (for 42 bars), and then on (i), finishing with an enormous assertion, fff, of the descending octave motive which later, with the phrase (z), forms the first part of the main fugal theme in the Finale, This falling octave, which also, in an extended form, is the main feature of the first movement of Bruckner's Ninth, has obviously to do with the descent of power, or, in the Ninth, the incarnation of spirit into the earth realm, or the Fall into matter, Here in the Fifth it has more the feeling of divine power, and in the fugue even of order, law and justice, This section corresponding to the sonata Development seems to be an emphasis of the power motive; and we find the theme of the Finale already taking form here.
The third or Recapitulation section is introduced again by the pizzicato passages ppp, alternating with ff statements of the other two motives from the Introduction, (ii) and (iii), before leading into the tutti on I, The second group is simplified or shortened this time to about 46 bars, half its length in the Exposition, and is followed by 58 bars of a grand final peroration on the main theme I, as the climax of the first movement It is as much development as "recapitulation".
Second Movement: Adagio
This movement consists of a slow 4-bar theme in two forms, (a) in the woodwind, against a cross-rhythm in triple time on pizzicato strings, and with an appendix (a)2 of falling sevenths; and a more developed form (b), These alternate at about 30- bar intervals, building up into a tutti on the (b) section, and the second time on the descending sevenths (a)2, After two such alternations there is a final climax on (a) and (a)2.

The theme is evidently descended from Introduction (iii) of the first movement, as though the fated or fateful result or outcome of the creative input or divine decree, The pizzicato in the lower strings plays a similar part here of cosmic background, and the first, syncopated form of the melody is more prayer-like, while the second and fully orchestrated form gets more euphoric or ecstatic - a kind of transcendent meditation, or worship, anticipating strongly the first two movements of the Seventh Symphony, The descending sevenths developed here are the equivalent to the descending octave motive occurring throughout the symphony.
Third Movement, Scherzo: Molto vivace
The Scherzo theme is exactly like the main theme I of the first movement, except for the first long note falling a fourth instead of rising a third to the rest of the phrase, One can think of a down-to-earth movement of the power: "There is as a phase or movement of the self-motivation a descent into an apparent material inconscience ..." (Aurobindo), There is a two-bar rhythm, so that each bar of the scherzo equals one beat (half a bar) of I, There are two phrases to the theme, the first (a) of 2 bars plus, and the second (b) of 2 bars , and it is instructive to compare (b) with Intr, (iii) of the first movement, taken much faster here, or with I(b), to which it is quite similar, The next section (bar 21), marked by Bruckner "significantly slower", is developed from (b) above, as the immediately following ff shows, It is usually played as though it were a lilting landler dance, but "significantly slower" does not suggest half the speed, only somewhat slower, and to stick in a landler here out of nowhere does not make any visible sense in the overall context, and even suggests a quite different rhythm from that written, That this quickly turns into an energetic and accelerating development of the accented crotchets of (b) shows that it is not a separate theme or subject This material is alternately developed until the Trio, This is in 2/4 time, as against 3/4, but is headed: In the same Tempo, but "sanft" - gently, It is built round a 4-bar phrase of extreme simplicity, almost naivete, which could be related to (b) of the scherzo, or I(b) of the first movement The quality of innocence is the main characteristic, and the "sanft", mild tone is maintained throughout, except for a few bars ff towards the end of the trio, This sudden contrast of gentle innocence in the middle of a movement of fast and furious energy is a feature of the trios in some of Bruckner's other scherzos, The Scherzo proper is then repeated, in the usual way.
Finale: Adagio - Allegro moderate
The movement opens by referring to the original background with which the symphony begins, After ten bars - the last one silent - there is an isolated statement in the first clarinet of the first phrase of the new fugue theme of the Finale, which we will call A, This is actually made up of the octave leap so prominent throughout the symphony, combined with the figure (z,) harped upon by the woodwind at the opening of the first movement proper, After a pause the lower strings refer twice to the main theme I of the first movement, and the clarinet repeats the fugue theme, There is then a brief reference to the beginning of the Adagio movement, which after all is related to the pizzicato "space" background, and can be seen as a reminder of the context We then have a fugal exposition in the strings on A, with special emphasis, in the whole orchestra, on the two notes of the descending octave leap.
There is now the entry of a second theme, B, in the manner of second subject in a sonata movement, but here it is closely related to I(c) of the first movement, This turns into a flowing quaver movement, and continues for 70 bars, then dying away for an emphatic assertion, ft for full orchestra, of the falling octave motive, for 23 bars or so, until the entry of a new them, C, in full brass, ft, This is a chorale-like theme, very closely related to (ii) and (iii) of the Introduction to the whole symphony, It is repeated, also its inversion, and discussed, for 36 bars, up to a double-bar and pause, and the start of a fugue on C, which builds up into a double fugue on A and C, for 280 bars, At this point there is a return of the relatively quiet Bor second subject section, again for 70 bars, and then again an ft assertion of the falling octave, followed at once by the main theme I from the first movement, From here until the end, for 170 bars, there is an almost continual climax, first as a combination or double fugue on A and I, and then a final peroration marked "Chorale", frf, in which a variant of C is combined with A.
This Finale is overwhelmingly an assertion and synthesis of the subject matter of the whole symphony, as revealed in the three motives of the first movement Introduction, and taking form in the three main themes, I, A, and C, ending in an enormous peroration of a kind that one associates with Sibelius, but exceeding even any of his - of which the most notable example is perhaps at the end of his fifth symphony, There are two intermissions in the general ft in the form of the B sections, which correspond to and even resemble the similar 2nd subject sections of the first movement (in which the different figures have been designated I(a), I(b), I(c), These consist of relatively unassertive sub-themes or derivatives, perhaps referring to the sub-lunar, even human world, They also serve formally as an acknowledgement to sonata form, and provide necessary quieter intermissions, The whole symphony however is a monolithic development of the germinal thematic material presented in its Introduction, and this includes all the sub-themes and quasi "second subjects".
The fugue theme combines the descending and ascending octave leap, and so the idea of involution and evolution, or incarnation and transcendence, It has a strong relationship to the Great Fugue which forms the Finale of Beethoven's B-flat string quartet, both thematically and significantly, The subject of the latter features m some of its forms the octave leap, both ascending and, in the inversion of the subject, descending (see example), while the implication of this great work, on a scale similar to Bruckner's, and coming as the apotheosis of the trilogy of last quartets, is certainly transcendence and transfiguration -"..., an awakening of the individual out of the Inconscience in an evolution of his being into his own universal and transcendent Self and source of existence" - to complete the quotation from Aurobindo which we began in relation to the Scherzo, Beethoven's quartet trilogy, not so far recognised as such by "scholars", is based entirely on the transformations and trans-mutations of one germinal four-note seed motive - essentially the subject of the final Great Fugue, and is comparable with Bruckner's symphony also in this respect, It is worth noting that the Great Fugue, and the quartet which it concludes, is, again like Bruckner's symphony, in B-flat, a key that Beethoven, according to Professor Wilfred Mellers, regarded as a power key, and we must conclude that it had this meaning for Bruckner too.