Bruckner’s music is instantly recognizable to devotees of his work. But why, and how? In this group of papers, certain distinctive characteristics of his work and compositional methods employed there are singled out for analysis and for comparison with the works of other composers active in the nineteenth century. Goals include the determination of the detailed nature of his techniques, the location of any prototypes Bruckner might have selected to imitate or develop, the uncovering of possible implicit influence of other composers and their work, and the identification of the effect his music had on composers after him.

The first paper, being published in the upcoming issue of The Bruckner Journal, is devoted to Bruckner’s use of three themes in his sonata-form expositions rather than the canonical two.

The second paper, which was delivered at the 2017 Bruckner Journal Readers’ Conference at Oxford, concerns his use of the rather rare five-part song form in more than half of his slow movements.

And the third paper, to be written this summer, will be occupied with the presence of country dance in his scherzos and its metamorphosis into serious orchestral music.