Bruckner rhythm

The Bruckner rhythm is a 2 + 3 (duplet + triplet) or 3 + 2 rhythm in Anton Bruckner's symphonic music, where it occurs prevalently,[1][2] and in many different ways.[3]

One example is in the main theme of the first movement of Symphony No. 4, from bars 43 forward:[4]


{ \new PianoStaff <<
\new Staff \relative es' { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \stemUp \tempo 2 = 55 \clef "tenor" \key es \major \time 2/2
 es4 _\markup{ \italic {marc.} } \ff bes4 \times 2/3 {
 as4 g4 f4
 }
 | % 2
 es4 r4 r2 }
>> }

Bruckner also used the rhythm with a single pitch repeated, and this is the only way it occurs in Symphony No. 2 (e.g., bars 20 and 122).[5] In Symphony No. 6, the Bruckner rhythm occurs to a much greater extent than in previous works, in several parts at slightly different times. At first it occurs as a string ostinato high in the violins' range against a melody of different rhythm in the cellos (bar 3),[6] while at bars 195–209 it serves to articulate hexatonic cycle block chords.[7] The rhythm occurs in somewhat more "manageable" form in the secondary theme group of Symphony No. 8, where it usually occurs in the same way in all the parts.


{ \new PianoStaff <<
\new Staff { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano" \key c \minor \clef treble \time 2/2 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \stemUp \tempo 2 = 55
 <> \p<> ^\markup \italic {"Breit und ausdrucksvoll" } d'4( e') \tuplet 3/2 { fis' g' a' }
 b'2 cis'4 d'
 ees'( f') \tuplet 3/2 { g' a' b' }
 b'( c'') c''2 }
 \new Staff <<
 \new Voice \relative c' { \stemUp \clef bass \key c \minor \time 2/2
 b1~ 
 b2 b2
 b2. d4
 ees2. r4 }
 \new Voice \relative c { \stemDown
 <g d'>1~
 <g d'>2 <g f'>2
 <g ees'>2. <gis f'>4
 <a ges'>2. r4 }
>> >> }

The Bruckner rhythm also occurs in the works of other composers, such as in Howard Hanson's Romantic Symphony, where it occurs mostly in the horns' and trumpets' parts.

References

  1. ^ Milton John Cross & David Ewen, Encyclopedia of the Great Composers and Their Music. New York: Doubleday (1962): 158. "The second element is a rhythmic pattern so often employed by the composer that it is known as the "Bruckner rhythm."
  2. ^ Hans-Hubert Schönzeler (1978). Bruckner. London: Marion Boyars Publishers. p. 59.
  3. ^ John Williamson, "The Brucknerian symphony: an overview", The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner, ed. John Williamson. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (2004): 79. "Yet even so instantly recognizable a rhythmic tic can be used with great variety."
  4. ^ Benjamin Korstvedt [fr], "Aspects of Bruckner's approach to symphonic form" The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner, ed. John Williamson. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (2004): 186.
  5. ^ Derek Watson, Bruckner. New York: Schuster & Macmillan (1997): 81
  6. ^ (Williamson, 2004): 79
  7. ^ Kevin Swinden, "Bruckner and harmony" The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner, ed. John Williamson. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (2004): 222. "The orchestral texture through this passage is thick, articulating block chords in the 'Bruckner-rhythm' that characterizes the movement, supporting a reprise of the first theme of the symphony."

External links

  • v
  • t
  • e
Anton Bruckner
Symphonies
  • Symphonies (1863–1896)
  • Symphony in F minor (1863)
  • No. 1 in C minor (1866/1891)
  • Symphony in D minor (1869)
  • No. 2 in C minor (1872/1877)
  • No. 3 in D minor (1873/1877/1889)
  • No. 4 in E♭ major (Romantic; 1874/1878–1880/1888)
  • No. 5 in B♭ major (1876)
  • No. 6 in A major (1881)
  • No. 7 in E major (1883)
  • No. 8 in C minor (1887/1890)
  • No. 9 in D minor (1896) (unfinished)
Other orchestral
  • Four Orchestral Pieces (1862)
  • Overture in G minor (1862–1863)
  • March in E-flat major (1865)
  • Symphonisches Präludium (1876)
Sacred works
Masses
Cantatas
  • Psalm settings (1852–1892)
  • Psalm 114 (1852)
  • Magnificat (1852)
  • Psalm 22 (c. 1852)
  • Psalm 146 (c. 1856)
  • Festive Cantata: Preiset den Herrn (1862)
  • Psalm 112 (1863)
  • Te Deum (1881–1884)
  • Psalm 150 (1892)
Motets
  • Motets (c. 1835–1892)
  • Pange lingua (c. 1835/1891)
  • Libera me (c. 1843)
  • Asperges me (1843–1844)
  • Two Asperges me (1844–1845)
  • Tantum ergo (1845)
  • Tantum ergo (1845–1846)
  • Dir, Herr, dir will ich mich ergeben (c. 1845)
  • O Du liebes Jesu-Kind (1845–1846)
  • Herz Jesu-Lied (1845–1846)
  • Four Tantum ergo (1846/1888)
  • Tantum ergo (1846/1888)
  • In jener letzten der Nächte (c. 1848)
  • Two Totenlieder (1852)
  • Libera me (1854)
  • Tantum ergo (c. 1854)
  • Ave Maria (1856)
  • Ave Maria (1861)
  • Afferentur regi (1861)
  • Pange lingua (1868)
  • Inveni David (1868)
  • Iam lucis orto sidere (1868/1886)
  • Locus iste (1869)
  • Christus factus est (1873)
  • Tota pulchra es (1878)
  • Os justi (1879)
  • Ave Maria (1882)
  • Christus factus est (1884)
  • Salvum fac populum tuum (1884)
  • Veni Creator Spiritus (c. 1884)
  • Ecce sacerdos magnus (1885)
  • Virga Jesse (1885)
  • Ave Regina caelorum (c. 1886)
  • Vexilla regis (1892)
Other works
Secular vocal
Cantatas
  • Cantatas (1845–1893)
  • Vergißmeinnicht (1845)
  • Entsagen (c. 1851)
  • Arneth Cantata: Heil Vater! Dir zum hohen Feste (1852)
  • Mayer Cantata: Auf Brüder! auf (1855)
  • Festgesang: Sankt Jodok sproß (1855)
  • Germanenzug (1865)
  • Helgoland (1893)
Lieder
  • Lieder (1850–1882)
  • Der Mondabend (c. 1850)
  • Frühlingslied (1851)
  • Wie bist du, Frühling, gut und treu (1856)
  • Herbstkummer (1864)
  • Im April (c. 1865)
  • Mein Herz und deine Stimme (1868)
  • Volkslied (1882)
Choral works
  • Weltliche Chorwerke (1843–1893)
  • An dem Feste (1843)
  • Das Lied vom deutschen Vaterland (c. 1845)
  • Ständchen (c. 1846)
  • Der Lehrerstand (c. 1847)
  • Sternschnuppen (c. 1848)
  • Das edle Herz (c. 1851)
  • Die Geburt (1852)
  • Vor Arneths Grab (1854)
  • Laßt Jubeltöne laut erklingen (1854)
  • Des Dankes Wort sei mir vergönnt (at the latest 1855)
  • Das edle Herz (1857)
  • Am Grabe (1861)
  • Du bist wie eine Blume (1861)
  • Der Abendhimmel (1862)
  • Herbstlied (1864)
  • Um Mitternacht (1864)
  • Trauungschor (1865)
  • Der Abendhimmel (1866)
  • Vaterlandslied (1866)
  • Vaterländisch Weinlied (1866)
  • Mitternacht (1869)
  • Nachruf (1877)
  • Das hohe Lied (1876–1879)
  • Abendzauber (1878)
  • Zur Vermählungsfeier (1878)
  • Sängerbund (1882)
  • Volkslied (1882)
  • Trösterin Musik (1886)
  • Um Mitternacht (1886)
  • Träumen und Wachen (1890)
  • Der deutsche Gesang (1892)
  • Tafellied (1893)
Chamber
  • Piano works (1850–1868)
  • Chamber music (1862–1879)
  • String Quartet (1862)
  • Rondo in C minor (1862)
  • Abendklänge (1866)
  • String Quintet (1879)
  • Intermezzo in D minor (1879)
Related articles
Category
Portal:
  •  Classical music