Dominik Höink
Die Rezeption der Kirchenmusik Anton Bruckners
Genese, Tradition und Instrumentalisierung des Vergleichs mit Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
1. Edition 2011
421 pages
ISBN 978-3-89971-601-6
V&R unipress
Abhandlungen zur Musikgeschichte -
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Book
Max Auer called the composer Anton Bruckner a "modern Palestrina", thus emphasizing a notion, still virulent today, that puts Bruckner, a devout catholic, on a par with the luminary composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, who was glorified as the "Saviour of Church Music" and canonized by the Pope. This diachronic study of style and reception looks at how this comparison between composers originated and was passed on through time from the 19th century until the present day. The volume focusses on the analysis of the definitive academic writings on Bruckner and their contextualisation within the sometimes highly idealogically charged musicological discourses. The author also presents an assessment, on the basis of new sources, of the so-called "Aktion Rom", which were the endeavours of high-ranking representatives of the Bruckner Society to canonize him and of key significance for the instrumentalisation of the comparison. This is followed by an analysis of the compositions by Bruckner that are likened in style to Palestrina’s. The volume concludes with a reassessment of the comparison on the basis of the findings from the study and historical reception analysis.
