The South Birmingham Sinfonia will be performing this work as part of the Summer 2017 concert.
Bruckner's 7th Symphony was in some sense his "breakthrough" piece, being instantly recongnised as a great work and still arguably his most popular work of all. Conceived on an epic large scale and featuring a large orchestra a performance of this work is an experience not to be missed. Its overall key is E major and was written between 1881 and 1883.
Bruckner was of course strongly influenced by Wagner's music both in its orchestration and in harmonic aspects, though Bruckner generally preferred to remain with more traditional genres, and typically wrote "pure music" (including his 9 symphonies) that stand on thier own without a story line attached, rather than "programme music" or opera.
There are four movements:
The main theme of the first movement was, according to Bruckner, heard in one of his dreams, played on a viola. Bruckner transcribed it the next morning. The tune also incorporates a quotation from the Credo of his D minor Mass (1864) which he was currently vising.
The second movement was composed between January and April 1883, and Bruckner had started writing it in anticipation of Wagner's death and funeral. It features four Wagner tubas, which was their first appearance in a symphony.