The program of this literary reading with music gives us insight into Anton Bruckner’s correspondence, beginning with the first three extant letters from the year...

The program of this literary reading with music gives us insight into Anton Bruckner’s correspondence, beginning with the first three extant letters from the year 1852, during his years in Upper Austria and particularly during his time as the parish organist at Old Cathedral in Linz from 1855 to 1868. The selected writings reveal much about the self-presentation and self-image of the musician and composer who never ceased studying. Lesser-known lieder and piano works by Bruckner allow us audibly to trace the composer’s development in the period between 1850 and 1868. In the intertwining of his words with his works, a multifaceted and surprisingly sophisticated yet uncommon image of Bruckner’s “hidden personality” (Elisabeth Maier) is revealed.