Anton Bruckner was borne in Ansfelden, Austria, on 04 September, 1824. His musical talent was soon recognised. In 1835, he was sent to Hörsching to study the organ under his godfather. Lamentably, Bruckner's father had taken ill, and this brought his organ lessons to an end. He returned to Ansfelden to assist his father in his duties as village schoolmaster and schoolmaster. He spent the next three years after his father's death, in June 1837, as a choirboy in the prior of Sankt Floian Abbey near Linz. Here, he received a general education withe an emphasis in music instruction. During the year of 1840, he took a teacher's training course. Thereafter, he received several appointments. The first of these came in 1841; it was a two-year appointment as an assistant teacher in Windhaag. He moved on to posts as assistant teacher in Kronstorf, 1843-1845, and at Sankt Florian.

Bruckner's second stay in Sankt Florian, beginning in 1845, was a crucial one in his musical maturation. In 1851, he was appointed organist of Sankt Florian Abbey. During the early 1850s, Bruckner completed schooling in Linz that led to the completion of a high school teaching certificate. Nevertheless, through the encouragement of his friends, he was convinced that his future lay in the field of music. Finally, in 1856, he secured the post of cathedral organist in Linz.

A few months prior to his appointment as organist, he was taken as a pupil by Simon Sechter, a musician known for his contrapuntal works. The course was somewhat of an intensive correspondence course. While at other times, during a Viennese visit, he would be instructed in person. The duration of the course was from 1855-1861; it ended withe a final examination before a panel of skeptical judges. The once skeptical judges were left withe no doubt that Bruckner was an excellent performer as well as improviser.

Bruckner conducted the Frohsinn choir during two single year endeavours. The first of which began in 1861 and the latter in 1868. In 1867, Sechter died and Bruckner, having recovered from a nervous breakdown, applied for the vacant post of organist at the Hofkapelle in Vienna. His application was rejected, however, he was offered the post of professorship of harmony and counterpoint at the Vienna Conservatory and the unpaid post of court organist. It was not until ten years later that Bruckner was made a full member of the Hofkapelle, and it was not until 1875 that his inquiries for a lectureship at the University of Vienna were filled. The last twenty-eight years of his life were spent in Vienna. He seldom left, except for visits to France in 1869 and to England in 1871 to represent Austria as an organ virtuoso. In 1891, as Bruckner continued to gain recognition, the University of Vienna conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of philosophy. He died in Vienna on 11 October, 1896.
 

Orchestral Works
 

SYMPHONIES: No. 0 in D Minor (1864, rev. 1869); No. 1 in C Minor (first or "Linz" version, 1865-1866; second or "Vienna" version, 1890-1891); No. 2 in C Minor (1871-1872, rev. 1875-1876, and later); No. 3 in D Minor (Wagner Symphony), five versions (1873-1890); No. 4 in E flat Major (Romantic), four versions (1874, 1877-1878, 1878-1880, 1887-1888); No. 5 in B flat Major (1875-1876, rev. 1876-1878, and later); No. 6 in A Major (1879-1881); No. 7 in E Major (1881-1883, rev. 1885); No. 8 in C Minor, three versions (1884-1885, 1886-1887, 1888-1890); No. 9 in D Minor (finale in sketch only; first three movements, 1887-1894; finale 1894-1896).
 

Chamber Music
 

String Quintet in F Major (1878-1879), rev. 1883-1884, and later.
 

Vocal Music
 

(LARGE-SCALE)

SACRED WORKS: Short Chorale Mass in C Major, for contralto, two horns, and organ (c. 1842); Chorale Mass in F Major, for Maundy Thursday, for unaccompanied four-part chorus (1844); Requiem in D Minor, for chorus, orchestra, and organ (1848-1849, rev. 1894); Psalm CXIV, for five-part chorus and three trombones (1852); Missa Solemnis in B flat Minor, for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra (1854); Mass No. 1 in D Minor, for soprano, chorus, and orchestra (1864, rev. 1876 and later); Mass No. 2 in E Minor, for eight-part chorus and wind instruments (1866, rev. 1876 and later); Mass No. 3 in F Minor (Grosse Messe), for solo voices, chorus, orchestra, and organ (1867-1868, rev. 1876-1890); Te Deum, for soprano solo, chorus, orchestra, and organ (1881, rev. 1883-1884); Psalm CL, for soprano solo, chorus, orchestra, and organ (1892).
 

SMALLER

SACRED WORKS: Pange Lingua in C Major, for four-part chorus (1835, rev. 1891); Ave Maria, for four-part chorus and organ (1856); offertory, Afferentur, for four-part chorus and trombones (1861); Pange Lingua, for chorus in the Phrygian mode (1868); anitphon, Tota pulchra es, for tenor, chorus, and organ (1878); Ecce Sacerdos, for chorus, three trombones, and organ (1885).
 

CANTATAS: Festive cantata, Preiset den Herrn, for solo voices, male chorus, brass and woodwind instruments, and timpani (1862); Germanenzug (1863), Das deutsche Lied (1892), and Helgoland (1893), all three for male-voice choir, withe brass instruments.