4. Bruckner and Brahms

This section requires further development in order to do any justice to the late Romantic tradition in music, but go listen to a symphony by Austrian composer Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) to develop a sense for the richness of the genre. Better yet, listen to all nine of his symphonies, and then you will understand why some members of the succeeding generation began to suspect that the possibilities of Romantic composition might be exhausting themselves. Eventually I'll include something orchestral of Bruckner's here, but for the moment, bask in the lush choral effect of the 1879 motet "Os justi":

(Ignore for the moment the discrepancy between this and the orchestral genre). Incidentally, this piece is composed in the Lydian mode. Note how both harmony and rhythm resolve in a satisfyingly regular conclusion.

Johannes Brahms labored long over his first symphony, a masterpiece in the Romantic tradition. 

  

In the introduction to the finale, however, he did something that later modernist composers took as inspiration. It was not tonality that he violated, but rather the conventions of symphonic form. The themes are beautiful and inspiring—and you have to wait nearly three minutes before they are articulated clearly. All those shadows before the French horn breaks in with its call in C major were not standard form. Brahms then settles down to business and works his way to the second (main) theme at around 5:40, probably a familiar melody to you. (If you go back and listen again, you'll realize that the introduction is indeed related to the theme—but variations aren't supposed to come first.)