Josef Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896) was an Austrian composer and organist best known for his symphonies and sacred music, which includes Masses, Te Deum and motets. The symphonies are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and considerable length. His compositions helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving harmonies.

Unlike other musical radicals such as Richard Wagner and Hugo Wolf, Bruckner showed respect, even humility, before other famous musicians, Wagner in particular. This apparent dichotomy between Bruckner the man and Bruckner the composer hampers efforts to describe his life in a way that gives a straightforward context for his music. Hans von Bülow described him as "half genius, half simpleton". Bruckner was critical of his own work and often reworked his compositions. There are several versions of many of his works.

His works, the symphonies in particular, had detractors, most notably the influential Austrian critic Eduard Hanslick and other supporters of Johannes Brahms, who pointed to their large size and use of repetition, as well as to Bruckner's propensity for revising many of his works, often with the assistance of colleagues, and his apparent indecision about which versions he preferred. On the other hand, Bruckner was greatly admired by subsequent composers, including his friend Gustav Mahler.

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in E major, WAB 107, is one of the composer's best-known symphonies. It was written between 1881 and 1883 and was revised in 1885. It is dedicated to Ludwig II of Bavaria. The premiere, given under Arthur Nikisch and the Gewandhaus Orchestra in the opera house at Leipzig on 30 December 1884, brought Bruckner the greatest success he had known in his life. The symphony is sometimes referred to as the "Lyric", though the appellation is not the composer's own, and is seldom used. Like many of Bruckner’s earlier scherzos, the Scherzo of the Seventh Symphony reveals its rustic Upper Austrian roots at almost every turn—in his younger days Bruckner had boosted his meagre teacher’s salary by playing in village dance bands. However there is an obsessive, elemental drive here, which is to become still more pronounced in the scherzos of the next two symphonies. The Trio is much gentler, more songful, featuring Bruckner’s signature ONE-two ONE-two-three rhythm..

Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._7_(Bruckner )).

Although originally created for Orchestra, I created this Interpretation of Scherzo in A Minor from Symphony No. 7 (WAB 107 Mvt. 3) for String Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).