was published in six volumes (1766–1767; English translation by W. Enfield, 1791). It is by this work alone that Brucker is now known. Its merit consists entirely in the ample collection of materials. He also wrote Tentamen Introductionis in Historiam Doctrinae de Ideis, afterwards completed and republished under the title of Historia Philosophicae Doctrinae de Ideis (Augsburg, 1723); Otium Vindelicum (1731); Kurze Fragen aus der philosophischen Historie (7 vols., Ulm, 1731–1736), a history of philosophy in question and answer, containing many details, especially in the department of literary history, which he omitted in his chief work; Pinacotheca Scriptorum nostra aetate literis illustrium, &c. (Augsburg, 1741–1755); Ehrentempel der deutschen Gelehrsamkeit (Augsburg, 1747–1749); Institutiones Historiae Philosophicae (Leipzig, 1747 and 1756; 3rd ed. with a continuation by F. G. B. Born (1743–1807) of Leipzig, in 1790); Miscellanea Historiae Philosophicae Literariae Criticae olim sparsim edita (Augsburg, 1748); Erste Anfangsgrunde der philosophischen Geschichte (Ulm, 1751). He superintended an edition of Luther’s translation of the Old and New Testament, with a commentary extracted from the writings of the English theologians (Leipzig, 1758–1770, completed by W. A. Teller). He died at Augsburg in 1770.
BRÜCKMANN, FRANZ ERNST (1697–1753), German mineralogist, was born on the 27th of September 1697 at Marienthal near Helmstädt. Having qualified as a medical man in 1721, he practised at Brunswick and afterwards at Wolfenbüttel. His leisure time was given up to natural history, and especially to mineralogy and botany. He appears to have been the first to introduce the term oolithus to rocks that resemble in structure the roe of a fish; whence the terms oolite and oolitic. He died at Wolfenbüttel on the 21st of March 1753. He published Magnalia Dei in locis subterraneis (Brunswick, 1727), Historia naturalis curiosa lapidis (1727), and Thesaurus subterraneus Ducatus Brunsvigii (1728).
BRUCKNER, ANTON (1824–1896), Austrian musical composer, was born on the 4th of September 1824 at Ansfelden in upper Austria. He successfully competed for the organistship for Linz Cathedral in 1855. In 1867 he succeeded his former master of counterpoint, Sechter, as organist of the Hofkapelle in Vienna, and also became professor in the conservatorium. In 1875 he was appointed to a lectureship in the university. His most striking talent was shown in his extemporizations on the organ. His success in an organ competition at Nancy in 1869 led to his playing in Paris and London (six recitals at the Albert Hall, 1871). His permanent reputation, however, rests on his compositions, especially his nine symphonies. In these gigantic efforts the influence of Wagner is paramount in almost every feature of harmony and orchestration; and if sustained seriousness of purpose and style were all that was necessary to give coherence to works in which these influences are stultified by the rhythmic uniformities of an experienced improvisatore and the impressions of classical form as taught in schools, then Bruckner would certainly have been what the extreme Wagnerian party called him, the symphonic successor of Beethoven, or the Wagner of the symphony. But their lack of organization and proportion, to say nothing of humour, will always make their revival a somewhat severe task. No composer has ever been more consistent to lofty ideals, though few who have ever had an ideal have shown less adroitness in their methods of embodying it. The most poetic and admired feature of his style is a slow growth to a gigantic climax, slow enough and gigantic enough for any situation in Wagner’s Nibelungen tetralogy. The symphonies in which these climaxes occur are in obviously unskilful classical form, with only an outward appearance of freedom; and the Great Pyramid would hardly be more out of place in an Oxford quadrangle than Bruckner’s climaxes in his four-movement symphonies with their “second subjects” and recapitulations. Nor is it likely that Bruckner would have been much more successful in handling these gigantic things in their legitimate Wagnerian dramatic environment, for even in his last three symphonies he hardly ever frees himself from the trammels of square rhythm; and, as he accepts the classical sonata-forms without inquiry into their meaning or relevance, so he accepts the Wagnerian stage orchestra in its minutest details, without inquiry as to its relevance for the purposes and acoustics of the concert-room, and with the same lack of sense of relief that ruins the balance of his rhythmic periods. So unsophisticated a temperament may be not unpoetical, but it is eminently undramatic, as well as unsymphonic. Of Bruckner’s choral works, which include three masses and several psalms and motets, the most famous is the Te Deum (1885?),[1] which shows his characteristic power in massive effect. Bruckner wished this to be appended to the three complete movements of his 9th symphony, which his last illness (ending in his death at Vienna on the 11th of October 1896) prevented him from finishing. This 9th symphony is designed, with characteristic tactlessness and simplicity, to follow Beethoven’s 9th symphony in every possible point which could challenge comparison; in key (D minor), opening (mysterious tremolo leading to tremendous unison tutti), contrasts (return in first movement) and choral finale. The three complete movements were first performed in Vienna in 1903, and have done more for Bruckner’s fame than anything since the production in 1884 of his 7th symphony (of which the slow movement is an elegy on the death of Wagner). It is probable that the impression produced by this 9th symphony is the deeper as owing little or nothing to the musical politics which had gone far to prevent the 7th symphony from standing on its own unmistakable merits. It does not, however, seem likely that Bruckner’s work will have much influence on musical progress; for the modern characteristics in which its strength lies are obviously better realized in other forms which have often been handled successfully by composers greatly Bruckner’s inferiors both in invention and sincerity.
(D. F. T.)
BRUGES (Flemish Brugge, a name signifying the bridge or place of bridges), the capital of West Flanders, Belgium. Pop. (1904) 53,728. The city contains some of the finest monuments of the great period of the Flemish communes, while its medieval appearance is better preserved, as a whole, than in the case of any other Belgian city. The cathedral of St Sauveur and the church of Notre-Dame, both specimens of early Pointed Gothic, date from the 13th and 14th centuries. Both are full of interest, but the cathedral was much injured by fire in 1839. The interior, however, is finely proportioned and exhibits beautiful modern polychrome decorations, numerous pictures and interesting monumental brasses. The church of Notre-Dame contains a fine De Crayer (The Adoration of the Magi), Michelangelo’s marble group of the Virgin and Child, and the fine monuments with gilded copper effigies of Charles the Bold and his daughter, Mary of Burgundy. The hospital of St Jean, where the sick have been cared for since the 12th century, contains the chief works of Memling, including the famous reliquary of St Ursula. The market-hall was built in 1561–1566 on the site of an older building, some portions of which were utilized in its successor. The belfry which rises in the centre of the façade dates from the end of the 13th century; it has long been famous for its chime of bells, but the civic fathers have caused modern airs to be substituted for the old hymn. The hôtel de ville, the Chapelle du Saint-Sang and the church of St Jacques are all of interest. The first is Gothic and was begun about 1376. The second is a chapel of two storeys, the lower dating from 1150, while the upper was rebuilt in the 15th century, and there is a rich Flamboyant entrance with a stairway (1533). St Jacques’ church is a foundation of the 13th century, but has extensive additions of the close of the 15th and 17th centuries. The Palais de Justice, of the 18th century, on the site of the House of the Franc—the outside burghers of the Franc district admitted to the full privileges of citizenship—contains a fine carved chimney-piece (1530). The house is supposed to have formed part of the residence of the counts of Flanders. There are numerous other buildings of minor antiquarian interest; the fine museum contains a representative gallery of early Flemish paintings; and of the old fortifications three gates remain. The
- ↑ This date is given in Grove (new ed.), but the style of the work is far earlier than that of the 7th symphony (1884) which quotes it in the slow movement.
