Short Biography:

Anton Bruckner was born in Ansfelden, Austria , on September 4 1824. He became a choirboy at the Abbey of St. Florian, and later assistant teacher. He was Abbey organist from 1848, and became Cathedral organist by 1856. In those years (55-61) he studied Music Theory with Sechter in Vienna.

In 1860 Bruckner was appointed choirmaster of a male choral society in Linz. In the years 1861-63 he studied orchestration and form under Ottto Kitzler, who introduced him to the music of Wagner which he studied persistently. He wrote his "Nullte" Symphony in 1863-64, and then his Mass in D minor. In 1868 he became professor of thorough-bass, counterpoint, and organ and the Vienna Conservatory.

In 1873, Bruckner visited Bayreuth and joined the Viennese Wagner Society. In 1878-80 he wrote his String Quintet and Fourth Symphony. Between 1884 and 1890 he worked on the two versions of his Eighth Symphony. In 1887 began working on the Ninth. He received an Hororary doctrorate from Vienna University in 1891. Bruckner started working on the Finale of the Ninth in 1895, but it was left unfinished at his death on October 11 1896.

-Text adopted from timeline by Hans-Günter Klein, and various other sources.