Editing Anton Bruckner (section)

=== Study period ===
In 1855, Bruckner, aspiring to become a student of the famous Vienna music theorist [[Simon Sechter]], showed the master his [[Missa solemnis (Bruckner)|''Missa solemnis'']] (WAB 29), written a year earlier, and was accepted. The education, which included skills in music theory and counterpoint among others, took place mostly via correspondence, but also included long in-person sessions in Vienna. Sechter's teaching would have a profound influence on Bruckner. Later, when Bruckner began teaching music himself, he would base his curriculum on Sechter's book ''Die Grundsätze der musikalischen Komposition'' (Leipzig 1853/54).<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Hinrichsen|editor-first=Hans-Joachim|editor-link=Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen|title=Bruckner Handbuch|publisher=J. B. Metzler'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung and Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag|location=Stuttgart|year=2010|page=31}}</ref>

[[File:bruckner circa 1860.jpg|upright|thumb|Bruckner, {{Circa|1860}}]]
Largely self-taught as a composer, Bruckner only started composing seriously at age 37 in 1861. Bruckner studied further with [[Otto Kitzler]], who was nine years younger than him and who introduced him to the music of [[Richard Wagner]], which Bruckner studied extensively from 1863 onwards. Bruckner considered the earliest orchestral works (the "study" [[Study Symphony in F minor|Symphony in F minor]], the [[Four Orchestral Pieces (Bruckner)#Three Pieces for orchestra|three orchestral pieces]], the [[Four Orchestral Pieces (Bruckner)#March in D minor|March in D minor]] and the [[Overture (Bruckner)|Overture in G minor]], which he composed in 1862–1863), mere school exercises, done under the supervision of Otto Kitzler. He continued his studies to the age of 40. Broad fame and acceptance did not come until he was over 60 (after the premiere of his [[Symphony No. 7 (Bruckner)|Seventh Symphony]] in 1884). In 1861, he had already made the acquaintance of [[Franz Liszt]], whom Bruckner idolised. Like Bruckner, Liszt was of the Catholic faith and a harmonic innovator, and, alongside Wagner, he initiated the [[New German School]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Walker | first=Alan|author-link=Alan Walker (musicologist)| title=Franz Liszt: The final years, 1861–1886 | publisher=Cornell University Press | publication-place=Ithaca, New York| date=1987 | isbn=978-0-8014-8453-7 | page=469}}</ref> In May 1861 he made his concert debut, as both composer and conductor of his ''[[Ave Maria (Bruckner)|Ave Maria]]'', set in seven parts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA66062 |title=Bruckner: Motets – CD – CDA66062 – Anton Bruckner (1824–1896) |publisher=Hyperion Records |access-date=6 February 2014 |archive-date=22 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222024101/http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA66062 |url-status=live }}</ref> Soon after Bruckner had ended his studies under Sechter and Kitzler, he wrote his [[Mass No. 1 (Bruckner)|Mass in D Minor]]. From 1861 to 1868, he alternated his time between Vienna and Sankt Florian. He wished to ensure he knew how to make his music modern, but he also wanted to spend time in a more religious setting.