Bruckner Symphony No. 3 in D minor "Wagner"

In September 1873, Bruckner visited Wagner, whom he revered, showed him the scores of Symphonies No. 2 and No. 3, and asked him to accept the dedication of one. Wagner chose No. 3. But after they drank beer together that day, Bruckner reportedly couldn't remember which piece Wagner had chosen. So he sent a note asking, "It's the D-minor symphony where the trumpet begins the theme, isn't it?", and Wagner replied that it was. That's why this piece is nicknamed the "Wagner Symphony."

The Vienna premiere on December 16, 1877, became the most bitter memory of Bruckner's life. Herbeck, who was to conduct, suddenly died, so Bruckner conducted the Vienna Philharmonic himself; the audience trickled out one by one, and by the end even the orchestra members had hurried off. Among the few who stayed to the end and applauded was a seventeen-year-old Gustav Mahler.

Bruckner revised this piece several times, and the version played most often today is the 1889 one. A 1890 performance by the Vienna Philharmonic under Hans Richter received loud applause.