Anton Bruckner

31.3. Holy Thursday: Birth and death of a brother.
Johann Strauß (son) is born

25.3. Holy Saturday: Birth and death of a brother.

Ludwig van Beethoven dies at the age of 57. Anton Löhner invents roller skates.

22.3. Birth of Theresia
Franz Schubert dies at the age of 31.

17.2. Birth of Rosalia
5.5. Death of Theresia (whooping cough)

13.3. Birth of Josefa
Enrolment in primary school (trivium school) in Ansfelden.

17.6. Birth and 27.6. death of Alois („Fraisen“)
Football becomes popular in English schools.

28.7. Birth and 14.11 death of Ferdinand (whooping cough).

1. Juni: Confirmation in Linz Cathedral, godfather is Johann Baptist Weiss. 28.7.
Birth of Ignaz.

3.10. Birth and 13.10. death of Theresia („Aphteln“)
First organ performances.

Anton Bruckner moves to Hörsching to live with Johann Baptist Weiss (cousin and confirmation sponsor). Lessons in organ playing and basso continuo, until 1837.

27.6. Birth of Maria Anna
Return to Ansfelden (father taken ill in the fall)

7.7. Death of his father. Anton is allowed to join J. B. Weiss at the beginning of July, then becomes a choirboy at St. Florian Monastery as of the end of July.
Organ lessons with Anton Kattinger until 1840.
Samuel Morse invents the telegraph.

Louis Daguerre invents photography

Graduates from primary school as the best of his class, voice breaks.

Starts work as a school assistant in Windhaag near Freistadt.
The first photographers (“daguerrotypists”) begin working in Vienna.

Travel also becomes increasingly popular amongst the middle class. Baedecker publishes „Southern Germany and the Austrian Empire: Handbook for Travellers.“

Moves to Kronstorf near Steyr as a school assistant, founds a men’s quartet, and continues his studies with Leopold Zenetti in Enns.

Teacher’s examination in Linz.

Further studies in physics and Latin.

St. Florian: School assistant, organ lessons with Kattinger.

Appointed private tutor to the St. Florian Boys’ Choir.
Newspapers become increasingly important and popular.

Appointed provisional monastery organist. Suicide of confirmation sponsor Johann Baptist Weiss (due to unjustified accusations of embezzlement of association funds).

Visit to Ignaz Assmayer in Vienna (to present him with the score of the Requiem WAB 39).

Unsuccessful application for a chancellery position.

Organ examination at the Piarist Church in Vienna. Provost Arneth dies. Unsuccessful application for the directorship of the Cathedral Music Association and Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Kaiser Franz Joseph marries Elisabeth („Sissi“)

Audition at the Old Cathedral, then permanent cathedral organist.
Becomes a member of the Liedertafel Frohsinn (Frohsinn Choir). First contact with Rudolf Weinwurm.
The Vienna-Linz railway line of the Empress Elisabeth Railway begins operation.

Complaints about the poor condition of both Linz organs. His organ playing is mentioned in the Linzer Zeitung.
The first passenger lift is put into service in New York.

Intensive month with Simon Sechter in Vienna, followed by regular short trips to see him.
Shoes are no longer made by hand, but with a sole sewing machine.

Receives the right of residence in Linz.

Mother dies in Ebelsberg.

“Famous” organ examination in the Piarist Church, completion of studies. Begins with Otto Kitzler (Linz Theatre Kapellmeister).

First plans for the Vienna Court Music Ensemble.

First Linz performance of Tannhäuser (Wagner). Completes studies with Kitzler.
Begins studies with Ignaz Dorn.
The London Underground goes into operation.

Germanenzug is published as the first printed work (publisher: Josef Kränzl, Ried im Innkreis).
Railway with sleeping car (Pullman)

Meets with Richard Wagner.
Wilhelm Busch’s Max & Moritz is published.

The youngest sister, Maria Anna (Nani), moves in with B. to manage his household. B. proposes marriage to Josefine Lang.

Bad Kreuzen (3 months). Application for admission to the Imperial and Royal Court Orchestra.
Unsuccessful application for admission to the University of Vienna as a composition teacher.
Opening of the Brenner Railway. Alfred Nobel patents his invention of dynamite.

Honorary member of the Mozarteum Salzburg. Appointed as professor of harmony, counterpoint, and organ at the Vienna Conservatory. 2 months in Bad Kreuzen.
Appointment as “Expectant Imperial and Royal Court Organist.”
School gymnastics is introduced in Austria.

Organ concert tours to Nancy and Paris.
The world’s first postcard is sent from Austria.

16.1. Nani dies. Kathi Kachelmaier takes over as housekeeper.
Bruckner becomes assistant piano teacher at the St. Anna Teacher Training College. He is made an honorary citizen of Ansfelden.
The can opener is invented. (Cans have existed since 1810 – but could previously only be opened with other tools.)

Concert tour to London, with concerts at the Royal Albert Hall and the Crystal Palace. “St. Anna Affair” (B. briefly loses his teaching position, later rehabilitated).
Verdi’s opera Aida premieres in Cairo for the opening of the Suez Canal.

Organ improvisation. Inauguration of the new organ in the Musikverein Hall in Vienna.
Train with a dining car (Pullman)

Journey to Karlsbad (organ), Marienbad (spa). Visits Wagner in Bayreuth and requests to be allowed to dedicate Symphony No. 3 to him.
Levi Strauss patents jeans. World’s Fair held in Vienna.

3.7. Death of his sister Josefa. Unsuccessful application for employment as a lecturer in harmony and counterpoint at the University of Vienna.
Cosima Wagner thanks B. in Richard’s name for the dedication.

Vice-archivist of the Court Music Ensemble, second singing teacher to the boys’ choir.
Unpaid lecturer in harmony and counterpoint at the University of Vienna.
Bicycle production (with freewheel and backpedal) commences in England.

Inaugural lecture at the University of Vienna. Move to the 1st district (Heinrichshof).
Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson conduct the first telephone conversation of all time.

Move to Hessgasse (Vienna 1st district), free of charge, through student Anton Ölzelt Ritter von Newin.

Full member of the Court Music Ensemble.

Werner von Siemens invents the electric locomotive.

Trip to Munich and Switzerland (organ performances in Zurich, Geneva, Bern, and Lucerne, amongst elsewhere).

Fire at the Ringtheater near Bruckner’s apartment.

Application for a doctorate at the University of Cambridge.
Attends the premiere of Richard Wagner’s Parsifal in Bayreuth.

Death of Richard Wagner.

Visit to Franz Liszt (planned dedication of Symphony No. 2), 60th birthday celebration in Vöcklabruck.
The Gmunden tramway and the Arlberg Tunnel are opened.

The project for a biography (written by August Göllerich) takes shape.
Construction of a skyscraper in Chicago

Awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph. Audience with Emperor Franz Joseph I. Death of Franz Liszt. B. participates in the Requiem in Bayreuth.
Construction of the Statue of Liberty in New York

Rejection of Symphony No. 8 by Hermann Levi, the conductor whom B. admired (causes a profound revision; work on Symphony No. 9 is interrupted).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle publishes the first Sherlock Holmes novel. Emile Berliner patents his gramophone.

B. attends the exhumation of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Application for the position of Kapellmeister at the Burgtheater.
B. becomes an honorary member of the Vienna Academic Choral Society.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris is opened. The Nintendo playing card factory is founded.

Establishment of the Gönner-Consortium, a group of patrons (annual pension of 1,000 florins). The Kaiser accepts the dedication of Symphony No. 8.
B. plays the organ at Archduchess Marie Valerie’s wedding in Bad Ischl.

Retirement from the Conservatory. Honorary member of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna. Honorary doctorate from the University of Vienna.
Otto Lilienthal conducts the first successful flight experiments. Men’s lace-up shoes are produced.

Deterioration of health condition at the beginning of the year. End of service with the Court Music Ensemble. Final visit to Bayreuth.
Liverpool FC is founded in England.

Repeatedly bedridden. B. writes his will.
Die ersten drei Bände von Karl Mays The first three volumes of Karl May’s Winnetou are published. The zipper is invented.

Trip to Berlin for the performance of Symphony No. 7 and Te Deum. Last documented marriage proposal (Ida Buhz). B. plays a High Mass for the last time in St. Florian. 70th birthday celebration in Steyr.
Honorary citizen of Linz. Last university lecture.

Move to the Kustodenstöckl (custodian’s quarters), Upper Belvedere.
The first public film screening by the Lumière brothers takes place in Paris.