Bruckner's most cinematic ending
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Today, we share with you the final bars of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 "Romantic". In this coda, those of you familiar with film music may recognize the leitmotif of the Dark Knight, Batman, as heard in Christopher Nolan’s films with music by Hans Zimmer. Interestingly, this minor third motif was also used as the leitmotif for the Joker in Todd Phillips’ Joker, scored by Hildur Guðnadóttir. This motif serves as a foundational element of the entire symphony, its implications woven into various structural levels.
With this video, we once again aim to highlight the influence of late German Romanticism on film composers across different eras. While modern film music encompasses a vast range of genres and influences, the grandeur of German post-Romanticism remains particularly significant—especially in early cinematic masterpieces such as Nosferatu, Metropolis, and Battleship Potemkin.
DISCLAIMER: 1:50 is actually an Eb major chord because one trombone is playing the major third. 2:39 is G# minor.
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Anton Bruckner (1824–1896)
Symphony No.4 in E-flat major, WAB 104 (1873–1874)
Performance: Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Zubin Mehta (2022)
Further reading:
Bruckner's Symphonies: Analysis, Reception and Cultural Politics by Julian Horton.
Video made by MomentsMusicaux.