Tovey, Donald Francis: Essay on Bruckner from the 1962 Encyclopedia Britannica

Most encyclopedic entries are fairly cut and dry, but this one written by Donald Francis Tovey (D.F.T) (1875-1940) is particularly interesting in that it illustrates the academic attitude regarding Bruckner's music outside of Austria and Germany in the mid Twentieth Century. It is not certain when Tovey actually wrote this essay, but it was published in the 1962 edition of the encyclopedia. This particular quote is most telling: The instrumental music of Bruckner's first period is so uncouth that its disinterment is an extraordinary tribute to the triumph of his later symphonies.