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FERNANDO OLIVA   05/11/2003	Subject: RAFF AND BRUCKNER Message: Dear Friends, I want to give thanks to Mark for including Anton Rubinstein in the Section "Peers and Critics". And also, I have two questions about Raff and his relations with other musicians, in this case with Anton Bruckner: - Did Raff and Bruckner ever meet each other? - What was Raff´s opinion about Bruckner music? Thanks in advance. Cheers, Fernando.
Mark Thomas   06/11/2003	RE: RAFF AND BRUCKNER IP: Logged Message: To the best of my knowledge (not saying that much, I'll happily admit) there is nothing in any of the records of Raff's life to confirm that he and Bruckner met. Nor am I aware of any document which records Raff's opinion of Bruckner, if indeed he had any. I suppose that it is likely that he was aware of Bruckner as they were the same generation (Bruckner was born in 1824, two years after Raff). Bruckner would certainly have known of Raff. When Raff visited Vienna to get his prize for the "An das Vaterland" Symphony in 1863 Bruckner was still in Linz - though ther's no reason why he couldn't have made the short trip to the capital. I can't remember any mention of any other Raff trips to Vienna, but both he and Bruckner were present at the premiere of the Ring in 1876, so they may have met then. Bruckner only came to public notice two years after Raff's death with the premiere of his 7th. symphony in 1884, though that doesn't preclude Raff being aware of him and his music during his own lifetime. I think that it's fair to say, though, that at the time Raff was a much more significant musical personality than Bruckner who was regarded by most as something of a musical oddity with a personality to match! The large bundle of surviving Raff archives in Munich really need to be studied properly for us to get a proper picture of his life which would enable us to answer your question properly. I'd dearly love to do that but my German isn't up to it I'm afraid...