| 1824 | September 4th: Bruckner is born in Ansfelden (cf. "Österreich-Lexikon") as the first of 12 children, five of whom survived. Father and grandfather had been teachers at Ansfelden. |
| 1837 | After his father's death Anton becomes a choir-boy at St.Florian in Upper Austria.
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| 1840 - 41 | He takes part in a teachers' training course at Linz (cf. "Österreich-Lexikon"). |
| 1841 - 43 |
He becomes assistant teacher at Windhaag (cf. "Österreich-Lexikon"), situated in the north of Upper Austria. He studies Bach's "The Art of the Fugue", but also shows interest in popular dances like "Ländler" and "G'strampfte".
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| 1843 - 45 | He is teacher at Kronsdorf, a village near Steyr. |
| 1845 - 56 | He is teacher at St.Florian. This second stay at St.Florian means that Bruckner not only matures as an important organist but that his compositions begin to change. From small items for men's choirs he moves on to the composition of Masses. |
| 1850 | He becomes abbey organist at St.Florian. |
| 1856 | He becomes cathedral organist at Linz. |
| 1856 - 1868 |
He lives in Linz, then a town of 26.000 inhabitants. Bishop Franz Joseph Rudigier (cf. "Österreich-Lexikon") enables Bruckner the study of music with the Viennese theorist Simon Sechter (1856-61). On November 19th, 1861 Bruckner takes his examination under a commission consisting of Hellmesberger (cf. "Österreich-Lexikon"), Johann Herbeck (cf. "Österreich-Lexikon"), Simon Sechter (cf. "Österreich-Lexikon") and Otto Dessoff (cf. "Österreich-L exikon"). Afterwards Herbeck remarked laconically, "It is he who should have been examining us."
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| 1861 | Otto Kitzler from Königsberg becomes first Kapellmeister at the City Theatre of Linz. Through him Bruckner is first confronted with contemporary modern music. |
| 1861 - 1863 |
He becomes acquainted with orchestral music, with the stage, with contemporary music (the "Neo-German School"). He gets to know works by Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt (cf. "Österreich-Lexikon").
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| 1862 | This is the year when Bruckner hears Wagner's Tannhäuser in Linz. |
| 1864 | From then on we can date Bruckner's own personal ingenious style of composing. |
| 1864 | Ignaz Dorn draws Bruckner's attention to the works of Liszt and Berlioz. Thus he
contributes to Bruckner's development so that he overcomes the strictness of Sechter's
composition technique. |
| 1868 | Bruckner becomes Simon Sechter's successor at the Vienna Conservatory. At the same time he becomes organist of the Imperial Court Chapel. |
| 1875 |
Bruckner becomes Professor of musical theory at the University of Vienna. (cf. "Österreich-Lexikon").
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| 1891 | He is awarded the honorary doctorate of the University of Vienna. |
| 1894 | He becomes Honorary Citizen of Linz. |
| 1896 | October 11th:
Bruckner dies in the "Kustodenstöckl", not far from Belvedere (cf. "Österreich-Lexikon"). He is buried in the crypt of St.Florian, under the organ of the abbey.
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