ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes that Bruckner's revisions to his disciples' re-orchestrations of the Third and Fourth Symphonies, and his re-orchestrations of the First and Eighth Symphonies were prompted by a consideration totally unrelated to Levi's practical concerns, namely the theoretical problem of consecutive octaves in an orchestral context. Bruckner's study of Oktaven in Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's Third and Ninth Symphonies, and in his own music remains, of course, much less well known. Bruckner's investigation of 'permitted' or 'desired' doubling concerned the relationship between voices and figurative instrumental accompaniment and momentary doubling between conceptually independent orchestral 'voices' – a 'voice' being defined as either an instrument or consistently doubling group of instruments. As the orchestral voice leading was 'regulated' and the unwanted consecutives were eliminated, Bruckner carefully kept track of the revisions in his pocket calendar.
