Bruckner

Organist at Linz Cathedral, and forty before he began writing symphonies seriously. He was chronically unsure of himself, revised endlessly, and accepted heavy cuts suggested by students and conductors — which is why every symphony exists in several versions and the editions remain a musicological mess.

The structure of his symphonies comes from the organ: huge blocks of sound set against each other, an abrupt general pause, then a fresh start on a different stop. He asks for patience; the passages that seem to stall are accumulating. The Adagio of the Seventh was written on Wagner's death and brought him his first real success, at the age of sixty.