Anton Bruckner's Counterpoint Studies at the Monastery of Saint Florian, 1845–55

One of the remarkable episodes in the storied career of Anton Bruckner was his period of study with Viennese theorist Simon Sechter. In 1855, at age thirty, he interrupted his compositional activities for a period of almost six years to immerse himself in a rigorous theory curriculum under Sechter's tutelage. He began with general bass practice and progressed through species counterpoint to complex canon and fugue.