Bruckner Recordings from Adolf Hitler's Headquarters

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Adolf Hitler had a fascination with Anton Bruckner's music and Hitler saw many parallels between his early life and Bruckner's artistic struggles. Both were born in Upper Austria (near Linz) and both had difficulties achieving artistic acceptance in the musical capitol of Vienna.

It is not surprising that Hitler would have the music of Bruckner at one of his many military headquarters. These recordings probably come from the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. The Bruckner Archive holds two discs from the Telefunken shellac set of the Adagio of the Symphony No. 7 performed by Wilhelm Furtwaengler and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. These are both single sided discs and have the small "Fuehrer-hauptquartier" stamp affixed to the label.

For more information about how these recordings were preserved, click here.