A Bad Bruckner Joke
The story has it that when Bruckner died, his remains were placed in a sarcophagus under the organ at the monastery of Saint Florian. A couple of days after this interment took place, a worker at the monastery was cleaning the area when he heard some strange noises coming from the sarcophagus. Terrified, the worker ran and got one of the monks working in the crypt to come and listen as well. The monk bent down close to the sarcophagus and he heard what seemed to be some unrecognizable music emanating from where Bruckner had been recently laid for eternal rest. Frightened by this, the monk went to the office of the local magistrate. When the magistrate arrived, he too bent down and listened for a moment and then said, “Ah yes, that is Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony being played backwards.” He listened a little longer and said, “There’s the Eighth Symphony and it’s backwards too. Most puzzling!” So the magistrate kept listening; “Hmmm, there’s part of the Seventh… the Sixth… the Fifth…” and so on. Suddenly the realization of what was happening dawned on the magistrate. He stood up and announced to the crowd that had gathered in the crypt, “My fellow citizens, there’s nothing to worry about. It’s just Bruckner decomposing.” I told you it was bad… | ||||||
