Handwritten Part of Bruckner's Sixth Re-discovered by Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs.

After Anton Bruckner had finished his Sixth Symphony, a set of handwritten parts was copied which were to be used for a read-through of new repertoire by the Vienna Philharmonic (6 Oct 1882) as well as for the ensuing first performance of the Adagio and Scherzo, which was directed by Wilhelm Jahn (11 Feb 1883). This set of parts was believed to be entirely lost, as confirmed by Leopold Nowak in his Critical Report (1986, p. 49). To his own surprise, Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs found a remnant of it in the archive of the Monastery of St. Florian – a part for Bassoon I in the hand of a copyist, with autograph annotations, and with the pencil indication "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien" on the first page by an anonymous hand. Cohrs´ further research in the Archive of the GdM in Vienna then brought to light the full set of parts, with only the Bassoon I part missing which is today in St. Florian. Earlier researchers had overlooked it, perhaps because it is held under the same signature as the dedication copy (XIII 37.730), but stored at another location in the archive stacks. The set of parts comprises all the wind instruments, timpani, and strings in single copies (except the viola, of which six copies survive!). The copyist responsible has yet to be identified. Most of the parts reveal autograph corrections as well as some pencil annotations by orchestral players (added dynamics etc.).