In January, 1856, having been persuaded to take part in an open competition for the vacant post of organist at the Cathedral in Linz, he easily carried off the honors, astonishing all by his incredible powers of improvisation on given themes.
During the first few of the twelve years he served as organist in Linz, Bruckner made practically no efforts at original composition, burying himself heart and soul in the contrapuntal problems heaped upon him by the pedantic Sechter. During the periods of Advent and Lent, the Cathedral organ being silent, Bishop Rudigier, who greatly admired Bruckner's genius, permitted him to go to Vienna to pursue (in person) the studies which throughout the year had to be left to the uncertain benefits of a correspondence course.
One may get some inkling of the stupendous physical and mental labor involved in "studying," as Bruckner interpreted the term, if one believes the evidence advanced by eye-witnesses, who assert that the piles of written musical exercises in the "student's" room reached from the floor to the keyboard of his piano. "For those who think this incredible there is the written word of the unimpeachable Sechter himself to the following effect. Upon receiving from Bruckner in a single installment seventeen bookfuls of written exercises, he warned him against "too great an intellectual strain," and lest his admonition be taken in ill part by the student, the teacher added the comforting, indubitable assurance: "I believe I never had a more serious pupil than you."
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