The first published edition of the Eighth Symphony has long been out of print, and its contents and history are veiled in some mystery. This much is clear: the symphony was first published in March 1892 by the firm of Haslinger-Schlesinger-Lienau (Berlin and Vienna) and although the published text is based on the 1890 version, it differs in some ways from the text preserved in Bruckner's final manuscript (which is reproduced by Nowak's critical edition of the 1890 version). These differences include a cut of six bars in the Finale (following m. 92), the repetition of two bars later in that movement (mm. 519–20 of Nowak's edition are repeated), some changes in the orchestration, and the addition of many tempo, dynamic, expression, and agogic markings (see Appendix B). The 1892 edition also contains two suggested cuts, marked “vi-de” above the staves, which if taken would result in the excision of mm. 262–78 of the first movement and mm. 519–76 (which correspond to mm. 523–580 of the 1890 version) of the Finale.

Authorship

The 1892 edition is now almost universally rejected as “inauthentic” and its textual differences, like those found in all of the first printed editions of Bruckner's works, are generally assumed to be the result of illegitimate editorial changes made without Bruckner's consent and possibly even without his awareness.