British musicologist Deryck Cooke described the third as "the least perfect, but not the least magnificent" of Anton Bruckner's nine symphonies. The work has undergone a convoluted evolution however; when Cooke described "its present intolerable state of complexity," just six versions existed, all completed between 1873 and 1889. Recent research has raised that total to nine editions of Bruckner's so-called "Wagner" symphony.

When Bruckner initially submitted the score to Otto Dessoff, the puzzled conductor retorted, "but where is the main tune?" So began the tortuous gestation of the Third Symphony, as Bruckner's well-intentioned students and supporters proposed their own "improvements." Incredibly, the original text of 1873 was finally published only in 1977, some 103 years after its composition. This was the version the composer inscribed to his hero Richard Wagner, with the words "to the unreachable world-famous noble master of poetry and music."

The symphony is sprinkled with suggestions of Wagner's operas, chiefly Die Walküre, Tannhäuser, and Lohengrin. But it adheres to Classical models and as usual for Bruckner is quite distinct from Wagner in its basically abstract, elevated outlook. In every incarnation it comprises four movements, a structure from which Bruckner never deviated. The first begins as the solo trumpet announces a striking motto theme, followed by the announcement of a noble horn melody. Not unusually for Bruckner, the first movement exposition has three thematic groups, ending with a quotation from his own Mass in D minor. The development section, too, has the typical Bruckner imprint of a second main theme stated in contrary motion, before the lead-up to the recapitulation. The coda offers the main motif as a canon for trumpets and trombones, and the movement ends majestically.

The Adagio, set in quiet reverential style at the outset, was the subject of major revision; the original 1876 movement was some 38 bars longer than that of the regularly heard 1877 revision. The third movement is an irrepressible, headlong scherzo of formidable power. It contrasts vehement outer sections with a beautiful trio section characterized by a lyrical theme for the violas.

The finale begins in a mood of similar determination, but the contrasting second thematic grouping presents an enigmatic juxtaposition of idioms. Bruckner contrasts a polka-like idea for the violins with a solemn brass chorale, answered by the woodwinds. The composer's biographer August Göllerich recalled strolling around a Vienna suburb with Bruckner and hearing popular dance music coming from a tavern, adjacent to a funeral home in which the body of a famous cathedral architect awaited interment. "Listen!" Bruckner exclaimed. "Here is dancing, while over there the master lies in his coffin. That's life—that's what I wanted to show in my Third Symphony. The Polka symbolises life's joys, and the Chorale its pain and sorrow." But this great work ends in a mood of triumphant affirmation, as the opening trumpet motto theme returns to crown a short but decisive coda, now majestically transfigured into the major key.

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