Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his monumental symphonies, of which he wrote nine. His symphonies are representative of the late stages of Austro-German Romanticism in music because of their intensely polyphonic writing, rich harmonies and immense length. He was also an organist and teacher and composed many important masses and motets for sacred and secular choirs. As a contemporary of Richard Wagner and Johannes Brahms, his works had several detractors and unfortunately do not enjoy the same popularity today as the former two composers.