The Bruckner rhythm is a 2 + 3 (duplet + triplet) or 3 + 2 rhythm in Anton Bruckner

Anton Bruckner

Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...

's symphonic music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, where it occurs prevalently, and in many different, varied ways.

One example is in the main theme of the first movement of his Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major

Symphony No. 4 (Bruckner)

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major is one of the composer's most popular works. It was written in 1874 and revised several times through 1888. It was dedicated to Prince Konstantin of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. It was premiered in 1881 by Hans Richter in Vienna with great success...

, from bars 43 forward:
The Bruckner rhythm can occur separate of a melody (that is, on a single pitch), and this is the only way it occurs in the Symphony No. 2 in C minor

Symphony No. 2 (Bruckner)

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 2 in C minor was completed in 1872, and revised, like most of Bruckner's other symphonies, at various points thereafter....

. In the Symphony No. 6 in A major

Symphony No. 6 (Bruckner)

Symphony No. 6 in A major by Austrian composer Anton Bruckner is a work in four movements composed between September 24, 1879 and September 3, 1881 and dedicated to his landlord, Dr. Anton van Ölzelt-Newin. Though it possesses many characteristic features of a Bruckner symphony, it differs the...

 the Bruckner rhythm occurs to a much greater extent than in previous works, in several parts at slightly different times. At first it occurs as a string ostinato high in the violins' range against a melody of different rhythm in the cellos, while at bars 195 - 209 it serves to articulate hexatonic cycle block chords. The rhythm occurs in somewhat more "manageable" form in Symphony No. 8 in C minor

Symphony No. 8 (Bruckner)

Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor is the last Symphony the composer completed. It exists in two major versions of 1887 and 1890. It was premiered under conductor Hans Richter in 1892 in Vienna...

, where it usually occurs in the same way in all the parts.

The Bruckner rhythm also occurs in the works of other composers, such as in Howard Hanson

Howard Hanson

Howard Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music...

's Romantic Symphony

Symphony No. 2 (Hanson)

The Symphony No. 2 in D-flat major, Opus 30, W45, was written by Howard Hanson on commission from Serge Koussevitsky for the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930, and published by Carl Fischer Music....

, where it occurs mostly in the horns' and trumpets' parts.