HMR Project: History of Music & Modern Recording

Romantic Max Bruch

Birth of Classical Music: Max Bruch

Max Bruch

Born 6 January 1838 in Cologne, Germany, Max Bruch's mother was a singer, and his father a lawyer and vice president of the Cologne police. His first composition was at age nine, a song for his mother's birthday, after which he began to write all variety of compositions including a fugue and orchestral prelude. Next to none of his early pieces survive, though in 1849 at age eleven he wrote 'Septet' in E-flat major Op posth which is one of eleven works listed as WoO.

'Septet' Op Posth in E-flat major Max Bruch

Completed 1849 at age eleven

Consortium Classicum

Wikipedia

Bruch had received first instruction in music in Bonn in 1849 from Heinrich Carl Breidenstein. Such as a lost 'String Quartet' followed in 1850. He performed his 'Symphony No.1' Op 28 in E minor in March of 1852, the year 'String Quartet' in C minor Op posth won him a scholarship from the Mozart Foundation in Frankfurt. That would enable Bruch to study in Cologne under Ferdinand Hiller.

'String Quartet' Op Posth So-called Op 0 in C minor Max Bruch

Completed 1852

Diogenes Quartet

Bruch's Op 1 was assigned to 'Scherz, List und Rache' ('Joke, Cunning and Revenge'), a one-act opera comique premiering in Cologne on 14 January 1858 though published the prior year. Ludwig Bischoff provided the libretto borrowed from Goethe's 'Scherz, List und Rache' of 1847. This comedy concerns Scapin and Scapine who gain their revenge against a doctor who has cheated them out of an inheritance.

'Scherz, List und Rache' Op 1 Opera in 1 act by Max Bruch

('Joke, Cunning and Revenge')

Premiere 14 Jan 1858 in Cologne

Libretto by Ludwig Bischoff from Goethe's eponymous singspiel of 1787

Direction: Thilo Reinhardt Musical direction: Stephan E. Wehr

Piano: Stephan E. Wehr / Thomas Aydintan

Urania Theater in Cologne 5 May 2021

IMSLP

Bruch might have replied "Strings, duh!" upon being asked what the cosmos are made of, as violin was his forte and for what he was known, such as his 'Violin Concerto No. 1' in G minor Op 26 premiering on 24 April 1866 which rivals 'Scottish Fantasy' (below) as his most popular work. That was the first of three violin concertos. Bruch's first and second of three symphonies followed soon after, preceding his second 'Violin Concerto' in 1877.

'Violin Concerto No.1' Op 26 in G minor Max Bruch

Premiere 24 April 1866 Bruch conducting w violin by Otto von Königslow

Premiere of revised 5 Jan 1868 Karl Martin Reinthaler w violin by Joseph Joachim

Frankfurt Radio Symphony / Andrés Orozco-Estrada

Violin: Hilary Hahn

Frankfurt 9 Dec 2016

Dr. Scot Buzza Hollywood Bowl IMSLP LA Phil Wikipedia

'Violin Concerto No.1' Op 26 in G minor Max Bruch

Premiere 24 April 1866 Bruch conducting w violin by Otto von Königslow

Premiere of revised 5 Jan 1868 Karl Martin Reinthaler w violin by Joseph Joachim

Orchestre La Fosse Ô Lyon / Samuel Fernandez

Violin: Lucie Cointet

Basilique Saint-Martin d'Ainay in Lyon 2022

Dr. Scot Buzza Hollywood Bowl IMSLP LA Phil Wikipedia

'Symphony No.1' Op 28 Max Bruch

Premiere 26 July 1868 in Sonderhausen w Bruch conducting

Kölner Philharmoniker / James Conlon

Alan Beggerow IMSLP

'Symphony No.2' Op 36 F minor Max Bruch

Premiere 4 Sep 1870

Kölner Philharmoniker / James Conlon

Alan Beggerow IMSLP

'Violin Concerto No.2' Op 44 in D minor Max Bruch

Premiere 4 Nov 1877 in London w Bruch conducting

London Symphony Orchestra / Richard Hickox

Violin: Lydia Mordkovitch

IMSLP

'Das Lied von der Glocke' Op 45 Cantata / oratorio by Max Bruch

('The Song of the Bell')

Premiere 12 May 1878

Text: Friedrich Schiller

Mezzosoprano: Renée Morloc

Wolfgang Eggerking IMSLP

Bruch conducted three seasons at the Liverpool Philharmonic Society in England beginning in 1880. He married the singer, Clara Tuczek, in Berlin on 3 January 1881. Bruch acquainted himself with Scottish music at the library in Munich to compose 'Scottish Fantasy' Op 46 for violin and orchestra which he premiered in Liverpool on 22 February 1881. That exploration of Scottish folk melodies was dedicated to violin virtuoso, Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908).

'Scottish Fantasy' Op 46 Max Bruch

Published 1880 in 4 movements

Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia / Rumon Gamba

Violin: Stefan Jackiw

Opera Palace of A Coruña 24 Oct 2014

IMSLP Wikipedia

Though Bruch was Protestant, not Jewish, he turned to Jewish folk music to write 'Kol Nidrei' for violoncello and orchestra Op 47 published in 1881 with a dedication to cellist, Robert Hausman. His 'Symphony No.3' arrived soon after:

'Kol Nidrei' Op 47 Max Bruch

Published 1881 in dedication to cellist Robert Hausman

Frankfurt Radio Symphony / Paavo Järvi

Violoncello: Mischa Maisky

Frankfurt 27 April 2018

Chazzanut Online Hollywood Bowl IMSLP Annette Oppermann Wikipedia

'Symphony No.3' Op 51 E major Max Bruch

Premiere 17 Dec 1882 in New York City conducted by Leopold Damrosch

Revised 1886

Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra / Manfred Honeck

Jonathan Blumhofer IMSLP

In 1890 Bruch began teaching composition at the Berlin University of the Arts [Wikipedia] from where he would retire twenty years later. They were Scottish and Irish melodies that he published in 1891 per 'Adagio on Celtic Melodies' for cello and orchestra Op 56. "Adagio" means slowly, another such of which was composed for violin in 1893 per 'In Memoriam' Op 65 in C sharp minor. Describing this piece to violinist, Joseph Joachim, as a dirge or nenia, Bruch wrote this lament for the dead in general, in memory of no one in particular. His third 'Violin Concerto' Op 58 was authored in 1891 between those two adagios. Having written a 'Romanze' in A minor Op 42 for violin and orchestra back in 1874, Bruch wrought another in A minor for viola and orchestra in 1911 as his Op 85. His last assigned Op was 'Five Songs for Voice and Piano' Op 97 written circa 1919.