Max Bruch

Max Bruch

Max Bruch is a German classical composer and conductor from Köln, Germany. Born in 1838 and dying in 1920, he works within the Romantic tradition and is also identified as a violinist and teacher.

Early life and training

Bruch is born in Cologne to a singer mother and an attorney father. He shows musical talent from a young age and studies with Ferdinand Hiller and other teachers.

Career

He holds a range of musical posts in Germany and serves as conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society from 1880 to 1883. He later teaches composition at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik until his retirement in 1910.

Works

Bruch composes more than 200 works, including three violin concertos. His best-known piece is Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26, which remains part of the violin repertoire. Other familiar works include Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra and Kol Nidrei, Op. 47, for cello and orchestra, which uses Jewish melodies. He also writes chamber music, symphonies, and works for solo instrument and orchestra. In later life, he arranges a suite inspired by a procession in Capri into a concerto for two pianos and orchestra for the American Sutro sisters.

Style and associations

His music is associated with the Romantic style of Brahms rather than the more progressive approaches of Liszt or Wagner. Violinists Joseph Joachim and Willy Hess advise him on his violin compositions, and Hess premieres several works written for him. His music is later restricted under the Nazi regime because of mistaken assumptions about his ancestry; he is raised Protestant and denies any Jewish ancestry.

Personal life

Bruch marries singer Clara Tuczek in 1881, and they have four children. He dies in Berlin in 1920 and is buried with his wife.