Max Bruch was a distinguished German composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor, born on January 6, 1838, in Cologne, Prussia, and he passed away on October 2, 1920, in Berlin-Friedenau, Germany. He is particularly remembered for his contributions to the Romantic era of music and is best known for his violin concertos, especially his Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26, which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.
Bruch began his musical journey at a young age, writing his first composition at the age of nine as a birthday gift for his mother. His early musical education was under the guidance of Ferdinand Hiller and later by the Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles, who recognized Bruch’s talent.
Throughout his career, Bruch held various musical positions across Germany, including in Mannheim, Koblenz, Sondershausen, Berlin, and Bonn. He also spent three seasons as the conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society. From 1890 until his retirement in 1910, he taught composition at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, where his notable students included the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi.
Compositions:
Bruch composed over 200 works, and while he wrote many large-scale choral and orchestral works that were popular during his lifetime, today he is primarily celebrated for his works for solo instruments and orchestra. In addition to his first Violin Concerto in G minor op 26, his other well-regarded pieces include the Scottish Fantasy for violin and orchestra and Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra. Despite the decline in popularity of his larger works, Bruch’s contributions to the violin and cello repertoire continue to be cherished by musicians and audiences alike.
Bruch’s evergreen for the first time in Urtext
Thanks to the premiere performance by Joseph Joachim and to the release of the printed edition in 1868,…
Bruch’s evergreen for the first time in Urtext
Thanks to the premiere performance by Joseph Joachim and to the release of the printed edition in 1868, Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto no. 1 zipped onto the road to success and has never left it since. Yet from the preface of the “BreitkopfUrtext” edition,one can infer how things looked like behind the dazzling facade. After the world premiere, the composer struggled for the definitive form. He wrote “3, 4 development sections in the finale,” and sought the advice of celebrated virtuosi such as Joseph Joachim and Ferdinand David to revise the solo part. And after all this was done (see above), Bruch suffered under the work’s popularity: “Have I written nothing but this one concerto?”
The new Urtext edition is based primarily on the first edition. Next to the main source and the autograph, what is supremely interesting is a solo part with entries by Joachim and Bruch. It confirms how intensively the two men collaborated on honing the final form of the work.
R.R.P 55
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