Max Bruch

Max Christian Friedrich Bruch (Cologne, Germany, January 6, 1838 - Friedenau, ibid., October 2, 1920), known as Max Bruch, was a German composer and conductor. He is best known for his Fiddle Concerto No. 1 and for his Scottish Fantasy .

Biography

Her father was a police inspector and her mother a soprano. As a child, Bruch already showed a talent for music and received classes. Hence, at the age of 11 he had already composed some works that were performed in public. In 1852, when he was only 14 years old, he composed his first symphony and a string quartet, which earned him a prize from the Mozart Foundation in Frankfurt am Main and a scholarship. ^{[citation needed ]}

The following year, he began his music studies in Frankfurt, which he later continued in Leipzig. After five years, he finished his training and worked for three years in Cologne as a music teacher. Between 1861 and 1865 he made numerous trips to Germany, Austria, France and Belgium, where he gave recitals as a conductor. At the end of that period he accepted the position of music director in Koblenz and later as conductor in Thuringia. ^{[citation needed ]}

In 1870, he settled in Berlin, where he returned to work as a music teacher. In January 1881, at the age of 42, he married a singer, with whom he had four children. That same year he was appointed director of the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, in England, where he lived for three years and where he wrote his concerto work for cello and orchestra Variations on the Kol Nidre, based on Hebrew melodies and dedicated to to the city's Jewish community. He then directed the orchestra of the city of Breslau (then Germany), until he took charge in 1891 of the direction of the composition school in Berlin. In the following years, Bruch is repeatedly distinguished. He receives the title of professor honoris causa from the universities of Cambridge and Berlin. In the latter city he entered the Academy of Fine Arts as a member of the management. ^{[citation needed ]}

In the last ten years of his life, Bruch resigned from his posts and dedicated himself entirely to composition. Among his most important works are his violin concertos, of which the Concerto in G minor stands out for its popularity. Also well known today are his Scottish Fantasy, for violin and orchestra, and his Variations on the Kol Nidre, for cello and orchestra. Bruch composed many other works that were popular in his day, such as his three symphonies and other orchestral works, his operas - notably Loreley - and his choral works.^{[citation needed ]}

Bruch died at the age of 82.

Main works

• Threesome with piano in do menor, Op. 5
• Concert for violin n.o 1 in lower sun, Op. 26
• Concert for violin n.o 2 in minor, Op. 44
• Op. 46
• Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra, Op. 47
• Symphony No. 3, Op. 51
• Concert for violin n.o 3 in minor, Op. 58
• Serenade for violin and orchestra, Op. 75
• Russian subject suiteOp. 79b
• 8 pieces for clarinet, viola and piano, Op. 83
• Romance for viola and orchestra, Op. 85
• Concert for clarinet, viola and orchestra, Op. 88