Max Christian Friedrich Bruch was born in Cologne on 6 January (Twelfth Night) 1838. His father was a lawyer. His mother was a soprano and music teacher. Max began his musical studies as a pianist, his precocious talent recognized very early on by influential musicians in Cologne, including the pianist, conductor, and composer Ignaz Moscheles. In 1852, he was awarded the Mozart Foundation Prize at the age of only fourteen. Thirteen years later in 1865 Bruch held his first important post, in Coblenz as Music Director, a position he maintained for two years. Subsequently, he was employed in Sonderhausen as Court Kapellmeister (1867-1870), in Liverpool as conductor of the Philharmonic Society there (1880-1883), in Breslau as conductor of the Orchesterverein (1883-1890), and finally as Professor in Berlin (1891-1911). In 1883 the eminent composer travelled to the United States for an extensive tour which took him, among other cities, to Cleveland where on 26 April 1883 an enormous concert of his works was presented in the Ontario Street Temple. He died in 1920 at the age of 82. For a comprehensive biography of the composer, see Christopher Fifield's landmark book Max Bruch: His Life and Works (New York: Braziller, 1988, ISBN 0-8076-1204-9, also available in German) which was released during the Bruch sesquicentenary.

The famous Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26 is one of nine works Bruch composed for violin. The remaining works for violin include the Second and Third Concertos (both in D Minor), the Scottish Fantasy, Serenade, Konzertstück, In Memoriam, Romance, and Adagio appassionato.

The critical edition (Urtext) of the First Concerto, produced by Thomas Wood, was published in 1994 by N. Simrock Publishers (London-Hamburg). Simrock's sole agent in the United States is Theodore Presser (Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania). As the authoritative edition of this most important work, this Urtext edition sets straight all previous editions, correcting hundreds of inaccuracies, including added, deleted and changed pitches and rhythms; erroneous accidentals; rewritten passages; missing, misplaced and altered dynamics; expressive indications (e.g., dolce, con forza) which had been altered or deleted altogether; and articulations (e.g., staccato dots an wedges, tenutos, slurs, ties and accents) which were previously omitted, misplaced and sometimes freely redrawn. This Urtext edition, generously supplied with detailed preface and extensive critical notes, is available for violin and piano (with Joachim's original fingerings and a new piano reduction by Wood) as well as for violin and orchestra (Urtext full score with Urtext parts). Orchestral parts of existing editions are particularly inaccurate.

The String Octet, his last work, was composed in January and February 1920 and was completed on March 6 of that year just seven months prior to his death on October 2. According to the inscription (in the composer's hand) on the final page of the autograph MS, the newly completed Octet was itself a reworking of a quintet (now lost) which he had composed in January-March of the previous year. Left by the composer to his heirs and later entrusted by them between 1938 and 1942 to the dubious care of Rudolf Eichmann, the autograph MS of the Octet disappeared until 1986 when Lion Heart Autographs (of New York City) offered it for sale. A year later the manuscript was given by the Viennese collector Hans Peter Wertitsch (d. 5 June 1996) to the Austrian National Library where it remains today. The current edition--the first and itself a critical edition--was completed by the American violinist and musicologist Thomas Wood and published by N. Simrock Publishers (London-Hamburg) in 1996, 76 years after the composer's death. The first edition of the Octet was premiered in Karlsruhe, Germany on 12 December 1996, led by violinist Ulf Hoelscher. The Octet was released on compact disk in 1999 by Ensemble Ulf Hoelscher (CPO 999 451-2), along with the Quintet in G Minor for Piano and String Quartet and the String Quintet in A Minor by Bruch. The performers on the CD include Ulf Hoelscher, Nachum Erlich, Karl-Heinz Schultz, and Ingo de Haas, Violins; Jörg-Wolfgang Jahn, Madeline Prager, and Christian Euler, Violas; Martin Ostertag, Violoncello; Wolfgang Güttler, Double-Bass; and Ian Fountain, Piano. Score and parts are available in the United States from Theodore Presser.

Catalogue of Works

Bibliography

Bruch Concerts, Festivals, Workshops, and Events Worldwide

Links to Other Web Sites

Comments to: Thomas Wood
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Thomas Wood.
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Revised: November 8, 2005

URL: http://www.wooster.edu/music/twood/maxbruch.html