BRUCH, MAX

born Jan. 6, 1838, Cologne, Prussia [now in Germany] died Oct. 2, 1920, Friedensau, near Berlin, Ger. German composer remembered chiefly for his virtuoso violin concerti. At 14 Bruch wrote a symphony and won a scholarship enabling him to study at Cologne. His first opera, Scherz, List und Rache (Jest, Deceit, and Revenge, text adapted from a work by Goethe), was performed in 1858. He conducted orchestral and choral societies at Koblenz (1865), Sondershausen (1867), Berlin (1878), Liverpool (188083), and Breslau (188390; now Wroclaw, Pol.). From 1891 he taught at the Berlin Academy of Arts. Bruch was an unusually ambitious and productive composer. His greatest successes in his own lifetime were his massive works for choir and orchestrasuch as Schn Ellen (1867; Beautiful Ellen) and Odysseus (1872). These were favourites with German choral societies during the late 19th century. These works failed to remain in the concert repertoire, possibly because, despite his sound workmanship and effective choral writing, he lacked the depth of conception and originality needed to sustain large works. Bruch's few works that survived him are virtuoso pieces for the violin or cello, notably the three violin concerti, the Fantasie for violin and orchestra based on Scottish tunes (1880), and the Kol Nidrei (1881) for cello and orchestra. His brilliant first Violin Concerto in G Minor (1868) won a permanent place in the violin repertoire.