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Max Bruch was a German Romantic composer and conductor, best known for his Violin Concerto No. 1 in G major, which is one of the most popular violin concertos in the repertoire.
Max Kristijans Frydrich Bruch was born in 1838. January 6 Cologne. His father, Augustus, was a lawyer, later the chief of police in Cologne. M. Bruch, together with his only sister Matilda, learned music from their mother in their childhood. Between the ages of 7 and 10, he showed a talent for painting, at the age of nine he wrote his first composition - a song for his mother's birthday. He wrote many small works in his childhood, but little of them has survived. He studied the basics of music theory with his father's friend, prof. Heinrich Breindenstein from Bonn. At the age of fourteen, he won the prize of the Frankfurt Mozart Foundation, which allowed him to continue his studies in Cologne. He was a student of F. Hiller and K. Reineke, F. Broinung. The greatest and most lasting influence on him was his studies with Ferdinand Hiller.
M. Bruch's first significant work was in 1858. staged the opera "Pokštai, gudrybės ir kerštas" (Scherz, List und Rache, op. no. 1) based on J. V. Gėtė's works. M. Bruch was educated at home and in 1859. with recommendations he was accepted to study philosophy at the University of Bonn, which he left after half a year. 1858-1861 taught in Cologne. in 1861 after the death of the father, the family was helped by a distant relative, industrialist Alfred Krupa, and M. Bruch was able to travel around German cities and find connections with publishers.
1862-1880 M. Bruch worked as a conductor in German cities. 1862−1864 while living in Mannheim, M. Bruch wrote works that made him famous among German audiences: the opera "Lorelei" (Die Loreley, libr. Emanuel Geibel) and the song for male choir "Frithjof". 1865−1867 was director of court music in Koblenz and wrote his first violin concerto in G minor (op. no. 26). M. Bruch's third and last opera "Hermione", created in 1870, was not successful. The composer achieved success with the large-scale works for choir and orchestra "Schön Ellen" (Schön Ellen, 1867) and "Odysseus" (1872). 1867−1870 Music director of the Zondershausen estate. After that he worked as a freelance composer. 1878−1880 conducted in Berlin, 1883 of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society, 1883-1889. - Conductor of Wrocław Orchestra Society. Notable works include Scottish Fantasy (1880, for violin and orchestra) and Kol Nidrei (1881, for cello and orchestra). The composer had four children with his wife Klara Tuček.
1891-1910 M. Bruch taught at the Royal Academy of Arts in Berlin; professor of composition, since 1907 vice president in 1893 awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Cambridge. M. Bruch was a respected, but not highly regarded, composer of that time, and his negative attitude towards the work of R. Wagner and F. Liszt distanced him from the musical culture of that time. His adherence to the music traditions of F. Mendelssohn and R. Schumann led to the M. Bruch's works at the end sounded as if they were written in the 19th century. in the middle Throughout his long life, M. Bruch remained faithful to the 19th century. to the mid-romantic music tradition, did not accept the changes and at the end of his life became an increasingly isolated figure in musical culture. Among his students in Berlin were Ottorin Respigi and Ralph Vaughan Williams. M. Bruch died in 1920. October 2 Frydenau (now part of Berlin).
M. Bruch composed 3 operas, including Lorelei (post. 1863), 3 symphonies, 3 concertos for violin and orchestra (No. 1, G minor, 1868), chamber music, choirs, songs. The most valuable part of M. Bruch's work consists of cantatas and oratorios, including "Odysseus" (1872), "Arminius" (1875), "Moses" (1894), "Voice of Mother Earth" (1916) . The work has features of German romanticism. His most famous work is 1866. written "Violin Concerto no. 1 in G minor" (op. no. 26).