Editing Max Bruch (section)

== Works ==

{{Main|List of compositions by Max Bruch}}

[[File:Rathausturm Köln - Max Bruch.jpg|thumb|Sculpture of Bruch on the restored tower of the [[Cologne City Hall]]]]

Bruch's complex and well-structured works in the German Romantic musical tradition placed him in the camp of Romantic classicism exemplified by [[Johannes Brahms]], rather than the opposing "[[New German School|New Music]]" of [[Franz Liszt]] and [[Richard Wagner]]. In his time, he was known primarily as a [[Choir|choral]] composer and often, to his chagrin, was overshadowed by his friend Brahms, who was more popular and widely regarded.

Today, as it was during his life, Bruch's [[Violin Concerto No. 1 (Bruch)|Violin Concerto No. 1, in G minor]], Op. 26 (1866) is one of the most popular Romantic violin concertos. It uses several techniques from [[Felix Mendelssohn]]'s [[Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn)|Violin Concerto in E minor]], including the linking of movements, as well as omitting the [[Classical period (music)|Classical]] opening orchestral exposition and other conservative formal structural devices of earlier concertos. [[Joseph Joachim]] was the main person he referred to while composing and developing his concerto, and it was Joachim's revisions which made it to the final version of the piece that was published.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fifield |first=Christopher |title=Max Bruch: his life and works |publisher=New York : G. Braziller |year=1988 |isbn=0807612049 |language=English}}</ref> Despite these modifications to the conventional Romantic style, Bruch often was considered a conservative composer. 

The two other works of Bruch that still are widely played, also were written for solo string instrument with orchestra: the ''[[Scottish Fantasy]]'' for violin and orchestra, which includes an arrangement of the tune "Hey Tuttie Tatie", best known for its use in the song "[[Scots Wha Hae]]" by [[Robert Burns]]; and the ''[[Kol Nidrei (Bruch)|Kol Nidrei]]'', Op. 47, for cello and orchestra (subtitled "Adagio on Hebrew Melodies for Violoncello and Orchestra"), which begins and ends with the solo cello's setting of the [[Kol Nidre]] ("All Vows ... ") incantation that opens the Jewish ([[Ashkenazic]]) [[Yom Kippur]] service. This work may well have inspired [[Ernest Bloch]]'s ''[[Schelomo]]'' (subtitled "Hebrew Rhapsody") of 1916, an even more passionate and extended one-movement composition, also with a Jewish subject and also for solo cello and orchestra.

The success of ''Kol Nidrei'' led to an assumption by many that Bruch was of Jewish ancestry, although Bruch denied this and there is no evidence that he was Jewish. As far as can be ascertained, none of his ancestors were Jews. Bruch was given the middle name Christian,{{sfn|Fifield|2005|p=15}} and was raised [[Protestant]].{{sfn|Fifield|2005|p=109}} Indeed, despite repeated denials by his surviving family, so long as the [[Nazi Party]] was in power (1933–1945), performance of his music was restricted because he was considered a "possible Jew" for having written music with an openly Jewish theme. As a result, his music was largely forgotten in German-speaking countries.

In the realm of [[chamber music]], Bruch is not well known, although his "Eight Pieces for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano" are occasionally revived, there being very little other music written for this rare combination of instruments. As with Brahms and Weber who produced clarinet compositions with a particular clarinetist in mind, so did Bruch write these trios for a particular clarinettist, his own son Max. These pieces do not stand alone, however, in Bruch's output. Nevertheless, he wrote many pieces in the chamber music tradition, of which his septet is noteworthy. His first major pieces, composed at the start of his career, are two string quartets that are similar in tone and intensity to Schumann's string quartets (Op. 41). The composition of his second piano quintet is intriguing, as he began the composition while conductor of the [[Liverpool Philharmonic Society]]. Although written for amateurs, it is a fair composition and was completed only after Bruch, having left Liverpool, was gently persuaded to finish the last movement.

[[Sir Donald Tovey]] wrote "I find myself entirely in agreement with the writer of the article in Grove's ''Dictionary'' who says that Bruch's greatest mastery lies in the treatment of chorus and orchestra."<ref>Donald Francis Tovey, ''Essays in Musical Analysis'', vol. 3, Oxford University Press (1936)</ref> Tovey went on to praise in particular ''Odysseus: Szenen aus der Odyssee''<ref> ''Cf.'' [[Odysseus (oratorio)]]</ref> (''Odysseus: Scenes from [[The Odyssey]]''), op. 41, for chorus, soloists and orchestra,<ref> Recorded on Koch Schwann, 3-6557-2, in 1997</ref> and a Kyrie and Sanctus.

[[File:Bruch und Zanders.jpg|thumb|Memorial for Bruch and {{Ill|Maria Zanders|de||lt=|WD=}} in the pedestrian zone of [[Bergisch Gladbach]] city centre]]
In 1918, toward the end of his life, Bruch once more considered smaller ensembles with the composition of two string quintets, of which one served as the basis for [[Octet (Bruch)|a string octet]], written in 1920 for four violins, two violas, cello, and a double bass. This octet is somewhat at odds with the innovative style of the decade. While composers such as [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schönberg]] and [[Stravinsky]] were part of the forward-looking modern trend, Bruch and others tried to keep composing within the Romantic tradition, avoiding the revolutionary spirit of the era. All three of these late chamber works exhibit a '[[concertante]]' style in which the first violin part is predominant and contains much of the musical interest. By the time they came to be performed professionally for the first time, in the 1930s, Bruch's reputation had deteriorated and he was known only for the famous Concerto.<ref>Tully Potter, notes to [[Hyperion Records]] CD CDA68168 (2017).</ref>

Bruch's other works include his two less well-known concerti for violin and orchestra, [[Violin Concerto No. 2 (Bruch)|No. 2 in D minor]] (1878) and [[Violin Concerto No. 3 (Bruch)|No. 3 in D minor]] (1891) (which Bruch regarded as at least as fine as the famous first); as well as a [[Concerto for Clarinet, Viola, and Orchestra]], and many more pieces for violin, viola, or cello, and orchestra. His three symphonies contain distinctive German Romantic melodic writing that is orchestrated effectively.

To this triple output he added three orchestral suites in later life, of which the third has a remarkable history. Its origin can be found in [[Capri]], where Bruch had witnessed a procession in which a tune was played on a tuba that "could very well be the basis of a funeral march", and would be the basis of this suite, that he finished in 1909. The American Sutro sisters piano duo, [[Rose and Ottilie Sutro]], however, had asked Bruch for a concerto specifically for them, which he produced by arranging this suite into a double piano concerto, but only to be played within the Americas and not beyond. The [[Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (Bruch)|Concerto in A flat minor for Two Pianos and Orchestra]], Op. 88a, was finished in 1912 for the Sutros, but was never played in the original version. They performed the work only twice, in two different versions of their own. The score was withdrawn in 1917 and rediscovered only after Ottilie Sutro's death in 1970. The sisters also played a major part in the fate of the manuscript of the Violin Concerto No. 1: Bruch had sent it to them to be sold in the United States, but they kept it and sold it only for their own profit.

Violinists [[Joseph Joachim]] and [[Willy Hess (violinist)|Willy Hess]] advised Bruch on his writing for that instrument, and Hess premiered some of his works, including the ''Concert Piece for Violin and Orchestra'', Op. 84, which was composed for him.