Max Bruch
Max Bruch[a] (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.
Max Bruch
2 October 1920 (aged 82)
Late Romantic
Clara Tuczek
August and Wilhelmine Bruch
Early life and education[edit]
Max Bruch was born in 1838 in Cologne to Wilhelmine (née Almenräder), a singer, and August Carl Friedrich Bruch, an attorney who became vice president of the Cologne police. Max had a sister, Mathilde ("Till").[1] He received his early musical training under the composer and pianist Ferdinand Hiller, to whom Robert Schumann dedicated his Piano Concerto in A minor. The Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles recognized the aptitude of Bruch.[2]
At the age of nine, Bruch wrote his first composition, a song for his mother's birthday. From then on, music was his passion. His studies were enthusiastically supported by his parents. He wrote many minor early works including motets, psalm settings, piano pieces, violin sonatas, a string quartet, and even orchestral works such as the prelude to a planned opera, Joan of Arc. Few of these early works have survived, and the whereabouts of most of his surviving compositions are unknown.
The first music theory lesson he had was in 1849 in Bonn. It was given by Professor Heinrich Carl Breidenstein, a friend of his father's. At this time, Bruch was staying at an estate in Bergisch Gladbach, where he wrote much of his music. The farm belonged to an attorney and notary named Neissen, who lived there with his unmarried sister. Later, the estate was bought by the Zanders family, who owned a large paper mill. In later years, Maria Zanders became a friend and patron to Bruch.[3]
The young Bruch was taught French and English conversation by his father, who was very wealthy.
Personal life and final years[edit]
Bruch married Clara Tuczek, born in 1854, a singer whom he had met on tour in Berlin, on 3 January 1881. She is believed to have been 26 at the time of the marriage. She belonged to a musical family; her sister was composer Felicia Tuczek.[4] The couple returned to Liverpool where Bruch was conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society (1880–83) and took lodgings in the Sefton Park area. Their daughter, Margaretha, was born in Liverpool in 1882. Their first son, Max Felix Bruch, was born on 31 May 1884 in Breslau and showed great aptitude for music at an early age. They had two further sons, Hans and Ewald.[5]
Death[edit]
Bruch died in his home in Berlin-Friedenau in 1920. He was buried next to his wife Clara, who had died on 26 August 1919, at the Old St. Matthäus churchyard at Berlin-Schöneberg. Margaretha Bruch later had carved on the gravestone, "Music is the language of God."[6]