Bruch: Violin Concerto No.1 in G minor (Part I)

After the classical period ended with Beethoven, the romantic period had many beautiful works flourished under renowned composers. Basically, the distinct characteristic of any work of romantic period is that of what we call as 'emotion over structure'. In romantic period, emerged some works of incredible virtuosity and originality, thanks to Franz Lizst and Niccolo Paganini. Since then, composers like Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov had written works of unsurpassable emotional depth along with astounding technical demands. Bearing this in mind, appreciating a romantic work needs full attention -- whatever you feel about a work, even if you hate it, the work has succeeded -- by generating an emotion inside you. I will proceed to introduce this concerto by Max Bruch, a beautifully crafted work which remains as the epitome of a romantic violin concerto.

Max Bruch was born in Cologne on 6 January 1838. While his father worked as a lawyer, his mother was a music teacher as well as a soprano. He started his musical studies in piano, and his precocious talent was awarded with the Mozart Foundation Prize at the age of only fourteen in 1852. From 1880-1883, Bruch served as a conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society. Then he became the conductor of the Orchesterverein in Breslau. Finally, Bruch established himself as a Professor in Berlin from 1891-1911. He died in Friedenau (a town near Berlin) on 20th October 1920, at the age of 82.

Max Bruch wrote a number of pieces for the violin, of which the very famous are the Scottish Fantasy and the Violin Concerto no.1 in G minor, Op. 26. Joseph Joachim, the violin virtuoso in 19th century, once said, "...the German have four violin concertos. The greatest, without any reservations at all, comes from Beethoven. That by Brahms, in its seriousness, contends with Beethoven. Max Bruch wrote the richest and most bewitching. But the most intimate, the heart's jewel, is by Mendelssohn..."

Explore further for Mendelssohn's violin concerto in E minor here: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/1146...

Sadly, although the concerto was first performed in 1868, where Bruch continued composing other pieces, none rivaled the success of this concerto. Bruch himself did not highly regard this concerto -- instead, he wrote two more concertos for violin and orchestra, both in D minor. He believed the tune of the second concerto to be more melodic, and hence never understood was not as popular as the first! Bruch composed other pieces as well, including 3 symphonies and Kol Nidrei, a short piece for cello and orchestra. Unfortunately, all these works suffered the same fate -- they were all overshadowed by this violin concerto. The problem with our poor Bruch is -- he wrote this piece too early, and too precociously. All his other works never really reach the artistic perfection as in his violin concerto, and it is understandable that people would be expecting something from his as good as this work.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic