January 6 - Max Bruch (The Musical Birthday Series, 4th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for January 6th are here: Alexander Scriabin (2020), (2021), and James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos (2022)

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Max Bruch (6 January 1838 – 2 October 1920) was a German composer, violinist,, teacher, and conductor, mostly remembered fro his first violin concerto.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changing Fashions

His 1920 octet is somewhat at odds with the innovative style of the decade. While composers such as  Schoenberg and Stevinsky 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. —  Wikipedia

Max Bruch, perhaps, could thanks his genes

For living through the nineteen-teens,

But I suspect, to tell the truth,

He missed the music of his youth, --

A kindlier and gentler era 

When one was certain one would hear a

Composition with a key,

In short, the sort of thing that he

Was taught to write, (indeed still wrote),

Where there was sense in every note. –

And if that wasn’t up to date, he

Pointed out that he was eighty.