From a wood engraving at the British Museum.
]
This continued until the spring of 1890, when he closed his labors as
conductor and settled in Friedenau, near Berlin, where he is at present;
but he is so fond of travel, so full of energy and activity, that he is
not likely to remain in retirement very long. In 1890 he received the
honorary title of Royal Professor.
In personal appearance Bruch is by no means as majestic as one would
suppose from his works. He is small of stature, and his dark eyes peer
through his spectacles with the sharp glance of a teacher rather than of
a creator of heroic cantatas. He is quick and nervous in motion and,
when directing an orchestra or chorus, his gestures are spontaneous and
expressive.
It is pleasant to notice that the juvenile compositions of Bruch had
their origin in filial affection and that one of the earliest of his
works is a prayer for his parents, which the nine-year-old boy arranged
as a song. But the actual career of the composer commenced with the
choruses, which he began to write in his twenty-first year.
The first of these choruses (Op. 8) bore the title of “Birken und Erlen”
(“Birches and Alders”), and the second (Op. 3) “Jubilate, Amen.” In both
of the works a soprano voice is used _obligato_ against four-part
chorus, and there are not only rich harmonies, but a wonderful blending
of the solo with the chorus part. Just before these works, Bruch had
written a little one-act opera, his Opus I, entitled “Scherz, List, und
Rache,” on Goethe’s libretto, but it made no very marked impression;
soon after, however, he turned his attention to larger opera, and the
result was that Emanuel Geibel’s libretto, “Loreley,” which had been
written years before, for Mendelssohn (that master was at work upon this
subject when he met his early death), was now brought to the operatic
stage by him. At first the poet opposed the thought of presenting the
work save on the concert platform, but finally consented to allow it a
trial at the theatre of Mannheim. The opera deals with one of the most
poetical conceptions of the Rhine-witch, which makes her appear at first
as a pure and beautiful maiden, named Leonore, but heartbroken and
frenzied by betrayal and desertion, she seals a bond with the spirits of
the stream, and with them wages war on mankind. Mendelssohn had already
composed the scene of the invocation of the river-demons, and the
festival of the vintagers, and Bruch’s music to these scenes bears the
test of comparison, which is saying much when it is considered that the
earlier setting was the last work of the more celebrated composer, and
this was composed at the beginning of Bruch’s career. Bruch’s “Vintage
Chorus” is frequently given by male choruses as a concert selection. The
performance at Mannheim was successful and the opera was afterwards
presented at many other theatres, and notably at Hamburg and Leipsic, in
both of which cities it won great applause from public and press. Yet
the work has now totally disappeared from the stage, since it is not
really a dramatic subject, the change of the heroine from an innocent
and confiding maiden to a fierce and revengeful spirit, a first cousin
to the Greek Sirens, is rather a metaphysical than a theatrical one, and
the plot occasioned some repetition of style which weakened the music.
About ten years later Bruch once more essayed opera, and failed. This
time Shakespeare was the librettist, and under the title of “Hermione”
the new work, which was the “Winter’s Tale,” was performed in Berlin and
Dresden, but in neither city did it win more than a _succès d’estime_.
It has disappeared from the repertoire altogether, yet the second act is
a gem that will bear rescuing from oblivion. It represents Hermione in
prison, and at her trial, and so well is the pathos and intensity of the
music fitted to the situation, that it is not exaggeration to speak of
this portion of the opera as being among the finest things that Bruch
has ever written, and it may be ranked with the very best of modern
music.
[Illustration:
Fac-simile manuscript of beginning of Adagio in Max Bruch’s first
Violin Concerto.
Original in possession of Prof. Dr. Emil Naumann, in Dresden.
]
We now approach the epoch when Bruch produced a work which at once drew
the attention, not of Germany alone, but of the entire musical world
towards his labors; we have intimated that the composer’s fame rests
chiefly on what he has done for chorus singing, and it is in the
treatment of male chorus that Bruch is unsurpassed; it was with such a
work,—“Frithjof” (Op. 23),—that he won his first great triumph. The
text, by Esaias Tegner, taken from the grand old Sagas, afforded a
sombre dignity that suited well to a massive use of _maennerchor_, and
once more Bruch added a female voice, not in combination, but rather in
contrast to the chorus work, to illustrate the character of the unhappy
Ingeborg. The baritone solos, the utterances of the viking Frithjof, are
full of expression, and the chorus of the returning heroes at the
beginning of the cantata is melodious in the highest degree. Seldom, in
a modern work, has so much of melody been employed, without weakening
the dramatic treatment, but the final chorus of the departing warriors
may be cited as a perfect example of this happy combination in Bruch’s
choruses. “Frithjof” may also stand as a model of condensation in
dramatic music; every note has its purport, and there is not a measure
in the entire work that is supererogatory. The contrasts are also
managed with a master-hand, so that the emotions of peace and war are
given in kaleidoscopic, yet logical, succession.
Immediately following this there came an almost equally important
contribution to the repertoire of mixed chorus; this was “Schön Ellen,”
a cantata for chorus combined with soprano and baritone solos. The
subject taken was again a warlike one, being founded on the fabulous
tale invented by a newspaper correspondent, that during the siege of
Lucknow, a Scotch girl named Jessie Brown heard the bagpipes of the
regiments sent to the relief of the place, long before they were audible
to the rest of the garrison, and was able thereby to prevent a surrender
to the merciless Sepoys surrounding it. Emanuel Geibel, the poet, turned
the mythical Jessie Brown into an equally mythical “Fair Ellen,” and
gave the libretto to the composer, who began its composition within
sound of the cannon at the battle of Sadowa the culmination of the
Austro-Prussian war. The subject was full of dramatic possibilities, and
Bruch used these in the condensed manner characteristic of the preceding
work. Naturally he was impelled towards Scotch music by the color of the
poem, and the entire cantata is founded on “The Campbells are comin’,”
which is omnipresent in it, and forms a grand climax to the whole as a
hymn of thanksgiving. Yet many may have blamed Bruch for departing from
the Scotch character of the theme in this lofty finale; few musicians
will join in this censure, for the composer has but allowed himself the
freedom of the Fantasie in this development of a folk-theme. It is not
the only time that a German composer has used this melody in a developed
musical work, for Robert Volkmann employed it in his overture “Richard
III.”; a Scotch theme written in 1568, in an English battle fought in
1485!
It may be fitting in this place to speak of the influence which the
Scotch folk-music exerted upon Bruch. He once assured the writer of this
article that he was familiar with over four hundred of the Scotch
folk-songs. After the completion of “Fair Ellen” his taste in this
direction was again shown in the “Scotch Fantasie” (Op. 46) for violin
and orchestra, which is one of Sarasate’s favorite solos, and he also
arranged twelve Scotch folk-songs with considerable success. Yet it may
fairly be doubted whether Bruch has ever been able to reproduce the lilt
so characteristic of Gaelic music; in this failure, however, he is not
alone, for Beethoven, Schumann, and others among the German masters have
attempted this vein fruitlessly; Mendelssohn alone, among the ranks of
these, accomplished the transplanting of the delicate flower of Scotch
folk-music into German classical works.
The immense success that followed the production of “Frithjof,” and the
almost equal favor extended to “Fair Ellen,” was reflected on Bruch’s
earlier works, and the “Roman Song of Triumph” (Op. 19, No. 1) was
brought into popularity in its wake, and once more we hear the stern
notes of war and victory sounding in the massive chords of the male
chorus. Soon after the triumph of “Frithjof” we find the composer
returning to the subject, and Op. 27 deals with “Frithjof at the grave
of his father,” but it was like Milton’s “Paradise Regained” after
“Paradise Lost,” a weak work after a masterpiece, and this concert-scene
for baritone solo, female chorus, and orchestra, fell rather flat.
The true successor of “Frithjof” was to come later in the shape of
another warrior, this time a Grecian; in the “Odysseus,” Op. 41, with
Ulysses as his hero, we find the composer rising to the height of the
preceding subject, but in another and less stern manner. This had been
preceded by yet another tone-picture of warriors, in the
“Normannen-zug,” a stately union of baritone solo, with unison male
chorus and orchestra (all the above-mentioned cantatas have orchestral
accompaniment) but in “Odysseus” all the resources of modern scoring are
employed and both mixed and male choruses are present in most effective
numbers. “Odysseus” exhibits Bruch’s instrumentation in the best light,
and proves him a master of the modern orchestral resources. These
instrumental forces are always employed with the most perfect taste, and
the accompaniment of the great unison male chorus of the Rhapsodes by
tremendous pizzicato chords, as of a giant harp, is a touch of
indescribable dignity; some of the finest mixed choruses which the
composer has written are to be found in this work.
Other large compositions for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra,
followed. “Arminius” (this time a German warrior was the hero) may not
be ranked with the inspired works mentioned above, but is nevertheless a
favorite with the composer, and all creators in art have the privilege
of loving their weakest children best; “The Song of the Bell,” on
Schiller’s great poem, although a fine work, full of power and majesty,
does not bring out all the dramatic possibilities of the subject, but is
never-less far more effective than the Romberg setting; “Achilleus”
(again a martial theme) is one of the most recent works of the master,
and in his Op. 52 he turns again to Scotia and in the “Fiery Cross” we
find Sir Walter Scott’s “Lady of the Lake” appearing in some of its
warlike phases.
So much for the chief vocal works of this master; it will be seen that
he loves historic pictures, and the poets Geibel, Lingg, and Scheffel
have helped him by libretto and advice in this direction; and he sings
so constantly of war and warriors, that he may be called the Tyrtæus of
modern music. But it must not be supposed that his entire work has been
in this field only; he has won much success in some of the large
instrumental forms as well. His three symphonies in E flat, F minor, and
E major, are but seldom performed, but it is difficult to discover the
cause of this neglect; possibly the earnest, sombre, even gloomy tints
of the second are not to the taste of those who seek only pleasure in
music. But the third symphony in E is genial and attractive and would
please almost any cultured audience although it is not in the strictest
form. The first two symphonies are built in classical style, and Bruch
seems to have taken Beethoven for his model in this field. It must be
confessed, however, that none of the three works has yet received due
appreciation. Vastly different is it with the two violin concertos, the
first of which is dedicated to Joachim, the second to Sarasate; these
are very frequently heard in our concert rooms and the first, (in G
minor, Op. 26) may be mentioned as one of the chief works in this form,
and equal, and by some held superior, to Mendelssohn’s well-known violin
concerto.
The third violin concerto is scarcely known yet in America. It was
played at the music festival of Düsseldorf, by Joseph Joachim, with
great success. It has a dreamy, prayerful, second movement, and a most
martial and brilliant finale, but its first movement is prolix when
compared with the power of the themes of the G minor concerto.
It may be of interest to append a list of the most important of Bruch’s
published compositions; they are as follows:—
Op. 1. “Scherz, List und Rache.” (Goethe.) A comic opera in one act.
Op. 3. “Jubilate, Amen.” For Soprano, Chorus and Orchestra.
Op. 8. “The Birches and the Alders.” Soprano solo, Chorus and
Orchestra.
Op. 9. String Quartette. C minor.
Op. 10. Quartette in E major. (Both rather too broad in their ideas
for the vehicle of expression.)
Op. 12. Six pieces for Piano. (Simple, yet beautiful in expression,
and showing the composer in a very different field from that of his
majestic cantatas.)
Op. 16. “Loreley.” Grand romantic opera.
Op. 19. “Römischer Triumphgesang”; “Wessobrunner Gebet.” Male choruses
with orchestra; the first has become celebrated.
Op. 20. “The Flight of the Holy Family.” (Libretto by Eichendorff.) A
great work for Chorus and Orchestra.
Op. 22. Does not exist! By a clerical error the Frithjof music was
numbered Opus 23 instead of 22.