Max Bruch (1838-1920)
String Quintet in E-flat major (1918)
Max Bruch was one of the major composers of the 19th century who today is only known for a handful of works, especially the Violin Concerto no. 1 and the Scottish Fantasy. Born in Cologne, Germany in 1838, Bruch spent nearly his entire career teaching and composing in Germany, though he was conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic in the early 1880s.
In the aesthetic battles waged between the progressive “New German School” of Wagner and Liszt and the classicist Brahms, Bruch fell firmly in line with the conservatives. His traditionalism wasn’t rigid – among other things, he wrote four operas (Brahms, in contrast, wrote none) and he occasionally toyed with form in a manner reminiscent of Mendelssohn (who could be rather forward-looking in this department) – but by the time of his death in 1920 Bruch was viewed very much as the product of a bygone era.
Nonetheless, Bruch was a prolific composer of music for and with orchestra – he wrote three symphonies and numerous concerti – and he was also very active as a writer of chamber music. Towards the very end of his life, he wrote three major chamber pieces, of which the String Quintet in E-flat was one. Surely, its odyssey is one of the strangest in the annals of any composer’s output: completed in 1918, the score was lost after Bruch’s death. It didn’t turn up for nearly nine decades – until 2006 – when Sotheby’s auctioned a fair copy of the score and parts. The much belated premiere took place in London on July 23rd, 2008.
Like Mozart, Bruch opted for a quintet of two violins, two violas, and cello, a choice that makes for a dense middle range – something that captures the music’s melancholic mood perfectly. Unlike Mozart and Schubert, though, Bruch’s Quintet features two slow movements (the first and third) and a further slow introduction to the finale. Though a short piece at just about twenty minutes duration, it feels significant, owing at least in part to Bruch’s spacious tempo selections.
The opening movement functions essentially as an introduction. Motivic figures and melodies emerge over a peaceful soundscape, a few turns from major to minor notwithstanding.
There is no break between the first and second movements and the quick transition between them makes the sudden change of mood all the more jarring. This is music that recalls Brahms and Dvorak with its Slavic flavor, bouncing along with lots of spirit and energy.
Though he could write music that fell into stock formulas, Bruch was often a great tunesmith, as anyone who’s heard the slow movement of the First Violin Concerto can attest. The slow third movement of the Quintet recalls that Bruch, while also bringing to mind some of Mendelssohn’s wonderful slow movements for string quartet. This may be music that looks backwards – nothing in any of this Quintet suggests the horrors going on throughout Europe in years around 1918 – but it is exquisitely crafted; beautiful and autumnal.
The finale begins with a slow introduction that recalls the opening movement, but it’s not long before the pace picks up. This is music that, again, references the Bruch of the violin concertos and Scottish Fantasy (it’s actually adapted from the finale of his Symphony no. 3), filled with brilliant, florid writing for the first violin, and high energy and spirits for the whole ensemble. The central part of the movement briefly turns dark, but the shadows are swept away and everything is triumphantly summed up.
© Jonathan Blumhofer
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