Bruch, Wilhelm

Wilhelm Bruch ( German: Wilhelm Bruch ; June 14, 1854 , Mainz - November 5, 1927 , Nuremberg ) - German conductor and composer . The father of pianist Hans Bruch .

Wilhelm Bruch
basic information
Date of Birth
Place of Birth
Date of death
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Professions

He was a distant relative of Max Bruch , who in a private letter in 1886 spoke extremely sarcastically about him (“Ten years ago, his mother asked me if he should become a musician; I answered“ no ”, his abilities were insufficient. The unfortunate fool found out about this and so I was furious that for years I had been avoiding my company (which suited me perfectly) ”, etc. ^[1] ).

He studied law in Leipzig . He made his debut as a bandmaster in Strasbourg , then worked in Luxembourg , where he directed and published his own opera Irlanda ( German Hirlanda ; 1880 , according to medieval legend ) and married the daughter of the founder of the newspaper Luxemburger Zeitung Theophile Schrell . Then he worked as a bandmaster in Freiburg and Mainz (and staged his own opera in these cities), in the summer he directed summer (resort) orchestras in Posen , then in Badenweiler (where in 1890 he conducted a concert from the works of Anton Rubinstein on the occasion of Rubinstein’s vacation ^{[2 ]} ). In 1886 , he published a revision of the libretto of Albert Lorzing ’s opera Regina, aimed at eliminating revolutionary sentiments caused by the events of 1848 . In 1895 , with the recommendation of Engelbert, Humperdinck received a place as a conductor at the Mannheim Court Opera.

Wilhelm Bruch (1890)

In 1898 , on the recommendation of Hans Richter, he led the Scottish Orchestra in Glasgow . According to the memoirs of Henry Wood , Bruch did not know a word in English, he hated boring Puritan life in Glasgow and was terribly homesick for Germany, having received the nickname "Sleepy Willy" from the orchestra ^[3] .

Returning to Germany, Bruch in 1901 led the Nuremberg Philharmonic Orchestra and remained its leader for 17 years. During this time, the number of musicians in the orchestra was increased from 40 to 60, about 30 open concerts with a very cheap entry were given annually ^[4] . In 1903 , he staged his second opera in Nuremberg, “The Rhine Grape Harvest Festival ” ( German: Winzerfest am Rhein ). In 1909, Bruch conducted a concert in Bayreuth in memory of Franz Liszt . In 1914 , after the death of Max Reger , unsuccessfully applied for the post of court bandmaster in Nuremberg ^[5] . In 1918 , against the backdrop of a general breakdown in cultural and social life caused by the defeat of Germany in World War I , he retired.

In addition to the two operas, Bruch’s composer's heritage includes symphonic and chamber compositions, songs, as well as the early Swan Song ( German Schwanengesang ) for tenor, female choir and orchestra, first performed in 1878 in Arnhem ^[6] .