Bruch, Max

 (1838-1920)

German composer and conductor, born in Cologne.

He studied music in Frankfurt and Cologne. Bruch was conductor of the Liverpool Philharmonic and the Breslau Orchesterverein and head of composition at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik.

 He is best known today for his Scottish Fantasy, for violin and orchestra; his Violin Concerto in G Minor; and his Kol Nidrei, for cello and orchestra, based on Hebrew melodies.

During his lifetime his fame rested on his choral works, which many German critics today still consider his best compositions.