Scottish Fantasy for Violin & Orchestra, Op. 46

Max Bruch was born in Cologne in 1838 and died in Friedenau (near Berlin) in 1920. He completed this work in 1880, and it was first performed by Pablo de Sarasate at a Bach festival in Hamburg the same year. The score calls for solo violin, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings. Duration is approximately 28 minutes.

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In many ways, Max Bruch is the “forgotten” Romantic composer. We hear his beautiful Kol Nidre for cello and orchestra every so often and his G-minor Violin Concerto gets some play. Yet this is but a thin slice from a long and productive career. Bruch began composing at the age of 11, won a prize for a string quartet at age 12, and continued his creative effusion until his death at 83. Along the way he produced three operas, three symphonies, dozens of songs and choral works, and a great deal of chamber music. He was also a talented conductor and respected pedagogue. In his own time he was considered to have a similar stature to Brahms; today, not so much.

If you explore his music beyond the usual fare, you soon discover that Bruch had a lively interest in the folk and ethnic music of the world: some of his most attractive pieces make use of traditional Hebrew, Celtic, Swedish, and Russian melodies. Bruch spent two years in England while the prose and poetry of Walter Scott were all the rage, so it’s no surprise that he became drawn to Scottish folk melodies, too. For his Scottish Fantasy Bruch mined The Scots Musical Museum, a collection of 600 Scottish folk songs published in six volumes between 1787 and 1803.

The Scottish Fantasy begins with a slow and somber Introduction, chordal and stately, with the soloist playing free-sounding music above. This leads directly into a first movement based on the song “Auld Robin Morris.” Bruch gives this lovely tune a reverent setting, with a prominent harp and the soloist in double-stops.

The next movement is the Fantasy’s scherzo, a sprightly setting of “Hey, the Dusty Miller.” Here the violin dashes and swoops with a great deal of flair. Another nostalgic Scottish air follows, this time based on the song “I’m A-Doun for Lack o’ Johnnie.” The Finale is a treatment of a song sung (according to legend) by Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn, “Scots Wha Hae.” This march-like music inspired Bruch to unleash the violin’s pyrotechnics at last—impressive, but also jolly good fun. We hear in a sweet interlude a recollection of the first movement, then the soloist leads us to the end with panache.

© Mark Rohr 2008