Scottish fantasy

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The Scottish Fantasy op. 46 (full name: Fantasy for the violin with orchestra and harp with free use of Scottish folk melodies ) is a work by Max Bruch .

Emergence

The Scottish Fantasy is next to Kol Nidrei one wrote two works, the break in his Berlin period 1878-1880. The work was created in the winter of 1879/80; Max Bruch had just returned from a concert tour on which he conducted his Second Violin Concerto and the cantata Das Lied von der Glocke . Bruch attributed the inspiration for the composition of the Scottish Fantasy to the Scottish writer Walter Scott .

The Scottish Fantasy is dedicated to the Spanish violinist Pablo de Sarasate , with whom Bruch was friends.

On the other hand, violinist Joseph Joachim, who was also a friend of Bruch, contributed to the fingering and signature . Joachim valued the work; despite his habit of only playing music dedicated to him, he also performed the Scottish Fantasy .

To the music

Orchestral line-up

The work is set up for 2 flutes , 2 oboes , 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , 4 horns , 2 trumpets , 3 trombones , tuba , timpani , bass drum , cymbals , harp and strings .

Sentence names

  1. Introduction; Grave, Adagio cantabile
  2. Scherzo; Allegro
  3. Andante sostenuto
  4. Final; Allegro guerriero

1 sentence

The introduction in E flat minor with the recitative interjections of the solo violin is supposed to introduce "an old bard who plaintively remembers the old, glorious times at the sight of a ruined castle." A similar interplay between soloist and violin can also be found in the second violin concerto , which was written shortly before . The sentence closes with a quote from the folk song Auld Rob Morris . At this point, Bruch emphasizes the role of the violin and harp, which he considered typical of folk music in Scotland and the north of England.

2nd movement

Sheet music example from the 2nd movement

The folk song The Dusty Miller is processed in the second movement . According to Bruch, the scotchiness of the movement is not only characterized in relation to the folk song by the exuberant manner of the dusty miller, but also by the bagpipes sounding in the drone bass .

3rd movement

In the third movement, the folk song I'am Down for Lack of Johnnie is processed; Bruch can bring out his poetry here.

4th movement

The finale, characterized by a warlike mood, bears the same tempo designation Allegro guerriero as the Third Symphony (the "Scottish") by Bruch's musical idol Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . The movement is based on the folk song Scots wha hae ; Legend has it that the lyrics of this song were intoned by the Scottish King Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

effect

The Scottish Fantasy was premiered on March 15, 1883 in the concert of the Royal Philharmonic Society in St. James's Hall with Bruch as conductor and Sarasate as soloist and erroneously announced as Concerto for Violin (Scotch) .

Something similar happened at a performance in Breslau on February 28, 1888, when the work was designated the Third Violin Concerto (using Scottish folk melodies, Op. 46) . Although Bruch, in agreement with Sarasate, considered the term concert more appropriate, following Joachim's advice, he chose the term fantasy .

literature

  • Christopher Fifield: Max Bruch - Biography of a Composer , Swiss publishing house, Zurich 1990, ISBN 3-7263-6616-4 , pp. 162-165

Web links