Post Description

On 27 August 1919 Clara Bruch died. Her passing and the parlous state of defeated Germany understandably depressed Bruch, but by the beginning of 1920 he was able to compose again. Evidently unhappy with the third of his quintets, he recast it into a String Octet in B flat major for four violins, two violas, cello and bass. After a slow introduction in which the viola takes the lead, the allegro moderato—in sonata form—makes effective use of a dramatic first theme and a lyrical second theme, with more development than we often hear from Bruch: a coda ends the movement. The E flat minor adagio begins with a singing theme and continues with a more ardent and positive theme in the major; after a march-like passage, the second theme returns and the movement ends quietly. Although Bruch does not provide a scherzo as such, the allegro molto finale incorporates scherzo elements, starting quite brightly and optimistically and ending with a coda. Not long after he finished the octet, Bruch’s health deteriorated and, after months of decline, he died on 2 October 1920. Despite the circumstances of its composition, there is nothing valedictory about the octet: its finale seems to express the hope that Bruch entertained even during his last illness—that he would get well enough to revisit some of the places he remembered from his youth.

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