Composer of a Classic, Victim of a Scam

Born in Cologne in 1838, Bruch was a child prodigy who began composing at age nine and won prestigious prizes before he was 15. By 20, he had completed his first opera and taken up a teaching post. Throughout his career, he wrote over 200 works, conducted internationally, and taught a generation of composers. Despite this wide-ranging output, the First Violin Concerto towered above all else, and has left Bruch as somewhat of an orchestral one-hit wonder.

Composed between 1857 and 1866, an early form of the work was premiered and then withdrawn after a single performance. Bruch, ever self-critical, sent the score to violinist Joseph Joachim to ask for advice. Joachim responded in so much detail that Bruch later forbade the letter's publication, fearing the public would think the work was not entirely his.

After several rewrites, the final version premiered in January 1868 with Joachim as soloist. It was immediately picked up by the foremost violinists of the day and rapidly eclipsed all of Bruch’s other works.

Although it brought him prestige, the financial pay-off certainly didn’t match the level of fame he received. Bruch had sold the rights outright to the publisher Cranz for a flat fee of just 250 thalers. Cranz then sold the rights for a significant profit, while Bruch was left with nothing. He would never earn another penny from his greatest hit.

By the turn of the century, Bruch was no longer considered cutting edge and his musical style seemed too rooted in genres of the past. His other violin concertos, operas, and choral works faded from public consciousness. He was, in effect, being remembered for only one thing.

Then came the final act of betrayal.

By 1914, with war erupting across Europe, Bruch (a German composer) found himself blacklisted abroad. Royalties from international performances dried up, inflation plagued the country, and Bruch’s financial situation fell into further collapse. It was during this time of dire need that two former students, the pianist-sisters Rose and Ottilie Sutro, threw him a lifeline. They offered to take the original manuscript of the Violin Concerto No.1 to America and sell it on his behalf, promising to send the profits back in dollars. Bruch, ever trusting, agreed. But the sisters never returned the money. In fact, they ignored his increasingly desperate letters and eventually severed all contact with the now destitute composer.

Bruch died in 1920, nearly penniless, without ever seeing the score of his most famous work again. Months later, the Sutro sisters finally contacted his family with a few worthless German banknotes and no explanation, not even a name of the buyer. Decades later, the truth came out. The Sutro sisters had kept the score and quietly sold it to a New York music dealer in 1949.

When we listen to Bruch’s First Violin Concerto today, we’re hearing not only one of the greatest violin works ever written, but the legacy of a composer who was so much more than what he’s remembered for. In the end, the music outlived the man and the scammers. Maybe the fact that his Violin Concerto continues to captivate audiences around the world is some small justice for Bruch.

Bruch’s Violin Concerto
Fri 15 & Sat 16 August 2025, 7:30pm
Winthrop Hall
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