Puchat, Max

Preface

Max Puchat – Sonata for violin and piano in D major (Piano score & part)

(b. Breslau, 8 January 1859 – d. Birkkarspitze, 8 August 1919)

(1898)

I. Allegro p. 3
II. Allegretto scherzando p. 21
III. Adagio espressivo p. 31
IV. Largo misterioso – Allegro con fuoco p. 34

Preface
The Silesian composer Max Puchat, who died in a mountaineering accident in 1919, worked as a conductor, pianist and teacher in Germany, Austria and the United States. He began his public career in 1884 by winning the Mendelssohn Prize, and at the time of his death was held in high esteem as director of the Silesian Conservatory in his hometown of Breslau. His compositions, which cannot easily be classified as belonging to a special „school“, were respected by experts and met with the approval of prominent fellow musicians. Nevertheless, Puchat must be called today (2023) a poorly researched composer. No scholarly studies on his life and work exist. Those who want to find out more about him have to rely for the time being on meagre encyclopaedia articles and old music journals.

Max Puchat was born in Breslau in 1859. After high school graduation, he began to study philology, but finally decided on a career as a musician and studied from 1880 at the Royal Academic School of Music in Berlin, where Friedrich Kiel (1821–1885) was his composition teacher. On 31 October 1884 he was awarded the Mendelssohn Prize, endowed by the Prussian state and linked with a scholarship, for a symphony. After completing his studies in Berlin, he studied for a short time in 1885 with Franz Liszt (1811–1886). ..

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