Kol Nidrei, Op. 47 (also known as All Vows, the meaning of the phrase in Aramaic), is a composition for cello and orchestra written by Max Bruch.
History
Bruch completed the work in Liverpool, England, in 1880, and published it in Berlin in 1881. It was dedicated to and premiered by Robert Hausmann, who later co-premiered Johannes Brahms's Double Concerto with Joseph Joachim, the dedicatee of Bruch's most famous work, the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. Hausmann had requested such a cello work from Bruch.
After his Violin Concerto No. 1, the Kol Nidrei is Bruch's second most frequently performed piece.
Development
It is styled as an Adagio on 2 Hebrew Melodies for Cello and Orchestra with Harp and consists of a series of variations on two main themes of Jewish origin.
Bruch was a Protestant