Rudolf Brucci

Rudolf Brucci (Bruči) (March 30, 1917 – October 30, 2002), was a composer of Croatian and Italian origin, born in Zagreb. He was married to the famous Yugoslavian opera singer, Olga Brucci.

He began his artistic life playing viola in various orchestras, ranging from the cabaret to the symphonic. After moving to Belgrade, at the age of 30 he began his music studies as the only student of the composer Petar Bingulac. (He himself was a student of the French composer Vincent d'Indy.) Years later (1953), he took composition lessons with the Viennese composer Alfred Uhl, at the Vienna Music Academy (O'Loughlin 2001).

A crucial moment in his work was winning first prize at the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition for composers in Brussels in 1965 with his symphony Lesta. This prize was won in competition with other 250 composers from 26 countries.

In the 1970s Brucci did a lot to improve Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, where he was the first dean, an Academy with best Music Department in ex-Yugoslavia. He was one of the most important composers of Novi Sad, he urged the building of the new opera house there (Opera of Serbian National Theatre), he was one of the founders of Vojvodina Academy of Arts and Sciences, Philharmony and Music High school.

In the middle of his art-work was symphonic orchestra. He wrote many symphonies, among others "Lesta" and (his best work), the Third Symphony, then symphonic poem Maskal, Metamorfosis B-A-C-H for Strings, ballets Katarina Ismailova, Golden Demon, Circa, cantata "Vojvodina" (text by Miroslav Antić) and operas Prometheus and Gilgamesh.

Brucci's musical language is deeply embedded in the musical traditions of Balkans, from unique Istrian scale in his Third Symphony to Bulgarian musical structures in Maskal.

Brucci’s style is basically conventional, but attempted to incorporate new ideas, such as bitonality, polytonality, and atonality. On occasion he employed serial techniques, but never completely or strictly. His use of such devices was always thoughtful, and often propelled by a strong rhythmic energy and brilliant orchestration (O'Loughlin 2001).

He died in Novi Sad on October 30, 2002 at the age of 85.

Sources

• O'Loughlan, Niall (2001). "Bruči, Rudolf". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Radović, Branka (2005). "Two orients in Rudolf Bruci's opera Gilgamesh". Muzikologija, Issue 5, pp. 153–165 (in Serbian with English summary)
• Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Rudolf Brucci (Bruči)