Our greatest passion is chamber music!
We greet you most warmly to the homepage of the BuschKollegium! We are enthusiastic and dedicated musicians meeting together in Karlsruhe.
Adolf Busch (1891-1952) had the highest profile of any German violinist between the World Wars. But not only that. He was also a composer and teacher, highly renowned throughout Europe. His uncompromising dismissal of the Nazi regime made him an inspiration for all time. Adolf, like his brothers Fritz, the conductor, and Hermann, the cellist, ceased performing in Germany after Hitler’s seizure of power. Soon after, no longer feeling secure even in Switzerland, the Busch brothers emigrated with their families to America, performing in Europe no longer. Hermann’s wife was Jewish, as was Adolf’s son-in-law Rudolf Serkin.
Adolf Busch loved to make music spontaneously with friends and family members and with amateur musicians. Many of his smaller compositions were written for such occasions as he could easily write a piece for the particular instruments available to him.
Music by Adolf Busch in dialogue
Deeply committed to the work of the composer who lends his name to our ensemble, we present his music together with that of many and various other composers. These have, thus far, been:
Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Vincenz Lachner, Johannes Brahms, Heinrich Kaspar Schmid, Max Bruch, Emil Hartmann, Max Reger, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Josef Schelb, Olivier Messiaen, Eugen Werner Velte, Isang Yun, Wolfgang Rihm, Xaver Paul Thoma, Jörg Widmann, Johann Nepomuk David, Krzystof Penderecki, Maurice Ravel, Béla Bártok, Darius Milhaud, Aram Khachaturian, Raminta Šerkšnytė and Frank Zappa.
There have also been concert programmes of music entirely by female composers: Jeanne-Louise Farrenc, Clara Schumann, Clara Faisst, Ursula Mamlok and Jaqueline Fontyn.