Following a period of depression caused by the death of his wife Clara and the general dire state of defeated Germany, Bruch reworked the string quintet into an octet in 1920.

Hess, who had the autograph scores in his possession, played through the work with his students, and in 1936 ceded the performing rights to Bruch's eldest son Max Felix and his daughter-in-law Gertrude.

[4] Only a short paragraph appeared in the Radio Times: "Max Bruch, whose Violin Concerto in G minor is known to all violinists, and whose Kol Nidrei is equally familiar to cellists, was made an Honorary Doctor of Music in the University of Cambridge, and all his life he was very proud of this distinction.

It was dedicated to Professor Willy Hess, of the Manchester Royal College of Music, who owned the performing rights until he ceded them about a year ago to Max Bruch's son and daughter-in-law.

[5] Lucy Miller Murray remarks that "one cannot help but wonder why this splendid work has been so overlooked except to note that it appeared in the heyday of the Second Viennese School and at the edges of Serialism.