Odysseus (oratorio)

[3]: 137 Writing to his sister in 1871, Bruch said that he had selected Homer's narrative as in preference to a religious theme offering the ‘Christian lamentation and the poetic tears of Bach’s cantatas.”[3]: 131  In 1873, writing to his publisher Simrock, Bruch said, "Biblical subjects have remained and still remain alien to me; the old Masters have produced so many powerful works in this area (i.e. sacred oratorio) that it is possible for us to create independent and original works only in conjunction with other subjects.

[3]: 132  A traditional religious oratorio had contrasting episodes of recitative and arias but Bruch created a single flowing narrative that did not adhere to this clear distinction.

[3]: 132  One reason for its eventual decline into obscurity may be that for such a heroic and moving subject, the work seems undramatic, sometimes laboured in its setting of the text, and disjointed in its episodes; there is no narrator to link the 12 self-contained sections.

“The work has been received with such a chorus of disapproval that we are not likely to hear it again… in Odysseus Herr Bruch undertook a task beyond his means, and selected a theme to which he failed in bringing sufficient fancy, graphic power, variety and melodic charm.

It is very laboured, and, technically, very clever; it bespeaks extreme earnestness and industry, [and] it soon wearies by reason of the obvious effort there is in it.”[11] The popularity of Odysseus declined rapidly after the First World War.

Internationally, the rise of modernism in music made Bruch's romantic style seem outdated and in Germany itself, tastes in the Weimar Republic no longer included works associated with the imperialist ambitions of the kaisers.

Choral singing was a very common hobby for educated people in Germany and other countries, but declined rapidly in the early twentieth century, and the music it depended on came to be seen as sentimental.