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Joseph Joachim ( June 28 , 1831 – August 15 , 1907 ) (pronounced YO-a-chim) was a Violinist , Conductor , Composer and teacher. He is regarded as one of the most influential Violinists of all time. ''LIFE'' Joseph Joachim was born in Kittsee (Kopčany / Köpcsény), near Bratislava and Eisenstadt , in today's Burgenland area of Austria. At the time, Kittsee was part of the Esterhazy holdings in Hungary, and Joachim is considered to be Hungarian. In 1833 his family moved to Pest , where he studied violin with Stanislaus Serwaczynski, the concertmaster of the opera in Pest. (Serwaczynski later moved to Lublin, Poland, where he taught Wieniawski ). In 1839, Joachim continued his studies in Vienna (briefly with Miska Hauser and Georg Hellmesberger, Sr. ; finally — and most significantly— with Joseph Böhm ). He was taken by his cousin, Fanny Wittgenstein to live and study in Leipzig , where he became a protégé of Felix Mendelssohn . Twelve-year-old Joachim's 1844 performance of the Beethoven violin concerto in London was a triumph, and helped to establish that work in the violinist's repertory. Joachim was to remain a great favorite in England for the remainder of his life, and he came to look upon that country as his second home. Following Mendelssohn's death, Joachim stayed briefly in Leipzig, teaching at the Conservatorium and playing on the first desk of the Gewandhaus Orchestra with Ferdinand David . In 1848, Franz Liszt took up residence in Weimar , determined to re-establish the town's reputation as the Athens of Germany. There, he gathered a circle of young avante-garde disciples, vocally opposed to the conservatism of the Leipzig circle. Joachim was amongst the first of these. He served Liszt as concertmaster, and for several years enthusiastically embraced the new "psychological music," as he called it. In 1852 he moved to Hanover , at the same time dissociating himself from the musical ideals of the New German School (Liszt, Wagner, Berlioz, and their followers, as defined by journalist Franz Brendel) and instead making common cause with Robert Schumann , Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms . His break with Liszt became final in August of 1857, when Joachim wrote to his former mentor: "I am completely out of sympathy with your music; it contradicts everything which from early youth I have taken as mental nourishment from the spirit of our great masters." Joachim's time in Hanover was his most prolific period of compositon. During this time, he frequently performed with Clara Schumann and with Brahms, both in private and in public. In 1860 Brahms and Joachim jointly wrote a manifesto against the "progressive" music of the New German School, in reaction against the polemics of Brendel's Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. The manifesto is generally considered to have been a faux pas, and it was widely greeted with ridicule and hostility. On May 10, 1863 Joachim married the singer Amalie Weiss (Schneeweiss). In 1866, he moved to Berlin , where he became founding director of the Royal Academy of Music. There, he founded an orchestra, and, in 1869, the Joachim String Quartet , which quickly gained a reputation as Europe's finest. In 1884, Joachim and his wife separated after he became convinced that she was having an affair with Brahms' publisher, Fritz Simrock . Brahms, certain that Joachim's suspicions were groundless, wrote a sympathetic letter to Amalie, which she later produced as evidence in Joachim's divorce proceeding against her. This led to a cooling of Brahms and Joachim's friendship, which was not restored until some years later, when Brahms composed the ''Double concerto in A minor'' for violin and cello, Op. 102, as a peace offering to his old friend. Joachim remained in Berlin until his death from actinomycosis in 1907. ''LEGACY'' Among the most notable of Joachim's achievements were the revival of Johann Sebastian Bach 's ''Sonate e Partite per violino solo, BWV 1001-1006'', and particularly of Ludwig Van Beethoven 's ''Violin concerto in D major, Op. 61''. Joachim was among the first to play the Mendelssohn violin concerto, which he studied with the composer. Joachim played a pivotal role in the career of Johannes Brahms, and remained a tireless advocate of Brahms's compositions through all the viscissitudes of their friendship. He conducted the English premiere of Brahms's ''Symphony No. 1 in C minor''. A number of Joachim's composer colleagues, such as Robert Schumann , Johannes Brahms , Max Bruch , and Antonín Dvořák composed concerti with Joachim in mind, many of which entered the standard repertory. Nevertheless, Joachim's solo repertoire remained relatively restricted. Despite his close friendship with Brahms, Joachim only performed the Brahms Concerto (D major, Op. 77) six times in his career. He never performed the concerti of Schumann (A minor) and Dvořák (A minor, Op. 53). The most unusual work written for Joachim was the ''FAE sonata'' a collaboration between Schumann, Brahms, and Albert Dietrich , based upon the initials of Joachim's motto, ''Frei aber Einsam'' (free but lonely). Although the sonata is rarely performed in its entireity, the third movement, the ''Scherzo in C minor'', composed by Brahms, is still frequently played today. Joachim's own compositions are less well known. He has a reputation as a composer of a short but distinguished catalogue of works. Among his compositions are various works for the violin (including three concerti) and Overture s to Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' and ''Henry IV''. He also wrote Cadenza s for a number of other composers' concerti (including the Beethoven and Brahms concerti). His most highly regarded composition is his ''Hungarian concerto'' No 2 in D minor, Op 11. ''To Joseph Joachim'' ''Belov'd of all to whom that Muse is dear Who hid her spirit of rapture from the Greek, Whereby our art excelleth the antique, Perfecting formal beauty to the ear; Thou that hast been in England many a year The interpreter who left us nought to seek, Making Beethoven's inmost passion speak, Bringing the soul of great Sebastian near. Their music liveth ever, and 'tis just That thou, good Joachim, so high thy skill, Rank (as thou shalt upon the heavenly hill) Laurel'd with them, for thy ennobling trust Remember'd when thy loving hand is still And every ear that heard thee stopt with dust.'' --Robert Bridges (1844-1930) ''JOACHIM'S INSTRUMENTS''
''COMPOSITIONS''
He also composed cadenzas for several major violin concertos, and made a virtuosic transcription for violin and piano of all 21 of Brahms's ''Hungarian Dances''. In addition, in 1855 he made a version for full orchestra of Schubert 's Grand Duo in C major for 2 pianos, which many scholars at that time considered (incorrectly) to be a draft of a symphony. Numerous editions, many in collaboration with Andreas Moser . ''RECORDINGS'' ''Recordings by Joseph Joachim (1903)''
''Recordings of Joachim's Compositions
''JOACHIM'S STUDENTS''
''LITERATURE''
''SCHOLARSHIP'' Prof. Dr. Beatrix Borchard, Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Harvestehuder Weg 12, 20148 Hamburg, Tel. 040-42848-2855 email: beatrix.borchard@musikhochschule-hamburg.de Robert W. Eshbach, Associate Professor of Music, University of New Hampshire, Durham NH 03824 Tel: 603-862-3241 email: reshbach@unh.edu Requests: original documents, photographs, or information concerning Joachim's life and music. |
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