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JOACHIM, JOSEPH (1831—1907)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 420 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOACHIM, See also:JOSEPH (1831—1907) , See also:German violinist and composer, was See also:born at Kittsee, near See also:Pressburg, on the 28th of See also:June 1831, the son of Jewish parents. His See also:family moved to See also:Budapest when he was two years old, and he studied there under Serwaczynski, who brought him out at a See also:concert when he was only eight years old. Afterwards he learnt from the See also:elder Hellmesberger and Joseph Bohm in See also:Vienna, the latter instructing him in the management of the See also:bow. In 1843 he went to See also:Leipzig to enter the newly founded conservatorium. Mendelssohn, after testing his musical See also:powers, pronounced that the See also:regular training of a See also:music school was not needed, but recommended that he shouldreceive a thorough See also:general See also:education in music from See also:Ferdinand See also:David and See also:Moritz See also:Hauptmann. In 1844 he visited See also:England, and made his first See also:appearance at See also:Drury See also:Lane See also:Theatre, where his playing of See also:Ernst's See also:fantasia on Otello made a See also:great sensation; he also played See also:Beethoven's See also:concerto at a Philharmonic concert conducted by Mendelssohn. In 1847—1849 and 1852 he revisited England, and after the See also:foundation of the popular concerts in 1859, up to 1899, he played there regularly in the latter See also:part of the See also:season. On See also:Liszt's invitation he accepted the See also:post of Konzertmeister at See also:Weimar, and was there from 185o to 1853. This brought Joachim into See also:close contact with the advanced school of German musicians, headed by Liszt; and he was strongly tempted to give his See also:allegiance to what was beginning to be called the " music of the future "; but his See also:artistic convictions forced him to See also:separate himself from the See also:movement, and the tact and See also:good See also:taste he displayed in the difficult moment of explaining his position to Liszt afford one of the finest illustrations of his See also:character. His See also:acceptance of a similar post at See also:Hanover brought him into a different See also:atmosphere, and his playing at the See also:Dusseldorf festival of 1853 procured him the intimate friendship of See also:Robert See also:Schumann. His introduction of the See also:young See also:Brahms to Schumann is a famous incident of this See also:time. Schumann and Brahms collaborated with See also:Albert See also:Dietrich in a See also:joint See also:sonata for See also:violin and piano, as a welcome on his arrival in Dusseldorf.

At Hanover he was koniglicher Konzertdirektor from 1853 to 1868, when he made See also:

Berlin his See also:home. He married in 1863 the mezzo See also:soprano See also:singer, Amalie See also:Weiss, who died in 1899. Ih 1869 Joachim was appointed See also:head of the newly founded konigliche Hochschule At. Musik in Berlin. The famous " Joachim quartet " was started in the Sing-Akademie in the following See also:year. Of his later See also:life, continually occupied with public performances, there is little to say except that he remained, even in a See also:period which saw the rise of numerous violinists of the finest technique, the acknowledged See also:master of all. He died on the 15th of See also:August 1907. Besides the consummate See also:manual skill which helped to make him famous in his youth, Joachim was gifted with the See also:power of interpreting the greatest music in See also:absolute perfection: while See also:Bach, See also:Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms were masters, whose See also:works he played with a degree of insight that has never been approached, he was no less supreme in the music of Mendelssohn and Schumann; in See also:short, the whole of the classical repertory has become identified with his playing. No survey of Joachim's artistic career would be See also:complete which omitted mention of his absolute freedom from tricks or mannerism, his dignified bearing, and his unselfish character. His devotion to the highest ideals, combined with a certain austerity and massivity of See also:style, brought against him an See also:accusation of coldness from admirers of a more effusive temperament. But the See also:answer to this is given by the See also:depth and variety of expression which his mastery of the re-See also:sources of his See also:instrument put at his command. His biographer (1898), Andreas See also:Moser, expressed his essential characteristic in the words, " He plays the violin, not for its own See also:sake, but in the service of an ideal." As a composer Joachim did but little in his later years, and the works of his earlier life never attained the public success which, in the See also:opinion of many, they deserve (see Music).

They undoubtedly have a certain austerity of character which does not See also:

appeal to every hearer, but they are full of beauty of a See also:grave and dignified See also:kind; and in such things as his " Hungarian concerto " for his own instrument the utmost degree of difficulty is combined with great See also:charm of melodic treatment. The " See also:romance " in B See also:flat for violin and the See also:variations for violin and See also:orchestra are among his finest things, and the See also:noble See also:overture in memory of See also:Kleist, as well as the scena for mezzo soprano from See also:Schiller's See also:Demetrius, show a wonderful degree of skill in orchestration as well as originality of thought. Joachim's See also:place in musical See also:history as a composer can only be properly appreciated in the See also:light of his intimate relations with Brahms, with whom he studiously refrained from putting himself into See also:independent rivalry, and to whose See also:work as a composer he gave the co-operation of one who might himself have ranked as a master. There are admirable portraits of Joachim by G. F. See also:Watts (1866) and by J. S. See also:Sargent (1904), the latter presented to him on the 16th of May 1904, at the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of his first appearance in England.

End of Article: JOACHIM, JOSEPH (1831—1907)

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