# Joseph Joachim



## Joachim Raff (Jan 31, 2020)

Joseph Joachim, (born June 28, 1831, Kittsee, near Pressburg, Austria-Hungary—died Aug. 15, 1907, Berlin, Ger.), Hungarian violinist known for his masterful technique and his interpretations of works of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven.

Joachim first studied at Budapest, and at age seven he appeared with his teacher S. Serwaczyński. In 1844 he visited London, where he was sponsored by Mendelssohn and achieved an outstanding success. In 1849 he led the orchestra at Weimar, and in 1853, the orchestra at Hannover. In 1868 he became director of the Hochschule für Ausübende Tonkunst (Berlin), where he acquired a reputation as a fine teacher, attracting pupils from all of Europe. In 1869 he founded the Joachim Quartet, which became renowned for its performances of the late string quartets of Beethoven.

In his playing, Joachim subordinated technical virtuosity to aesthetic values, and he thus brought about a reform in program making that turned away from the spectacular. His close friend Johannes Brahms consulted with him on his violin concerto and dedicated it to him, and Schumann’s Phantasy for Violin and Orchestra was written for him. Joachim’s own compositions, influenced by Brahms and Schumann, comprise chiefly works for the violin, notably the Hungarian Concerto in D Minor.


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## Joachim Raff (Jan 31, 2020)

His greatest work was his Hungarian Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. Recommended listening:


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

The performance I am familiar with is Aaron Rosand's, but I haven't heard this concerto in a long time. It's a fine work that should be played in concert halls.

There's a thread starting in which people submit obscure works they think others will find worth hearing. (It involves doing homework and listening to other people's entries then posting one's reactions.) Someone should submit this work.


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

Open Book said:


> There's a thread starting in which people submit obscure works they think others will find worth hearing. (It involves doing homework and listening to other people's entries then posting one's reactions.) Someone should submit this work.


The thread, with people's reactions to Joachim's concerto (a couple were converted):

Sharing obscure favourites 3 "XL" (READ FIRST POST)


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Joachim as a young teenager convinced the German public that Beethoven's Violin Concerto should enter the canon through the sheer merit of his playing. He also played Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto many times under Mendelssohn's baton.

Later he advised both Brahms and Bruch in violin writing for their concertos.

He described his approach to music as "psychological" back when psychology as a field of science was still in its craddle.

And lived long enough to do a couple recordings at the beginning of the 20th century, aged 70. Much of his technique and most of his dexterity have left him audibly by then, but the recordings remain precious artifacts nonetheless.






In his final years he also contributed books on violin playing.

I don't know what else could a violinist of his time achieve. All this together merits him in my view as one of the very greatest of the 19th century.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Fabulin said:


> Joachim as a young teenager convinced the German public that Beethoven's Violin Concerto should enter the canon through the sheer merit of his playing.


Worth mentioning that the resurrection of Beethoven's Violin Concerto took place in 1844, 38 years after its premiere, played by the young Joachim under the baton of Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn had already brought Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto back to the repertoire.


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