Joseph Joachim – An Incredible Violin Prodigy Of 19th Century

Joseph Joachim, born on 28 June 1831 was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer, and teacher who made a global career. He was a close collaborator of Johannes Brahms and is widely famous as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.

Early Life of Joseph Joachim

Joachim started learning Violin at an early age He began in Buda at age five, then in Vienna and Leipzig. Joseph made his debut in London in 1844 by playing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Mendelssohn conducting. He returned to London several times throughout his life. He also taught for many years at the Leipzig Conservatory and played as principal violinist of the Gewandhausorchester. After that, he moved to Weimar in 1848. Joachim served at the court of Hanover in 1852. Moreover, he was playing principal violin in the opera and conducting concerts there, with months of free time in summer for concert tours.

In 1853, this great violinist was invited by Robert Schumann to the Lower Rhine Music Festival, where he met Clara Schumann and Brahms. He performed with them for many years after that. In 1879, he did Brahms’ violin concerto where Brahms was the conductor.

Joseph Joachim quit his service in Hanover in 1865 and went to Berlin with his family. He was entrusted with founding and directing a new department at the Royal Conservatory, for performing music there. The recording of his playing was done in 1903.

Compositions

Joachim’s own compositions are not very much popular. He gave opus numbers to 14 compositions and gave about an equal number of pieces without opus numbers. There are various violin works (including three concerti) among his compositions. He also wrote cadenzas for several other composers’ concerti. One of his highly popular compositions is his Hungarian concerto.

Honors

Joachim received an honorary Doctorate of Music in 1877 from Cambridge University. Nearly around the 50th anniversary of Joachim’s debut recital, he got an honor by “friends and admirers in England” on 16 April 1889. Moreover, they presented him with “an exceptionally fine” violin made by Antonio Stradivari in 1715, called “Il Cremonese“. After around 10 years, his former students gave a violin concert in honor of Joachim on 22 April 1899.

In 1899, Joseph Joachim got an invitation to become president of the newly established Oxford & Cambridge Musical Club in London. He became the club president and was serving for the same until his death.

Philip de Laszlo drew Joachim’s portrait twice. John Singer Sargent also made a portrait of him and gave it to him at the 1904 “Diamond Jubilee” celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of his first appearance in London. Joachim was living in Berlin until his death on 15 August 1907.

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