Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/47

JOACHIM. repeated his visits to England in 1847, 49, 52, 58, 59, 62, and ever since. His annual appearance at the Monday Popular, the Crystal Palace, and other concerts in London and the principal provincial towns has become a regular feature of the musical life in England. His continued success as a solo- and quartet-player, extending now over a period of more than thirty years, is probably without parallel. Since the foundation of the Monday Popular Concerts he has been the principal violinist of those excellent concerts, which have perhaps done more than any other musical institution in England towards popularising that highest branch of the art—classical chamber-music.

In 1849 Joachim accepted the post of Leader of the Grand-Duke's band at Weimar, where Liszt, who had already abandoned his career as a virtuoso, had settled and was conducting operas and concerts. His stay in Weimar was not however of long duration. To one who had grown up under the influence of Mendelssohn, and in his feeling for music and art in general was much in sympathy with Schumann, the revolutionary tendencies of the Weimar school could have but a passing attraction. In 1854 he accepted the post of Conductor of Concerts and Solo-Violinist to the King of Hanover, which he retained till 1866. During his stay at Hanover (June 10, 1863) he married Amalia Weiss, the celebrated contralto singer. [See WEISS.] In 1868 he went to Berlin as head of a newly established department of the Royal Academy of Arts—the 'Hochschule für ausübende Tonkunst '(High School for Musical Execution,—as distinct from composition, for which there was already a department in existence). Joachim entered heart and soul into the arduous task of organising and starting this new institution, which under his energy and devotion not only soon exhibited its vitality, but in a very few years rivalled, and in some respects even excelled, similar older institutions. Up to this period Joachim had been a teacher mainly by his example, henceforth he is to be surrounded by a host of actual pupils, to whom, with a disinterestedness beyond praise, he imparts the results of his experience, and into whom he instils that spirit of manly and unselfish devotion to art which, in conjunction with his great natural gifts, really contains the secret of his long-continued success. In his present sphere of action Joachim's beneficent influence, encouraging what is true and earnest, and disregarding, and, if necessary, opposing what is empty, mean, and superficial in music, can hardly be too highly estimated. It will readily be believed that in addition to the universal admiration of the musical world numerous marks of distinction, orders of knighthood from German and other sovereign princes, and honorary degrees have been conferred on Joachim. From the "University of Cambridge he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Music on the 8th March, 1877. No artist ever sought less after such things, no artist better deserved them.

As to his style of playing, perhaps nothing more to the point can be said, than that his interpretations of Beethoven's Concerto and great Quartets and of Bach's Solo Sonatas are universally recognised as models, and that his style of playing appears especially adapted to render compositions of the purest and most elevated style. A master of technique, surpassed by no one, he now uses his powers of execution exclusively for the interpretation of the best music. If in latter years his strict adherence to this practice and consequent exclusion of all virtuoso-pieces has resulted in a certain limitation of répertoire, it must still be granted that that répertoire is after all richer than that of almost any other eminent violinist, comprising as it does the Concertos of Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, four or five of Spohr's, Viotti's 22nd, his own Hungarian, Bach's Solos, the 2 romances of Beethoven, and in addition the whole range of classical chamber-music, to which we may now add the Concerto of Brahms, played for the first time in England at the Crystal Palace Feb. 22, 1879, and given by him at the Philharmonic on March 6 and 20.

Purity of style, without pedantry; fidelity of interpretation combined with a powerful individuality—such are the main characteristics of Joachim the violinist and the musician.

As a composer Joachim is essentially a follower of Schumann. Most of his works are of a grave, melancholic character, all of them, it need hardly be said, are earnest in purpose and aim at the ideal. Undoubtedly his most important and most successful work is the Hungarian Concerto (op. 11), a creation of real grandeur, built up in noble symphonic proportions, which will hold its place in the first rank of masterpieces for the violin. The following is a list of his published compositions:

[ P. D. ]

JOAN OF ARC. A grand historical opera in 3 acts; the words by Mr. Bunn, the music by Balfe. Produced at Drury Lane Nov. 30, 1837. [ G. ]

JOANNA MARIA. [See .]

JOCONDE, ou. Opera-comique in 3 acts; libretto by Etienne, music by Isouard. Produced at the Theatre Feydeau Feb. 28, 1814; in English, by Carl Rose (Santley's translation), Lyceum, Oct. 25, 1876. [ G. ]