Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Figures
- List of Music Examples
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: Approaching the Music of Joseph Joachim
- 1 Virtuosity Uncoiled: Two Fantasies Rediscovered
- 2 From Leipzig to Weimar
- 3 Between Uncoiled Virtuosity and Lisztian Temptations
- 4 Finding his Voice: Between Vergangenheitsmusik and Zukunftsmusik
- 5 Joachim Encoded, or ‘Psychological Music’
- 6 ‘Psychological Music’ Experienced and Remembered: Joachim and the Demetrius Plot in 1854 and 1876
- 7 Resisting the Dark Butterfly
- 8 Joachim and the Art of Variation
- 9 Identities
- 10 Ciphers in Disguise: Gisela von Arnim and Compositional Memories
- 11 Cultural Objects in a Prussian Society
- Conclusion: An Assessment of Joachim's Style
- Appendix: Catalogue of Works
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - From Leipzig to Weimar
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 August 2020
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Figures
- List of Music Examples
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: Approaching the Music of Joseph Joachim
- 1 Virtuosity Uncoiled: Two Fantasies Rediscovered
- 2 From Leipzig to Weimar
- 3 Between Uncoiled Virtuosity and Lisztian Temptations
- 4 Finding his Voice: Between Vergangenheitsmusik and Zukunftsmusik
- 5 Joachim Encoded, or ‘Psychological Music’
- 6 ‘Psychological Music’ Experienced and Remembered: Joachim and the Demetrius Plot in 1854 and 1876
- 7 Resisting the Dark Butterfly
- 8 Joachim and the Art of Variation
- 9 Identities
- 10 Ciphers in Disguise: Gisela von Arnim and Compositional Memories
- 11 Cultural Objects in a Prussian Society
- Conclusion: An Assessment of Joachim's Style
- Appendix: Catalogue of Works
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Between 27 March 1849 and 2 March 1852 Joachim composed several works calculated, like the fantasies, to secure his international reputation, especially in London, which he visited in 1844, 1847, 1849, and 1852. As he wrote to his brother Heinrich, solos with orchestra were especially suitable for making a name for himself, though Joachim's reputation was at stake, and thoughtful decision-making was necessary:
It is high time to prepare … for my appearance in the London musical world. I would not be in favour of a concert at the beginning – it is too risky … But if I should succeed after a few engagements, and if we then find that my name possesses some power of attraction, then we can talk about it later, for candidly it wouldn't displease me to give an orchestral concert in London on account of my compositions. […] I will bring five original compositions with orchestra, but unfortunately except for two they are not very grateful to play. Have Paganini's Streghe Variations already been played in London? I could add them to my repertoire.
Exactly which five pieces Joachim meant is unclear. Although the composer found only two ‘grateful’, he performed three in May and June 1852: his Hungarian Fantasy and Irish Fantasy, and his Violin Concerto ‘in One Movement’ Op. 3. But what were the other two? Joachim probably meant his arrangement for violin and orchestra of the Paganini Caprice Op. 1 No. 24, to which he had added an introduction and orchestral tuttis. Created in 1849, the new version of the caprice was heard that season on 25 June. The fifth composition is difficult to discern. Although it seems unlikely, Joachim may have included his Op. 1, already composed in 1844, premiered on 10 January 1848, and published in 1849.
Of the five ‘finished’ compositions, several were at least begun between 1847 and 1849. By 27 March 1849, however, the output was still limited: ‘Other than the work at Kistner's [Op. 1] I have unfortunately only one! A piece on which I am now working I’m thinking of finishing in London.’ Thus, two of the five pieces Joachim brought to London in spring 1852 were in progress on 27 March 1849, one of them having just been revised.
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- Information
- The Music of Joseph Joachim , pp. 61 - 72Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2018