9 - “Das Quartett-Spiel ist doch wohl mein eigentliches Fach”: Joseph Joachim and the String Quartet

Summary

Budapest, Vienna, Leipzig, Weimar, and Hanover

Joseph Joachim is widely celebrated as one of the greatest violin soloists of the nineteenth century, but his equally significant artistry and fame as leader of string quartets has received less attention. His predilection for chamber music stemmed from early seminal experiences. In 1839, after his first public solo performance at age seven in Budapest, he came to the attention of Count Franz von Brunsvik and his sister Therese, Hungarian aristocrats who had been patrons and friends of Beethoven in the early 1800s when they lived in Vienna. They initiated Joachim to the world of chamber music by inviting him to their home to hear quartets played by professionals, with whom he was occasionally invited to play.

Throughout his student years, Joachim was mentored by teachers who were devoted chamber musicians. As an eight-year-old in Vienna, he had as his principal violin teacher Joseph Böhm, under whom he studied for three years. Before focusing on teaching at the Vienna Conservatory, Böhm had enjoyed a successful career as soloist and as leader of his own string quartet. After the unsatisfactory premiere of Beethoven's Op. 127 by the Schuppanzigh Quartet in 1825, Böhm led its second, much more successful, performance, which he rehearsed under the composer's supervision. Just as teachers today inspire their students with personal reminiscences of prominent musicians with whom they have studied or performed, Böhm peppered his instruction of Joachim with accounts of his interactions with Beethoven, Schubert, and performers associated with them, including the violinist Karl Holz, violist Franz Weiss, and cellist Joseph Linke. More significantly, although Böhm no longer performed in public, he enjoyed playing quartets in his home with colleagues and advanced students. Joachim, who during most of his stay in Vienna lived with Böhm's family, was frequently invited to participate. According to Moser's biography (actually a “veiled autobiography”) of Joachim:

Joachim's intimate acquaintance and understanding of Beethoven's late quartets date already from his student years … and even now [1898] he becomes excited and eloquent when he speaks about playing quartets with his Viennese professor. The care and love with which Böhm cultivated the master's quartets had such a powerful effect on the young student that he was inspired to follow his teacher's example in order later, in an unanticipated way, to surpass him.