Dr. Sanna Pederson, University of Oklahoma
I was gratified to read among the headlines of the Berliner Morgenpost for 11 May 2023 news about correspondence between Joseph Joachim and Bernhard Hausmann, Robert Hausmann’s great-uncle. Seven letters were given by a member of the Hausmann family as a gift to the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche Stiftung, in honor of the church’s cemetery, where … Read more
The centennial of Joachim’s birth in 1931 was observed in Berlin and elsewhere with tributes recalling the important part he had played in so many aspects of musical life. Only a few years later the Nazi re-writing of Germany history began, in which Jewish artists and intellectuals were purged from the German culture they helped … Read more
Yesterday I came upon a review that sheds light on the popularity of Ludwig Spohr’s violin music, which was the question I was left with after researching the repertoire of violin soloists at the Leipzig Gewandhaus over the nineteenth century. The reception history of Spohr isn’t a topic simply to google or look up on … Read more
Joachim and the Gewandhaus: a sixty-year symbiosis Among the lore of this historic institution is Joachim’s debut as a twelve-year-old at the Gewandhaus in 1843. (Robert Eshbach has documented this event on his website). The Gewandhaus’s conductor Felix Mendelssohn and concertmaster Ferdinand David oversaw Joachim’s development as the child prodigy went through his teenage years. … Read more
Performing all the Beethoven Quartets <p style=”text-align: left;”>One of the Joachim Quartet’s most significant achievements was their performances of the complete Beethoven quartets as a five-day cycle. The first time was in May of 1903 at the Bonn Beethoven Haus Festival, and it took place despite strong objections by the organizers. The quartet performed the … Read more
March 23rd is not only the birthday of Johann Kruse, but also of Ernst Schiever and Hugo Olk. March has seemed to me to be a popular month for this cohort, and a quick analysis of the birth dates I have indicates that, indeed, more of these students were born in March than in any … Read more
Johann Kruse and the London Popular Concerts It is a challenge to define the parameters of this venerable and beloved fixture of nineteenth-century London concert life. Its name alone seems designed to create maximum confusion. First, “popular” is hard to define. One explanation is when they began, they were meant to be popular in content, … Read more