Dr. Sanna Pederson, University of Oklahoma
There were few signs that the Berlin of the first half of the nineteenth century would become a world capital of music by century’s end. Musicians didn’t like the city, especially the ones who had lived and worked there, such as Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn. Common complaints centered around Berlin being conservative, unwilling to try anything … Read more
The theaters are closed, but music is being made all over the city. At the Singakademie, the St. Matthew Passion is being performed for the 80th time in this venue. Georg Schumann conducts, with Johannes Messchaert, who is famous for singing the role of Jesus. The two other choral works are not Easter-related. Mendelssohn’s Elias … Read more
Today is Tuesday. Mendelssohn’s Paulus at the cavernous Zoo Ausstellungshalle is a fund raiser for the widows and orphans from the shipwreck of the Berlin steamer last month. 300 musicians will be taking part, with the main solos sung by Emilie Herzog and Alexander Heinemann. Holy Week concerts begin with the St John Passion; soloists … Read more
A bumper crop of violinists There were 180 concerts this month. One of the highlights was the debut of eighteen-year-old violinist Efrem Zimbalist, who gave three concerts and won unanimous praise from the critics. His programs included the Brahms Violin Concerto; his performance almost forty years later with Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra can … Read more
Joseph Joachim participated in a staggeringly long list of fund raisers, festivals and memorials over the course of his life. This includes the Haydn-Mozart-Beethoven Denkmal in the Tiergarten that was installed in 1904, a year after the Wagner statue. Joachim had started raising money almost ten years earlier, and when the concert celebrating Joachim’s 60th … Read more
March Highlights In March there were 135 concerts, of which there were 25 piano, 19 orchestral, 16 chamber, 9 violin, and 33 voice recitals. There were 16 choral concerts, more than usual because of Easter on March 31. During Holy Week there were performances of both Mendelssohn oratorios and both Bach Passions. There were four … Read more
There is no mention of Georg Hausmann in Joachim’s biography or published letters, even though Joseph Joachim must have known Georg well. They met in 1844 in London when they performed Mendelssohn’s D minor trio with the composer at the piano. This was part of Joachim’s sensational debut in London as a 13-year-old prodigy. Another … Read more