violinists

Joachim’s importance for orchestras

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Joachim’s students as orchestral players Joachim was a critical force in the first decades of the Berlin Philharmonic. He contributed important administrative and organizational assistance and served as one of the <strong><a href=”https://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de/geschichte/anfang/#event-joseph-joachim-dirigiert”>main conductors</a> </strong>of the orchestra from 1882-1887. Perhaps just as importantly, his fame attracted string players to Berlin at a time when there … Read more

Brothers and Sisters in 1907

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Sibling musicians are a common phenomenon, but they are also a tried-and-true marketing strategy. The first successful traveling string quartet in Germany in the 1830s was made up of the four Müller brothers from Braunschweig, pictured above. This Quartet continued into the next generation with the first violinist’s four sons. (Would a pair of four … Read more

The “standard” of three concertos on a concert

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One feature of concert life in 1907 Berlin was the standard of three concertos for a concert given by a soloist. This would be unthinkable today because of the stamina required for both the performer and the audience, and because the lack of variety would be unappealing. After backtracking concerts by the Berlin Philharmonic to … Read more

The infamous Mr. Arthur M. Abell of the Musical Courier

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Arthur M. Abell (1868-1958) lived in Europe from 1890 to 1918. Starting in 1893 he was a Berlin correspondent for the Musical Courier. After the War he returned to New York and wrote for the New York Times and other outlets. Abell’s musical credentials included his training as a violinist. In 1895 he advertised for students … Read more

The Second Violinist

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In her book Muss es sein?: Leben im Quartett, Sonia Simmenauer, a concert agent who managed many famous quartet ensembles, described the second violinist as the most problematic of the four players: three–a triangle–is more stable. With two violinists, the relationship between the two is always in question.  Karl Halir (1859-1909) was fated to have … Read more

Joachim’s chamber music empire in 1907

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In the final year of the Joachim Quartet’s concerts, they were as popular as ever. However, they had plenty of local competition, mostly from members of their own Quartet. These were the new Klingler Quartet, the Halir Quartet, which had been playing since 1893, the relatively new Schumann-Halir-Dechert Trio, and the Barth-Wirth-Hausmann Trio, which had been … Read more