Dr. Sanna Pederson, University of Oklahoma
My purpose in documenting all the musical events of 1907 in the main Berlin concert halls is to gather concrete data so that the perception of a saturation of the market can be analyzed. Newspaper Advertisements, Notices, and Reviews This process of documenting has involved many different sources. More and more concert programs are being put … Read more
Robert Hausmann’s Piano Trio with his Hochschule colleagues Heinrich Barth (piano) and Heinrich de Ahna (violin) began giving concerts in 1875 and started a subscription series in 1878. They lasted for thirty years, with only one change in personnel, when Emanuel Wirth took over after de Ahna died in 1892. In contrast to the Joachim Quartet … Read more
What made Berlin so special as a city for music? Was it true that art music was appreciated more or better than in other cities? Are there material circumstances that account for it, or was it a self-fulfilling prophecy, part of an ideology of German identity? One aspect of Berlin’s concert life was remarked upon … Read more
On the occasion of the London premiere of the Brahms Double Concerto, Op. 102 on February 14, 1888, The Times newspaper wrote: No one but Brahms among living masters could have written this work, which shows all the earnestness of purpose, all the freedom from mere clap-trap, to which this composer owes his leading position. … Read more
In 1908The Musical Courier declared: “When Joachim died there was virtually an end to the string quartet, confessedly the highest form of abstract music.” The issue of the “death” of the string quartet had been raised before by the English press. In 1902 the Musical News had fretted: Is the interest in chamber music really … Read more
Contemporary reviews Reviews in the musical press for the Quartet’s concerts outside of Berlin are quite consistent in the 1880s, and bear out the points made by Moser’s biography. The Quartet’s concerts in Leipzig were in 1881, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1896, 1898, and 1899. The first visit to the Leipzig Gewandhaus on November 26, 1881 made … Read more
Andreas Moser’s biography of Joachim addresses this question. Since Joachim had quite a bit of say in what he wrote, it is interesting to read the list of special qualities: Joachim’s confidence in his interpretation. “If there was ever an artist who knew what he wanted, it was Joachim.” This came partly from his training and … Read more