Katharina Uhde's new book is the first to explore in such depth and breadth the music of violinist, conductor and composer Joseph Joachim (1831–1907). Joachim is remembered mainly as one of the nineteenth century's greatest violin virtuosos. He also had a close and long-standing friendship with Brahms and was a friend of Robert Schumann, protégé of Mendelssohn and concertmaster under Liszt. Although his early career as a composer held much promise, Joachim largely gave up composing by the mid-1860s in order to focus on his career as a performer. In this meticulously researched and extraordinarily detailed examination of Joachim's music, Uhde explores Joachim's historically neglected identity as a composer, his musical works and his compositional influences.

The book consists of 11 chapters sandwiched between a brief introduction and conclusion. The chapters proceed not entirely chronologically, but thematically, focusing on such topics as virtuosity and Joachim's relationship with Liszt and his music, variation technique, ciphers and cultural identity. Each chapter features focused discussion of one to three specific musical works. The works span from the mid-1840s to 1896, but centre (as did Joachim's compositional activity) especially on orchestral works of the 1850s, many featuring solo violin. The volume features numerous musical examples and formal diagrams, as well as facsimiles of autograph scores, concert programmes, correspondence and the occasional photograph. A violinist herself, Katharina Uhde has extensive experience performing Joachim's music and provides valuable perspectives throughout on performance practice and on Joachim as a performer.

Uhde opens the volume with an introduction entitled ‘Approaching the Music of Joseph Joachim’. She begins by describing and comparing two photographs of Joachim, one of which is reproduced inside the volume; the other photograph appears only on the book's paper jacket. Especially given the high retail price of the volume, many readers will presumably be consulting library copies from which the jackets have been removed, so inclusion of both images inside the book would have rendered her opening discussion more accessible. The introduction is otherwise concise and informative. Uhde gives a brief sketch of Joachim's biography and influences and of some of the major themes and issues that arise in his life and works, including the important role of virtuosity, the influence of Gisela von Arnim, national, spiritual and cultural identity (particularly as a Jew, a Hungarian and a German) and Joachim's relationship with programme music (p. 8). Regarding the latter, she asserts quite rightly that, due to Joachim's 1860 collaboration with Brahms in writing and circulating a manifesto against the ‘New German School’, Joachim has come to be associated with ‘a conservatism that … did not necessarily [represent] faithfully the aesthetic approach of many of his works. Extra-musical representation was an essential part of certain compositions’ (p. 12). Uhde provides a brief literature review, observing that Joachim's music has traditionally been characterized as a stylistic ‘interlude’ between Schumann and Wagner, Liszt and Schumann, or Mendelssohn and Liszt, an approach that ‘does not tell us much about Joachim's own aesthetic’ (pp. 12–13). She also provides an account of the publication status of Joachim's major works and indicates the locations of Joachim's original correspondence, large portions of which remain unpublished. She has drawn heavily on primary source materials in her research, consulting archival materials from the Freies Deutsches Hochstift in Frankfurt, the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek of Hamburg, the Brahms Institute in Lübeck, Chicago's Newberry Library, the Musikabteilung Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preussischer Kulturbesitz and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, among others. Uhde sometimes makes reference in passing to things that may not be clear to the non-specialist reader without further explanation, such as the 1860 manifesto; the concept of ‘psychological music’ (explained only vaguely until later in the volume); and a ‘crisis’ to which she claims that Joachim's G Major Violin Concerto responded (p. 7) but does not identify until Chapter 10.

Chapter One focuses on Joachim's Fantasy on Hungarian Themes (1848–50) and Fantasy on Irish [Scottish] Themes (1852), the two works that Uhde recently rediscovered and edited for publication for the first time, in piano reduction. (I have discussed these works and Uhde's edition in this journal.Footnote ¹) In this chapter, Uhde provides much additional detail on the fascinating history and sources of these works beyond what she included in the editorial commentary on the edition. She provides thorough commentary on the autograph manuscripts and origins of these works, their early performance history and reception and the story of the manuscripts’ evacuation from Berlin during World War II and subsequent rediscovery (first by Christoph Wolff in 1989 and then by herself decades later). She also provides structural and stylistic analyses of the works, emphasizing the important roles of virtuosity and of nationalism and exoticism conveyed by the Hungarian and Scottish style elements. She contextualizes the works with regard to the generic archetype of the fantasy and identifies other specific works that may have influenced these two Joachim pieces (e.g., arguing for the influence of Ernst's Otello Fantasy on Joachim's Hungarian Fantasy, a previously neglected comparison, which she analyses here in some detail (p. 50ff)). Uhde discusses the ‘misnaming’ of the ‘Irish’ Fantasy, which Joachim himself had originally identified as ‘Fantasia for Violin, “Scottish Airs”’, and identifies the borrowed tunes that inspired the work (pp. 23ff). She addresses Joachim's complicated cultural identity as a Hungarian Jew who ‘hardly spoke Hungarian’ (p. 56), claiming that Joachim's Hungarian pieces indicate ‘nostalgia and reverence for his lost roots’ and perhaps an intention to appeal to the exoticist tastes of the public (p. 57). She argues furthermore that, by cultivating non-Germanic nationalist associations and the genre of the virtuoso fantasy in these early works composed in Weimar, Joachim ‘evaded Beethoven's legacy and … the “serious” three-movement concerto’ (p. 25). Uhde emphasizes Joachim's early-career compositional focus on ‘showmanship’ in brilliant ‘virtuoso showpieces’, something that distances the young Joachim from his later associations with less showy, ‘mainstream’ German musical aesthetics (p. 40). Nonetheless, given the chronology of the works’ composition and direct comparisons of Joachim's Hungarian Fantasy with Liszt's Fantasie über Ungarische Volksmelodien (1849–1852), Uhde finds no strong evidence here of particular influence from Liszt (p. 43). Uhde's background as a violinist and a performer of these works serves well here in her discussion of the works, particularly in performance suggestions touching on such techniques as separately bowed arpeggios, down-bow staccato and ricochet, among others (p. 55). That the Hungarian Fantasy was not published during Joachim's lifetime is something Uhde explains in terms of Joachim's aesthetic shift away from virtuosic showmanship in the early 1850s, as reflected in Joachim's later compositions (p. 58).

The second chapter focuses on works coinciding with Joachim's move from Leipzig to Weimar and several visits to London as he attempted to ‘secure his international reputation’ (p. 61): early sketches and Joachim's first two opuses, the Andantino and Allegro scherzoso, Op. 1 (1844–1847) and Three Pieces, Op. 2 (1849–1852). Uhde gives an accounting and description of archival manuscript sources, as well as historical background on these works and brief analyses of structure and style, including technical demands and comparisons with similar pieces by other composers that may have served as inspiration. For example, Uhde likens the Andantino of Joachim's Op. 1 with Mendelssohn's Venetian gondolier songs and other works (pp. 64–5) and also points to the possible influence of Robert Schumann on Joachim's Three Pieces, Op. 2 (pp. 66–7). Her discussion of the music is informed by study of Joachim's playing techniques as preserved on sound recordings. She notes, for example, when discussing the Romance in C major, that ‘Joachim's own playing style underlies the agitated effect of the romance: he lingers briefly on important moments, occasionally marking high notes in the count, such as the downbeat of bar 20, by rushing the preceding three quavers in order to steal time for the emphasized high E’ (p. 67). In Op. 2, she observes the influence of Liszt, noting ‘several features that return more intensely in later works, including the monotonously repetitive motivic action in triplets at the beginning of the B section’ in op. 2/2 (p. 68). She notes that, moving in the aesthetic direction of Schumann and Mendelssohn, Joachim ‘experimented for the first time with a musical language that went beyond the practical concerns of a virtuoso violinist’ in his short pieces for violin and piano (p. 72).

Chapter Three focuses on the Violin Concerto, Op. 3 (1851–52). Uhde examines the work as an example of Joachim's virtuosic writing for the violin (from which he would progress to less virtuosic works) and Lisztian experimentation with sonata form. She concludes that ‘what is striking about Op. 3 is that it admits multiple readings – as a virtuoso concerto, a one-movement sonata structure, and a sonata cycle with added scherzo’ (p. 99).

Chapter Four is an examination of Joachim's Overture to Shakespeare's Hamlet, Op. 4 (1851–53). Here, Uhde examines the work's programmaticism, including Joachim's portrayal of Hamlet's title character, and considers the work relative to Liszt's aesthetics. In Chapter Five, she examines Joachim's use of ciphers in the Three Pieces, Op. 5 (1853). She discusses, also, the ‘F–A–E’ Sonata written by Schumann, Brahms and Dietrich in honour of Joachim in 1853, as well as some of Joachim's later works containing ciphers – particularly, Hebrew Melodys, Op. 9 (1854); an 1854 sketch marked ‘Still und bewegt’; Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 10 (1854); counterpoint exercises (1856–1861); Notturno, Op. 12 (1858); the Kleist Overture, Op. 13 (1856); and the Third Violin Concerto, Woo (1863–1864). The ciphers often appear to be linked with Gisela von Arnim. Uhde concludes the chapter by observing ‘the diversity of styles, genres, and compositional and personal context in which the ciphers appear over an entire decade. The common themes are Joachim's search for his compositional style and his continued inspiration through Gisela von Arnim's presence, whether real or desired, in his life’ (p. 174).

Chapter Six focuses on the two pieces of Joachim's music that were inspired (more than two decades apart) by the drama Demetrius: the overture to Herman Grimm's Demetrius, Op. 6 (1853–1854) and Scene of Marfa from Schiller's unfinished drama Demetrius, Op. 14 (1876). She concludes that the earlier work ‘might be viewed as a portrait of Joachim in his greatest turmoil, and the Scene of Marfa as a noble, idealized portrait of [Joachim's wife] Amalie’ and encourages future examination on these two works ‘from a gender perspective’ (p. 209).

Chapter Seven focuses on the overtures to Shakespeare's Henry IV, Op. 7 (1853–54) and to a Comedy (Lustspiel) by Gozzi, Op. 8 (1854) and a String Quartet movement in C minor (1858). Uhde concludes that all three works ‘use harmonic and motivic cross-references to bring to mind the “Trauermantel” archetype, Hamlet. Joachim's skill in portraying deep psychological activity … stands out here’ (p. 246).

The eighth chapter focuses on Joachim's variation sets, particularly his Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 10 (1854), Variations on an Irish Elfenlied (1856) and Variations for Violin with Orchestral Accompaniment (1878–79). Uhde focuses on Joachim's continued use of the cipher ‘Gis-E-La’ in honour of Gisela von Arnim in Op. 10 and his use of ‘the Irish national folk style’ in the Variations on an Irish Elfenlied, which may also have influenced the third set of variations.

In Chapter Nine, Uhde frames a discussion of Joachim's Concerto ‘in the Hungarian Manner’, Op. 11 (1857–59) and Hebrew Melodys, Op. 9 (1854), and of elements of the ‘style Hongroise’ more generally, by returning to the issue of the composer's complicated identities as a Hungarian Jew who had departed from his homeland early in life and had converted to Christianity – and who had, furthermore, ‘flirted with the music of Liszt but in the end professed allegiance to a more conservative aesthetic’ associated with Beethoven and Brahms (p. 297).

Chapter Ten returns to Joachim's use of ciphers and his fascination with Gisela von Arnim and her presence in his music. The chapter focuses on Elegiac Overture ‘in Memory of the Poet Heinrich von Kleist’, Op. 13 (1856), Notturno, Op. 12 (1858) and the Violin Concerto in G major (1863–64). The final full chapter examines Joachim's Marches Nos. 1–2 in C and D major (1871) and his Overture for the Birthday of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1896) as ‘Cultural Objects in a Prussian Society’ (p. 403). Once again, Uhde ties the music to Joachim's cultural identities, concluding here that, ‘aware of the growing hostility against Jews’ as the nineteenth century wore on, Joachim makes a public display of his German identity in these works (p. 427).

Uhde fashions the conclusion of the book as an ‘assessment’ of Joachim's style and a summary of his compositional oeuvre. Here, she succinctly emphasizes some of her main findings, particularly regarding the influence of not only Mendelssohn and Liszt, but also of Charles de Beriot and H.W. Ernst on Joachim's early music. In the large works of the mid-1850s, she emphasizes the roles of ‘Hungarian nationalism and the programmatic overture’, as well as virtuosity vs. ‘a classical transparency’ influenced by Joachim's counterpoint studies, in which he famously engaged with Brahms (p. 430). Finally, she argues for the influence of Gisela von Arnim, including the cipher ‘Gis-E-La’, on the chamber works of the 1850s.

There are a number of valuable conclusions about Joachim's handling of sonata form; for example, it generally exhibits a Beethovenian classicism, but can involve ‘some unusual gambits’ (e.g., an inverted recapitulation or omitted development) (p. 431); the development sections often begin with ‘feigned expositional repeats, a strategy also employed by Brahms’ (p. 431); a tendency, in minor-key works, to conclude in the tonic major or emphasize that key near the end of the work; and a tendency towards melodic ‘spinning-out’, variation technique and in some cases ‘obsessive repetition’, generally for purposes of expressing an extra-musical programme (p. 431). Uhde notes, also, that by the mid-1850s, Joachim's musical forms become simpler and more clearly organized, and his handling of orchestration becomes ‘more classical (no more trombones)’ (p. 431). She argues that Joachim's harmonic language is generally more progressive in the earlier, Weimar-influenced works, and she links Joachim's use of augmented seconds and short motives in his Hungarian-style music to the verbunkos style (p. 432). Once again, she brings the perspective of a violinist to bear, emphasizing what a remarkable feat it was for Joachim to have memorized for performance the difficult works he composed, with their improvisatory style and abundant ornamentation, figuration and transpositions.

Turning to the reception of Joachim's music, she emphasizes praise from such figures as Schumann, Brahms, Liszt and Tovey. She finds that factors contributing to the end of Joachim's compositional career are likely to include his sensitivity to criticism from the public and the press, the death of Schumann in whom he had found such a supportive mentor and the influence of Brahms, against whom ‘Joachim may have measured his own compositional preferences and “constitution” … and become discouraged’ (p. 433). She concludes that ‘much of the richness of Joachim's music is due to its diverging aesthetic markers’; his music does not take ‘an “either or’” approach as regards classical forms or programmatic portraits’ (p. 435).

There is some helpful back matter. The appendix comprises a thorough catalogue of Joachim's works, including compositional exercises, fragments and sketches, lost works, cadenzas and arrangements by Joachim, works of questionable attribution, works not by Joachim but copied over in his hand, and cadenzas and arrangements by others of Joachim works. The extensive bibliography includes archival sources from Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Poland, Switzerland, Australia and the United States. A personalia or biographical chronology may also have been useful additions.

The book represents a tremendous amount of valuable work. Uhde provides well-researched and detailed histories of the works, drawing heavily on the correspondence of Joachim and his circle and on contemporary reviews of Joachim's works and performances. Informed by her background as a violinist and performer of Joachim's music, she supplies solid, basic analyses of the structures and styles of Joachim's music, perceptively noting possible influences from works by several other composers. The writing is well-organized and, despite the length and broad coverage of the volume, succinct on individual topics. I expect this will be the definitive source on Joachim's compositional oeuvre for years to come.