Violinist

A friendship developed between Joseph Joachim, the celebrated violinist, and Johannes Brahms, the quintessential composer, characterized by both artistic admiration and critical tension. Joachim, immediately captivated by Brahms's music, soon became his most important confidant and interpreter. Their letters reveal a complex interplay of admiration, loyalty, and sometimes wounded pride—a delicate web of mutual respect and high expectations. However, from 1884 onward, the friendship between Johannes Brahms and Joseph Joachim was no longer as untroubled as in its early years, for Brahms had sided with Joachim's wife in their divorce proceedings, and since then, the once warm relationship had cooled—marked by expressions and gestures of reserve, coupled with the quiet pride of two artists. Now, however, Brahms's "Double Concerto" for violin and cello was intended to be a sign of reconciliation—a musical dialogue that sought to bridge the gap between them.

JOACHIM, BRAHMS & HAYDN – Reconciliation and Passion

Kulturhaus Gotha

“[Clara] signals my gratitude to all the women who, in their time, challenged the society they were raised in by manifesting their artistic oeuvre,” says composer Ortiz of her tribute to Clara Schumann, which opens this program. Violinist Nancy Zhou takes center stage for Clara Schumann’s Three Romances, which The Times (London) referred to as "Lush and poignant, they make one regret that Clara's career as a composer became subordinate to her husband's." Clara dedicated her trio of Romances to violinist Joseph Joaquim; here Zhou performs Joachim’s challenging and expressive Variations for Violin and Orchestra. “Trumpets and drums have been sounding in my mind for quite a while now; I have no idea what will come of it,” wrote Robert Schumann as he began his grand Second Symphony; he struggled against illness and depression to complete it, but eventually added a boisterous finale “in which I am myself again.”

EPSG:4326

Schumann Romance

Warner Grand Theater

Düsseldorf, autumn 1853: Music director Robert Schumann had just completed a violin concerto for the young Joseph Joachim when the next child prodigy came knocking at his door: Johannes Brahms. Soulful days full of music followed – until Schumann was committed to a sanatorium in early 1854 after a suicide attempt. The artistic friendship between Joachim and Brahms endured a lifetime, despite occasional bouts of trouble.

4th Symphony Concert

Theater Nordhausen

House of Art

The opening concert of CMS’s celebratory violin season reunites Johannes Brahms and Clara and Robert Schumann with the violinist who inspired them to compose like no other. To Joseph Joachim, the dominant violinist of the Romantic age, we owe Brahms’s mighty violin concerto, Schumann’s and Dvořák’s concertos, and much more.

The Composer's Violinist: Joseph Joachim

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Prolific Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, who was also a violinist, pianist, and accomplished author, is represented with her contemplative Partita for Orchestra. Internationally-acclaimed Russian violinist Nikita Boriso-Glebsky joins TŌN for Hungarian composer Joseph Joachim’s Variations for Violin and Orchestra. Then the orchestra gives the U.S. premiere of a recently discovered concerto by famed Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe. The program concludes with the energetic and passionate Second Symphony of Romanian composer George Enescu, written at a time when he was also one of the most in-demand concert violinists in the world.

Violinist as Composer

Fisher Center at Bard

We enthusiastically welcome back international soloist and GSO-favorite, Will Hagen, for the mother-of-all violin concertos, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D-Major. Joseph Joachim, who championed this work, called it “the greatest German violin concerto.” Dvorak’s masterful, tuneful and uplifting Eighth Symphony will conclude this powerful, heroic, and memorable concert.

Violinist

Joseph Joachim

Events

Past events

May 21, 2026

JOACHIM, BRAHMS & HAYDN – Reconciliation and Passion · Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach

17 - 18 Apr, 2026

Schumann Romance · Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

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