Musical Courier Magazine, (April 1, 1914): 21

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JOACHIM AND DISCIPLES

Left to right, standing: Theodore Hemberger, Theodore Spiering, Rudolph Lenz, Mary Cardew, Sol Marcosson, [Josef] Hösl, [Carl] Bemmer, Rosa Schindler, Bernard Sinsheimer; seated, Joseph Joachim, Emmanuel Wirth.

[photo probably ca. 1892]

Thanks to John Maltese.

From Musical Courier, May 6, 1914, page 27:

Theodore Spiering Writes

The picture you reproduced in your Cleveland article, lent to you by Sol Marcosson and showing Joachim and Wirth with a group of pupils, took me back twenty-two years. Joseph Hösl (for years third concertmaster in the Munich Opera Orchestra) and Carl Bemmer (cello professor at the largest conservatory in Athens, Greece) seem to have dropped from Mr. Marcosson’s memory. They have been my good friends in all these years. The picture was taken after the Joachim quartet class, at which, if I remember correctly, I had prepared a string quartet of Eugene d’Harcourt—a Frenchman who has since played quite an important role in the local Parisian field—my colleagues being Hösl, Lenz and Bremmer. The regular string quartet, which for three seasons I held together, consisted, beside myself, of Marcosson, C. Rawdon Briggs (now concertmaster in Manchester, with the Hallé Orchestra) and Paul Morgan, of New York. Those times seem ages ago.

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Joseph Joachim in his Berlin Studio: Bote & Bock, Berlin (1908 print)

[Digitally restored photo]

Adolf von Hildebrand: Bust of Joseph Joachim

Adolf von Hildebrand’s bust of Joseph Joachim in the Alte Nationalgalerie is a marble portrait dating from 1908–1913, conceived for the foyer of the Königliche Akademische Hochschule für ausübende Tonkunst in Berlin and now held under the inventory number B II 87 c. The work is a design by the sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand (1847–1921), executed by the sculptor Adolf Rothenburger (1883–1972), and was created in Florence, where Hildebrand lived and worked.

The bust forms the central element of a larger commemorative ensemble commissioned by Joachim’s admirers and patrons for the Hochschule’s concert hall foyer, reflecting Joachim’s role as founding director of the institution from 1869 and his stature as a celebrated violin virtuoso, composer, and musician. Early designs from 1909 envisaged a more elaborate monument with an Orpheus relief and fountain arrangement, but Hildebrand progressively simplified the concept; the final 1913 version consisted of a round-arched niche framed by pilasters, the centrally placed bust and an inscription tablet (“JOSEPH JOACHIM / ZVM ANDENKEN / MDCCCCXIII”) flanked by two female figures playing lyre and lute. 

For the bust itself, which was conceived to be viewed from below, Hildebrand drew on an earlier, unclothed portrait of Joachim he had modeled in 1899 (now in the Neue Pinakothek, Munich), and reworked it into an “antique” draped form for the Joachim memorial. The bust shows Joachim with a slightly opened mouth and an almost visionary, unfocused gaze, while a dynamically handled lock of hair, together with the folds of the drapery and the raised left eyebrow, subtly breaks the strict symmetry of the overall architectural setting. 

The monument commemorates Joachim as a musician who converted to Christianity in 1855 but was born into a Jewish family, and it thus acquired a politically charged status under National Socialism. In 1937 the National Socialists had the monument dismantled and transferred it from the Hochschule in Berlin-Charlottenburg to the care of the Nationalgalerie, where the bust is now preserved as part of the collection. 

Information: Yvette Deseyve, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Joseph Joachim: Kunstanstalt von Julius Giere, 5 Sophienstrd. Museum gegenüber, Hannover

 © 2025 Please acknowledge the source: Joseph Joachim — Biography and Research: http://www.josephjoachim.com

[This portrait available as a 1600 dpi scan. Inquire about price. rweshbach@gmail.com]

‘The Quartett’ (A Rehearsal). Portrait of the Joachim Quartet seated around two duo music stands. Etching by Leopold Löwenstam after a painting by Lajos Ludwig Brück. Published November 8th 1888. Printed on fine tissue laid down.

Description

Portrait of the Joachim Quartet in rehearsal. Joseph Joachim and Louis Ries, violins, Ludwig Straus, viola, and Alfredo Piatti, cello. A note on the rear reads ‘Monday Pops Quartet’. Seated in a domestic interior of a grand house, in a drawing room or salon, the musicians are placed around two duo music stands, with the two violins opposite the two lower instruments, in preparation for a rehearsal of chamber music. Joachim points with his bow to the music, Ries is standing, Straus is tuning his instrument and Piatti is poised to play. Each musician is holding a bow.

The expensive furnishings and rug are complemented by grand curtains and a tapestry on the wall, on top of which hangs in a fictive frame, a portrait of Alfred Chappell. This is recorded as a note in the ‘Magazine of Music,’ June 1888, when the writer notes that ‘the portraits of the players are all excellent, as are their instruments.’ In the background is an upright piano and piano stool. Most of the upholstery has tapestry or needlework covers. Piatti wears slip-on shoes.

Etching by Leopold Löwenstam after a painting by Lajos Brück. London: Published November 8th 1888 by L.H. Lefevre, 1 King Street, St James’s SW. Copyright Registered. New York, M. Knoedler & Co. Printed on fine Japan paper laid down on card, and signed on the border in pencil by both the artist and etcher, with an artist’s palette, the latter perhaps etched into the border of the plate.

Image: 557 x 464 mm; Entire sheet: 723 x 556 mm.

Joseph Joachim: Mayer & Wilhelm, Stuttgart

Bronze plaque: 50,8 x 39 mm, 40,5 g., giving Joachim’s birth date as 15 July, 1831. The presently accepted date of Joachim’s birth is June 28, 1831 — the date on his gravestone. Joachim himself used both dates — first the July date and later the June date. There is no official record of Joachim’s birth, and it is possible that he was approximately a year older than either of these dates.

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Cabinet photograph (7.25 x 12.75 inches/18.5 x 32.5 cm).
Atelier Victoria, Inhaber Paul Gericke, Berlin, W. Potsdamer Strasse 34

Signed and dated “Berlin, 26ten Mai 1900”

Offered for sale by Schubertiade Music, November, 2023