Required Reading

[Note: This post has been updated (1) as of 12:52 PM Eastern on 12 Aug. See below.]

Here's a first-rate piece by the classical music critic for The Boston Globe Jeremy Eichler on the life and importance of "the most important fiddle player of the 19th century," and, for string players, "the father of us all, the spiritual patriarch of the modern violin": the justly legendary Joseph Joachim.

The Hungarian violinist Joseph Joachim was arguably the most important fiddle player of the 19th century, and Aug. 15 will mark the 100th anniversary of his death. But don't worry if you've made other plans and can't attend the centenary tributes. There are virtually none, at least not in this country. Almost no one seems to have remembered.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Joachim (1831-1907) looms large in the annals of music history. He was a player of surpassing integrity, revered by audiences and critics for his "organ-like tone" and the "quiet grandeur" of his performances, as well as for a stunning technique that could elicit gasps from his listeners, in the words of one reviewer, "as though the bow were playing on their spinal cords." His artistry inspired some of the most important works in the violin literature; he was a protégé of Mendelssohn's and forged close friendships with Robert and Clara Schumann, and with Brahms. Today, he is well known to students of 19th-century culture, but he has slipped almost entirely from the memory of the broader concert-going public. If his name is recognized, it is as the author of brilliant cadenzas to various violin concertos, duly footnoted on concert programs.

Required reading for all classical music aficionados — most especially for the underforties.

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Update (12:52 PM Eastern on 12 Aug): More on the great Joachim here.