Joseph Joachim Raff (27 May 182224 or 25 June 1882) was a German-Swiss

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

and

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

.James Deaville
'Raff, (Joseph) Joachim'
in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001)

Biography

Raff was born in Lachen in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. His father, a teacher, had fled there from

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in Russia. Joachim was largely self-taught in music, studying the subject while working as a schoolmaster in

Schmerikon Schmerikon is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of See-Gaster (Wahlkreis), See-Gaster in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of St. Gallen (canton), St. Gallen in Switzerland. In the local Swiss Germa ...

Schwyz Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ''Bundesbriefmuseum''. The of ...

and

Rapperswil Rapperswil (Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dial ...

. He sent some of his piano compositions to

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

who recommended them to

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel () is a German Music publisher, music publishing house. Founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf, it is the world's oldest music publisher. Overview The catalogue contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works ...

for publication. They were published in 1844 and received a favourable review in

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

's journal, the ''

Neue Zeitschrift für Musik The New Journal of Music (, and abbreviated to NZM) is a music magazine, co-founded in Leipzig by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, Julius Knorr and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke. Its first issue appe ...

'', which prompted Raff to go to

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and take up composition full-time. In 1845, Raff walked to

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

to hear

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

play the piano. After a period in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

where he became friends with the conductor

Hans von Bülow Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (; 8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for establishi ...

, he worked as Liszt's assistant at

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

from 1850 to 1853. During this time he helped Liszt in the

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

of several of his works, claiming to have had a major part in orchestrating the

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

Tasso TASSO (Two Arm Spectrometer SOlenoid) was a particle detector at the PETRA particle accelerator at the German national laboratory DESY. The TASSO collaboration is best known for having discovered the gluon, the mediator of the strong interaction an ...

''. In 1851, Raff's

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

''König Alfred'' was staged in Weimar, and five years later he moved to

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

where he largely devoted himself to composition. From 1878 he was the first Director of, and a teacher at, the

Hoch Conservatory Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium – Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. There he employed

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; ; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic music, Romantic era, she exerted her influence o ...

and a number of other eminent musicians as teachers, and established a class specifically for female composers. (This was at a time when women composers were not taken seriously.) His pupils there included

Edward MacDowell Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites '' Woodland Sketches'', ''Sea Pieces'' and ''Ne ...

and

Alexander Ritter Alexander Sascha Ritter (7 June 1833 – 12 April 1896) was a German composer and violinist. He wrote two operas - ''Der faule Hans'' and ''Wem die Krone?'', a few songs, a symphonic waltz and two symphonic fantasias. Ritter died in Munich. L ...

. He died in Frankfurt on the night of June 24/25, 1882. His tomb is in

Frankfurt Main Cemetery The Frankfurt Main Cemetery (German: ''Hauptfriedhof'') is the largest cemetery in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was opened in 1828. The cemetery is located directly adjacent to two Jewish cemeteries—the Old Jewish Cemetery ( ...

Compositions

Raff was very prolific, and by the end of his life was one of the best known German composers, though his work is largely forgotten today. (Only one piece, a

cavatina (Italian for "little song") is a musical term, originally meaning a short song of simple character, without a second strain or any repetition of the air. It is now frequently applied to any simple, melodious air, as distinguished from brilliant ...

for violin and piano, is performed with any regularity today, sometimes as an encore.) He drew influence from a variety of sources - his eleven

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

, for example, combine the Classical symphonic form, with the Romantic penchant for

program music Program music or programmatic music is a type of instrumental art music that attempts to musically render an extramusical narrative. The narrative itself might be offered to the audience through the piece's title, or in the form of program not ...

and

contrapuntal In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous Part (music), musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and Pitch contour, melodic contour. The term ...

orchestral writing which harks back to the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

. Most of these symphonies carry descriptive titles including ''In the Forest'' (No. 3), ''Lenore'' (No. 5) and ''To the Fatherland'' (No. 1), a very large-scale work lasting around seventy minutes. His last four symphonies make up a quartet of works based on the four seasons. A complete cycle of all his symphonies and many other orchestral works was recorded in the early 2000s by the

Bamberg Symphony The Bamberg Symphony (German: Bamberger Symphoniker – Bayerische Staatsphilharmonie) is a renowned German orchestra top-class orchestra that has been residing in Bamberg since its foundation in 1946 and travels the world as a touring orchestra. ...

under

Hans Stadlmair Hans Stadlmair (3 May 1929 – 13 February 2019) was an Austrian conductor and composer. He conducted the Münchener Kammerorchester for almost four decades. He conducted more than 6000 concerts, many in collaboration with the Bayerischer Rundfunk ...

. Raff's Symphony No. 3 "In the Forest" was enthusiastically received by the audience at that time, spread quickly to England and America and was one of the most played orchestral pieces in the world at the end of the 19th century. It fell into oblivion together with Raff himself, but influenced many later romantic composers including

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

in his famous "Pathétique" for example.

Arturo Toscanini Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...

conducted some performances of the symphony in 1931.Liner notes on Bernard Herrmann recording of Symphony No. 5 ''Lenore'' The ''Lenore'' symphony (No. 5), famous in its time, was inspired by a ballad of the same name by

Gottfried August Bürger Gottfried August Bürger (31 December 1747 – 8 June 1794) was a German poet. His ballads were very popular in Germany. His most noted ballad, ''Lenore (ballad), Lenore'', found an audience beyond readers of the German language in an English l ...

that also inspired works by several other composers, including

Maria Theresia von Paradis Maria Theresia von Paradis (May 15, 1759 – February 1, 1824) was an Austrian musician and composer who lost her sight at an early age, and for whom her close friend Mozart may have written his Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat major. She was al ...

(1789), Henri Duparc,

(late 1850s, mentioned by Alan Walker in his Liszt biography vol. 2), for example. The world premiere recording of ''Lenore'' was made in 1970 by the

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

conducted by

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in film scoring. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely regarde ...

, who championed Raff's orchestral music. He described it as "one of the finest examples of the Romantic Programme School - it deserves a place alongside the ''

Symphonie fantastique ' (''Fantastic Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections'') Opus number, Op. 14, is a program music, programmatic symphony written by Hector Berlioz in 1830. The first performance was at the Paris Conservatoire on 5 December ...

'' of

Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

, Liszt's ''

Faust Symphony ''A Faust Symphony in three character pictures'' (), List of compositions by Franz Liszt (S.1 - S.350), S.108, or simply the "''Faust Symphony''", is a choral symphony written by Hungarians, Hungarian composer Franz Liszt inspired by Johann Wolfga ...

'' and the ''

Manfred Symphony ''Manfred'' is a ''"Symphony in Four Scenes"'' in B minor by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his Opus 58, but unnumbered. It was written between May and September 1885 to a program based upon the 1817 poem of the same name by Byron, coming after the ...

'' of Tchaikovsky".

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

was a pupil of

, a friend of Raff's, and it has been said that Strauss was influenced in his early works by Raff. For example, Raff's Symphony No. 7 ''In the Alps'' (1877) could have been an inspiration to Strauss's ''

An Alpine Symphony ''An Alpine Symphony'' (''Eine Alpensinfonie''), Op. 64, is a tone poem for large orchestra written by German composer Richard Strauss which premiered in 1915. It is one of Strauss's largest non-operatic works; the score calls for about 12 ...

'' (1915). Much of Raff's music has been said to forecast the early works of

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his countr ...

. Raff also composed in most other genres, including

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

and works for solo piano. His chamber works include five

violin sonata A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple Baroque music, baroque form wi ...

s, a

cello sonata A cello sonata is piece written sonata form, often with the instrumentation of a cello taking solo role with piano accompaniment. Some of the earliest cello sonatas were composed in the 18th century by Francesco Geminiani and Antonio Vivaldi, and ...

, a

piano quintet In classical music, a piano quintet is a work of chamber music written for piano and four other instruments, most commonly (since 1842) a string quartet (i.e., two violins, viola, and cello). The term also refers to the group of musicians that ...

, two

piano quartet A piano quartet is a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments. Those other instruments are usually a string trio consisting of a violin, viola and cello. Piano quartets for ...

s, eight

string quartets The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists, a ...

, a

string sextet In european classical music, classical music, a string sextet is a composition written for six string instruments, or a group of six musicians who perform such a composition. Most string sextets have been written for an ensemble consisting of two ...

and four

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in European classical music, classical chamber music. The term can also ...

s. Many of these works are now commercially recorded. He also wrote numerous suites, some for smaller groups (there are suites for piano solo and suites for string quartet), some for orchestra and one each for piano and orchestra and violin and orchestra.

Works

Raff's works include:

Symphonies

* ''Große Symphonie'', WoO. 18 (before 1860; lost, scherzo and finale included in the Orchestral Suite No. 1, Op. 101) * Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 96 "An das Vaterland" (1859–61) * Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 140 (1866) * Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 153 "Im Walde" (1869) * Symphony No. 4 in G minor, Op. 167 (1871) * Symphony No. 5 in E major, Op. 177 "Lenore" (1870–72) * Symphony No. 6 in D minor, Op. 189 "Gelebt, Gestrebt, Gelitten, Gestritten, Gestorben, Umworben" (1874) * Symphony No. 7 in B-flat major, Op. 201 "In den Alpen" (1875) * Symphony No. 8 in A major, Op. 205 "Frühlingsklänge" (1876) * Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 208 "Im Sommer" (1878) * Symphony No. 10 in F minor, Op. 213 "Zur Herbstzeit" (1879) * Symphony No. 11 in A minor, Op. 214 "Der Winter" (1876, unfinished; completed by Max Erdmannsdörfer)

Concertos

*Konzertstück "La Fée d'amour", for violin and orchestra Op. 67 (1854) *Konzertstück "Ode au printemps" in G major, for piano and orchestra, Op. 76 (1857) *Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 161 (1870–71) *Suite for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 180 (1873) *Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 185 (1873) *Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 193 (1874) *Suite for Piano and Orchestra in E-flat, Op. 200 (1875) *Cello Concerto No. 2, WoO. 45 (1876) *Violin Concerto No. 2, Op. 206 (1877)

Orchestral suites

*Suite for Orchestra No. 1, Op. 101 (1863) *Italian Suite for Orchestra in E minor, WoO. 35 (1871) *Suite for Orchestra No. 2 in F major "In ungarischer Weise", Op. 194 (1874) *Suite for Orchestra ''Aus Thüringen'', WoO. 46 (1877)

Opera

* ''König Alfred'', heroic opera in four acts (Weimar, 9 March 1851) * ''Samson'', musical drama in five acts (Weimar, 11 March 2022)Recorded on Schweizer Fonogramm SF0016 (2024), reviewed at ''MusicWeb International''
/ref> * ''Dame Kobold'', comic opera in three acts (Weimar, 1870) * ''Die Parole'', comic opera in three acts (not performed) * ''

Benedetto Marcello Benedetto Giacomo Marcello (; 31 July or 1 August 1686 – 24 July 1739) was an Italian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher. Life Born in Venice, Benedetto Marcello was a member of the noble Marcello family and in his composit ...

'', lyric opera in three acts, loosely on the life of the composer

(first concert performance, Metzingen 2002) * '' Die Eifersüchtigen'', opera in three acts (Arth (CH), 3 September 2022)

Other orchestral works

* Orchestral pieces, Op. 85 * Jubilee overture, Op. 103 (1864) * Festival overture, Op. 117 1864) * Concert overture, Op. 123 (1862) * ''Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott, Ouvertüre zu einem Drama aus dem Dreißigjährigen Krieg'' (A mighty fortress is our God", Overture to a drama about the Thirty Years' War), Op. 127 (1854; revised 1865) * Rhapsody for Orchestra "Abends", Op. 163b * Festival March, Op. 139 * Sinfonietta, Op. 188 * Elegy for Orchestra, WoO. 48 * Orchestral Prelude to Shakespeare's "The Tempest", WoO. 50 * Orchestral Prelude to Shakespeare's "Macbeth", WoO. 51 * Orchestral Prelude to Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", WoO. 52 * Orchestral Prelude to Shakespeare's "Othello", WoO. 53 * Grand Fugue for Orchestra, WoO. 57 * Overture to ''Benedetto Marcello'' * Overture to ''Dame Kobold'', Op. 154 * Overture to ''Die Parole'' * Orchestration of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

's Chaconne from Violin Partita No. 2

Chamber music

*String Quartet No. 1, Op. 77 *String Quartet No. 2, Op. 90 *Suite in D minor for solo piano Op. 91 *Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 102 *Piano Quintet, Op. 107 *Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 112 *String Quartet No. 3, Op. 135 *String Quartet No. 4, Op. 136 *String Quartet No. 5, Op. 137 *Piano Trio No. 3, Op. 155 *Piano Trio No. 4, Op. 158 *String Octet, Op. 176 *String Sextet, Op. 178 *Sinfonietta for 10 Wind Instruments, Op. 188 (2fl, 2ob, 2cl, 2bn, 2hn) *String Quartet No. 6, Op. 192 No. 1 ''"Suite in Ancient Style"'' *String Quartet No. 7, Op. 192 No. 2 ''"The Maid of the Mill"'' ie Schöne Müllerin*String Quartet No. 8, Op. 192 No. 3 ''"Suite in Canon Form"'' *Piano Quartet No. 1, Op. 202 No. 1 *Piano Quartet No. 2, Op. 202 No. 2 *Fantasy for Piano Quintet, Op. 207a

References

;Notes

External links

*An encyclopedic site devoted to Raff's works, with reviews, sound clips, and discussion forum
Raff.org

;Sheet music * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raff, Joachim 1822 births 1882 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical pianists 19th-century German composers 19th-century German male musicians Burials at Frankfurt Main Cemetery Composers for piano German classical pianists German male classical composers German male classical pianists German opera composers German Romantic composers Academic staff of Hoch Conservatory String quartet composers Honorary members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Male opera composers Oratorio composers People from Rapperswil-Jona Swiss classical composers Swiss classical pianists