New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-05-07
JOACHIM'S JUBILEE.
HOW THE SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE GREAT VIOLINiST"S FIRST APP
PEARANCE WAS CELEBRATED
IN BERLIN

TO overlooking on Saturday night. April %, for
the celebration of the jubilee of joseph Joachim.
who sixty years ago, a little boy. eight years
old. made his first public appearance a
virtuOso in Budapest and began the career |
which has made him the master violinist of
Germany. and in the opinion of many of the |
whole world Bach Schumann. Mendelssohn
and the entire noble army of musicians, who |
as cameo relefs on the pale green wall keep |
watch the splendid hall. looked down on
one Of the most brilliant assemblies of famous |
men a1d women ever gathered together in Ber- |
lin to honor man great ''by the grace of God
Musicians, artists men of letters and learning, |
high officers and Ministers of State with count |
less orders cleaning their breasts. crowded
the parQuet. the boxes and the gallery to bear |
witness to the esteem in which they held Ger
many's grand old man"
He sat there among them in the centre of
the hail. in his big chair Of honor. decorated |
with gorgeous azaleas. smiling them all, |
pleased as a child and modest only great |
man can be. Only few minutes before every |
one of those thousands of men and women, from
the highest dgnitary to the humbest music
student at the far corners Of the hall, had |
risen and cheered at his entrance while the |
trumpets Of three of the finest regiments in |
Berlin sounded a fanfare of welcome. How
simple he was he came in, accompanied by |
a few devoted men, stopping to shake hands |
with a friend in the box above him. laying |
his hand affectlonately on the shoulder of an old
colleague he passed him on his way down |
the aisle. The shouts Of the people and the |
! blarc of the trumpets did not for one moment |
distract his attention from the familiar faces |
that beamed him from all sides.
Indeed. they all familiar faces Robert |
Won Mendelssohn. the banker and cest. de- |
scen6ant of the great Felix and Joachims friend |
FOR many years, sat in the chair to his right. |
across the passage to his left the beloved |
I'D professor Hermann Grimm. who had com
POSED the prologue for the occasion. and coming |
toward him to welcome him was his friend and
tleighbor Herr Keudell. In the orchestra, |
every member of which standing and wav |
ing his or her handkerchief. stood Wirth and
H;ausmann. Halir. and Moser and Markees the |
TWO capable instigators and managers of the
festival and besides these. old friends and |
pupils from all over the world. gray naired men,
middle aged men. boys and girls and no one !
could make noise enough. When the trumpets
had ceased and the vast audience was seated. |
Fr.ulein Pope Of the Royal Theatre. came to
the front Of the stage and recited the ami |
versary poem which Professor Grimm had writ
ten. 1t was touching tribute. which grew In
eloquence and feeling up to the last words
which were addressed to the orchestra and as
one exquisite mellow voice IA stringed nstru-
ments Responded with the opening strains OF the
overture TO Weber's "Euryanthe." II ever an
orchestra was inspired. that one was! No one
who Was not there can realize how perfectly
the IovA. and devotion to Joachim which every
performer felt were breathed into that beauti-
full music. The audience sat spellbound Ana
no wondefr for such a collection Of artists never
played together before. Every city in Germany
which couldl boast of violin virtuoso sent MN
to play on hhis unique occasion and not only
Germany. but, England. whose devotion to the
great master Is, almost. II not quite, as great
as that Of his otwn country, sent the best TWO
professors Of the London Conservatory to rep
resent her Scattered among the older men were
a few young ones. present pupils OF Joachim
and about dozen yo62ng girls in their light
dresses some OF them With their hair still hang
ing in braids down their b.acks-German, Eng
lish American -
After the Joachim v ariatons played by Petri,
Of Dresden. and after the overtures or Schumahh
and J'Mendeissohn. the "Genoveva' ana mio-
supnmer Nights Dream" and the Brahms Sym
phonv in Minor there were three stars on the
programme What did they mean! EVERY
6ne looked at every one else and NOBODY Knew
but a surprise was evidently In store Inen
nots from some one the stage was c@rrieo
To Joachim. and at the same moment the "noe
orchestra rose and began to Groom sotuy tno
first measures Of the Beethoven Concerto linen
all understood and cheered and cappeo, ooe
the master himself was Of a different mind. he
couh be seen expostulating and sesticulating
end shaking his head and sitting down. only 70
pa4 m again to expostulate further. But the
orchestra never stopped: the son music went