THE SKETCHES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1898, 19 June 1890, Page 35

THE SKETCHES.

A TALK WITH DR JOACHIM,

The King of Violinists has lost count of the number of his visits to this land of fogs. All he oould tell a contributor who called upon him at his brother's house on Campden Hill was that only 12 years of bis life bad been spent when he first stepped on English soil, and the doctor is now 59, although the dark, shaggy hair and firmly-set face would never tell one so. So far from wearing out his welcome, however, he declares that English audiences are more and more appreciative every year. Before discussing with him the advance of good musio in England, he hands me a cigarette from a silver case, with the remaik that it is the only form in which he can enjoy the fragrant weed. " On my first visit to Manchester," he says, •• I was asked by the Philharmonic Society to play something light and tuneful. Just fancy such a request coming from the Philharmonic Society now 1 I think musio has a great future in this country, judging from the progress made in the 40 years of which I can speak."

" You include composition 1 " " Certainly, Sterndale Bennett, Stanford, and Parry have written things I consider of first-class excellence. Sullivan 7 Yes I think he is deservedly popular, although his work is oE course unequal. Eut * The Mikado ' is a little gem, and its success in Berlin did not surprise me at all. ' Patience,' too, seems to me a beautiful piece."

Here is Herr Joachim's reply to another question that was suggested by the opinion Lady Halle recently expressed of the musical culture of the " classes " :—": — " As I have often told my Continental friends, musically speaking, the English are divided into two portions. There are those who really have no ear for good music, and are content with comic songs or catchy airs. There is also here, as everywhere, the smaller class that can appreciate and understand the very best and highest in art. Yes, I have noticed the movement for popularising music, but at present I think it only serves the object — the very excellent object, I admit— of keeping people out of the public houses. Still I must say that in English music not only is the quality improving, but the range is widening."

The violinist's stay in England extends from two to three months. I asked him how he spent the rest of the year. " For seven months," he replied, " I am teaching in the school at Berlin, although for part of that time I may play occasionally at different places. August and September are vacation. Last year I spent them in Scotland, because I had to go to Scotland to receive the honorary degree from Glasgow. In your universities, by the way, these honorary degrees appear to be always given with much public ceremony — it was so at Oxford and Cambridge, I remember — whereas on the Continent they are generally sent to you through the post."

"The ßerlin echcol, of which you speak, was practically your own creation, I believe ? " " Well, I was instrumental in getting it established some 20 years ago. In Berlin, you know, the Academy of Art differs from yours, which is only concerned with painting. It includes architecture, for in* stance, as well as fine arts, such as music and painting."

In further conversation, Joachim mentioned that he now frequently played before Moltke, the old soldier having a cultured taste for music. Then he spoke of his "Strads," which number five. The violin of which he is fondest is also the newest in his possession — theonegiven to him in celebration of his jubilee last year. In this connection Joachim pointed out a strange coincidence. The presentation instrument bears the same date, 1715, as that which he purchased some years ago. It is a peculiarity of the Stradivarius make in that year that the back of the violin consists of one piece of wood. Of the instrument he purchased Joachim knows nothing further than that it was for 20 years in the possession of a private gentleman at BudaPesth. The coincidence in date was, he says, quite the result of accident. Joachim's other instruments belong to ao earlier period in the Cremona industry — from 1610 to 1620 — and are less valuable from the connoisseur's point of view.

The great violinist confided to me that he had been no inconsiderable student of English literature. "Among the English aristocracy," he remarked, "I. have many warm friends. But I dislike snobbery wherever it is found ; and the drawl of the dandies is detestable. Yes, I have read Thackeray's 'Book of Snobs, 1 as well as •Pendennis' and 'Vanity Fair.' It was my pleasure, indeed, to meet Thackeray once. Of Tennyson I have read something — « The Idylls of the King,' I remember best."

"Which of the English classics are best appreciated in Germany?" "I should say Shakespeare and Byron. Some time ago, you know, Byron was quite a passion with many of our young men. They almost worshipped him. This enthusiasm passed away, but Byron's poetry is still much read. At the present time I really think Shakespeare is as popular — if not more popular — on the German stage than in England. You see back in the last century Lessing and other great {writers showed Germany that Shakespeare was a genius for all countries ; a great man of the world, like Dante and Goethe. At the present time there are theatres at Karlsruue, Stuttgart, an -3 other towns where his plays are produced by regularly-estab lished companies. And it is to be noted that these companies produce different playß in turn ; unlike London theatres, where one grand production is made to run a year," —Pall Mall Gazette.