Background

The Swiss composer, Joseph Joachim Raff, was born near Zurich, Switzerland, into a musical family on the 27th of May 1822 into a musical family.

Education

The Raff family was poor but young Joachim had a basic education from his father. The boy was later sent to the Rottenberg Gymnasium in his father’s native Württemberg to study philosophy, philology and mathematics before financial pressures on the family forced his return to Switzerland. He finished his education with two years at the Jesuit Seminary in Schwyz, where he carried off prizes in German, Latin and mathematics. When Raff left Schwyz in 1840 it was to return to Rapperswil, near Lachen, to begin work as a teacher. As a child, though, Raff had already shown great natural talent as a pianist, violinist and organist, performing at the Sunday concerts in the nearby spa of Nuolen. Having taught himself the rudiments of music, he began to compose too.

Career

In 1845, Raff walked to Basel to hear Franz Liszt play the piano. After a period in Stuttgart where he became friends with the conductor Hans von Bulow, he worked as Liszt's assistant at Weimar from 1850 to 1853. During this time he helped Liszt in the orchestration of several of his works, claiming to have had a major part in orchestrating the symphonic poem Tasso. In 1851, Raff's opera Konig Alfred was staged in Weimar, and five years later he moved to Wiesbaden where he largely devoted himself to composition. From 1878 he was the first Director of, and a teacher at, the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt. There he employed Clara Schumann and a number of other eminent musicians as teachers, and established a class specifically for female composers.

He died at 60 of a heart attack on the night after several months of illness brought on by his heavy workload. His final years had brought him all the recognition and security he could have desired and he had been confident that posterity would continue to place him in the first rank. So confident, in fact, that he had neglected to provide for his family, assuming that royalties would continue to give them an ample income.

Achievements

• His chamber works include two piano sonatas, five violin sonatas, a cello sonata, a piano quintet, two piano quartets, a string sextet and four piano trios. 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

More photos

• book

  • Um den Christbaum (Around the christmas tree) Op.216 No. 6

    ( Digital Sheet Music of Um den Christbaum (Around the ch...)

  • The spinner (Die Spinnerin) Op.157 No. 2 - Piano

    ( Digital Sheet Music of The spinner (Die Spinnerin) Op.1...)

  • Fabliau Op.75 No. 2 - Piano

    ( Digital Sheet Music of Fabliau Op.75 No. 2 - Piano Com...)

Connections

Father:

Joseph Raff

Organist & music teacher in a monastery in Wettingen and also in Lucerne

Mother:

Katharina Schmid

Wife:

Doris Genast

An actress

Friend:

Alexander Ritter