Amalie Joachim

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
" Joseph and Amalie Joachim";
Wood engraving by Adolf Neumann . In: The Gazebo . 1873

Amalie Maria Joachim , b. Schneeweiss (born May 10, 1839 in Marburg an der Drau , Austrian Empire , † February 3, 1899 in Berlin ) was an Austro-German opera singer ( alto ).

Life

Amalie Schneeweiss was the daughter of the District Court Assessor Franz Max Schneeweiss from his marriage to Eleonore Schneeweiss nee. Lindes. Her brother was the musician and theologian Franz Schneeweiss , who emigrated to the USA in the winter of 1850/51 .

At the beginning of the 1850s, she and her family moved to Graz . She made her first appearances at the age of 14 and called herself from then on "Amalie Weiss". From the end of 1854 until the spring of 1862 she was engaged at the Kärntnertortheater in Vienna .

In April 1862, through the mediation of Bernhard Scholz, she got an engagement at the theater in Hanover , where she had previously made several guest appearances. There she met the concertmaster Joseph Joachim , whom she married on June 10, 1863 in the town's Kreuzkirche . She had six children with him.

Amalie Joachim

Although she ended her stage career with her marriage, she continued to perform as a concert singer in the following years, sometimes together with her husband and with her friend Clara Schumann . With both of them she undertook longer tours, including to London . Until the 1870s she also regularly took part in performances by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin , of which she later became an honorary member.

After 21 years, the marriage was divorced after grueling disputes that lasted several years: the pathologically jealous husband had accused his wife of adultery. Even Brahms took Amalie's side in the marital conflict.

After the divorce she was forced to return to work as a concert singer. Her focus was on lieder and oratorio singing. She set standards in this area. She was often accompanied on the piano by Hans Schmidt . In 1885 and 1886 she went on concert tours with Laura Rappoldi from Dresden.

It also promoted the careers of other artists. So she mediated z. B. Monika Hunnius , singer, later also singing teacher and writer at Julius Stockhausen and gave her advice regularly. The later famous contralto and mezzo-soprano Mme. Charles Cahier is said to have taken lessons from her in Berlin.

Amalie Joachim died in 1899 as a result of a gall operation and was buried in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Cemetery in Berlin. Her grave was dedicated to the city of Berlin as an honorary grave until 2015 .

One of her daughters, Marie Joachim (born January 31, 1868 in Hanover ; † 1918), became a singer and worked in later years with Amalie's long-time companion, Raimund von Zur Mühlen .

Dedications

Several composers dedicated their works to Amalie Joachim, including

  • Johannes Brahms , Four Duets op. 28 (1863); Two chants for an alto part with viola and piano op. 91 (1884).
  • Heinrich von Sahr , Six songs for alto and piano op.11 (1878)

literature

Web links

Commons : Amalie Joachim  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Borchard (2007), pp. 171-216.
  2. ^ Georg Fischer : Music in Hanover . Hanover / Leipzig 1903, p. 201 f. ( Text archive - Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Joachim, Amalie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Joachim, Amalie Maria (full name); Schneeweiss, Amalie (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-German opera singer (alto)
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1839
PLACE OF BIRTH Marburg on the Drau
DATE OF DEATH February 3, 1899
Place of death Berlin