Joseph Joachim was born of Jewish parents at Kitsee, a small town near
Presburg, Hungary, and while very young entered the Conservatory of
Music at Vienna, where he studied under the celebrated teacher, Joseph
Böhm. He was only twelve years old when his master declared that, as
a violinist, he had nothing more to learn, and he appeared before a
public audience at Leipzig with a success which placed his future
great career beyond a doubt. He, however, studied with the utmost
assiduity under the direction of Ferdinand David. At thirty-two, the
age in which he is depicted in the first of our two portraits, he was
Director of the Royal Concert-hall at Hanover, and was about to marry
Amelia Weiss, one of the leading singers of her time, and then chief
contralto at the Royal Opera in Hanover. He had already visited most
of the European capitals, and was well known in London, then as now,
for the extraordinary technical ability and mastery of his instrument
which, combined with the feeling and the insight of a born musician,
render him probably the greatest violinist who has ever lived, not even
excepting Paganini.
[Illustration: _From a Photo. by_| AGE 32. |_Mrs. Cameron._]
[Illustration: _From a Photo. by_| PRESENT DAY. |_Messrs. Elliott &
Fry._]