Composers

Joachim Raff

Piano
Violin
Orchestra
Voice
Cello
Viola
Men's chorus
Piano four hands
Mixed chorus
Baritone
Piece
Song
Dance
Suite
Fantasia
Lied
Caprice
Quartet
Sonata
Waltz
by popularity

#

10 Gesänge für gemischten Chor, Op.19810 Gesänge für Männerchor, Op.12210 Gesänge für Männerchor, Op.19510 Gesänge für Männerchor, Op.9712 Pieces for Piano Four Hands, Op.8212 Romances en forme d'études, Op.812 Zweistimmige Gesänge, Op.1142 Caprices, Op.1112 Études mélodiques, Op.1302 Fantasiestücke, Op.582 Fantasiestücke, Op.862 Gesänge für gemischten Chor, Op.1712 Italienische Lieder, Op.502 Lieder vom Rhein, Op.532 Lieder, Op.482 Märsche aus Händels Oratorien 'Saul' und 'Jephta', WoO.222 Méditations, Op.1472 Morceaux de salon, Op.812 Paraphrases de Salon, Op.652 Paraphrases de salon, Op.702 Paraphrases on Lieder by Liszt, Op.182 Piano Pieces, Op.1572 Piano Pieces, Op.1662 Piano Quartets, Op.2022 Romances, Op.1822 Scenen, Op.1993 Duos on Motives from Richard Wagner's Operas, Op.633 Klavier-Soli, Op.743 Lieder, Op.473 Lieder, Op.493 Lieder, Op.523 Piano Pieces, Op.1253 Piano Pieces, Op.1263 Piano Pieces, Op.1643 Pièces caractéristiques, Op.23 Salon-Etudes on Richard Wagner's Operas, Op.623 Salonstücke, Op.563 Sonatilles, Op.9930 Fortschreitende Etüden, WoO.364 Galop-caprices, Op.54 Paraphrases de Salon, Op.614 Piano Pieces, Op.1965 Lieder, Op.515 Transcriptions, Op.686 Gesänge, Op.1846 Morceaux, Op.858 Gesänge, Op.173

A

Air suisse, Op.11Album lyrique, Op.17Am Giessbach, Op.88Am Rhein, Op.32Angelens letzter Tag im Kloster, Op.27Aus dem Tanzsalon, Op.174Aus der Schweiz, Op.57Aus Thüringen, WoO.45

C

Cachoucha-Caprice, Op.79Capriccietto über Motive aus der Oper 'Der Freischütz', Op.35Capriccio, Op.197Capriccio, Op.64Capriccio, Op.92Cello Concerto No.1, Op.193Cello Sonata, Op.183Chaconne for 2 Pianos, Op.150Chant de l'Ondin, Op.84Concert Overture, Op.123

D

Dans la nacelle, Rêverie-Barcarolle, Op.93Den Manen Scarlatti's, Op.26Deutschlands Auferstehung, Op.100Die Eifersüchtigen, WoO.54Die Parole, WoO.29Die Tageszeiten, Op.209Divertimento über Motive aus 'Die Jüdin', Op.43Duo, Op.59Duo, WoO.55

E

Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, Op.127

F

Fantaisie, Op.142Fantaisie-Polonaise, Op.106Fantasie militair über Motive aus 'Die Hugenotten', Op.36Fantasie über Motive aus 'Der Barbier von Sevilla', Op.44Fantasie über Motive aus 'Die Nachtwandlerin', Op.37Fantasie-Sonate, Op.168Fest-Ouvertüre, Op.117Fest-Ouverture, Op.124Frühlingsboten, Op.55

G

Grande Mazurka, Op.38Grande sonate, Op.14

H

Humoreske in Walzerform, Op.159

I

Illustrations de 'L'Africaine', Op.121Impromptu-valse, Op.94Introduction et Allegro scherzoso, Op.87Introduction und Fuge, WoO.25Italienische Suite, WoO.35

L

La Cicerenella, Op.165La dernière rose, Op.46La fée d’amour, Op.67La polka de la reine, Op.95Le galop, Op.104

M

Marche brillante, Op.132Mazurka-caprice, Op.83Musique de piano sur des motifs de l'opéra 'Le prétendant', Op.42

N

Notturno d'après une romance de François Liszt, Op.39

O

Ode au printemps, Op.76Orchestral Prelude to Shakespeare's Macbeth, WoO.50Orchestral Prelude to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, WoO.51

P

Phantasie, Op.119Phantasie, Op.207Piano Concerto, Op.185Piano Quintet, Op.107Piano Trio No.1, Op.102Piano Trio No.2, Op.112Piano Trio No.3, Op.155Piano Trio No.4, Op.158

R

Reisebilder, Op.160Reminiscenzen aus 'Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg', WoO.26Reminiscenzen aus Mozarts 'Don Juan', Op.45Romanze, Op.41Rondo brillant, Op.7

S

Sanges-Frühling, Op.98Scherzo, Op.3Schweizerweisen, Op.60Selected Pieces for PianoforteSinfonietta, Op.188Sleeping Beauty, WoO.19Spanische Rhapsodie, Op.120Ständchen, WoO.21String Octet, Op.176String Quartet No.1, Op.77String Quartet No.2, Op.90String Quartet No.3, Op.136String Quartet No.4, Op.137String Quartet No.5, Op.138String Quartet No.6, Op.192 No.1String Quartet No.7, Op.192 No.2String Quartet No.8, Op.192 No.3String Sextet, Op.178Suite de morceaux pour les petites mains, Op.75Suite No.1 for Orchestra, Op.101Suite No.1 for Piano, Op.69Suite No.2 for Piano, Op.71Suite No.2, Op.194Suite No.3 for Piano, Op.72Suite No.4 for Piano, Op.91Suite No.5 for Piano, Op.162Suite No.6 for Piano, Op.163Suite No.7 for Piano, Op.204Suite, Op.200Suite, Op.210Symphony No. 1Symphony No. 2Symphony No. 5Symphony No.10, Op.213Symphony No.11, Op.214Symphony No.3, Op.153

T

Tanz-Capricen, Op.54Tarentelle, Op.144Tears, Idle Tears, WoO.52ATodtentanz, Op.181Traumkönig und sein Lieb, Op.66

U

Ungarische Rhapsodie, Op.113

V

Valse brillante, Op.156Valse favorite, Op.118Valse-Caprice, Op.116Valse-impromptu à la tyrolienne, WoO.28Valse-Rondino sur des motifs de l'opéra 'Les Huguenots', Op.13Variationen über ein Originalthema, Op.179Variations, Op.6Villanella, Op.89Violin Concerto No.1, Op.161Violin Concerto No.2, Op.206Violin Sonata No.1, Op.73Violin Sonata No.2, Op.78Violin Sonata No.3, Op.128Violin Sonata No.4, Op.129Violin Sonata No.5, Op.145Volker, Op.203Vom Rhein, Op.134Von der schwäbischen Alb, Op.215

W

Wachet auf!, Op.80Welt-Ende, Gericht, Neue Welt, Op.212
Wikipedia
Joseph Joachim Raff (27 May 1822 – 24 or 25 June 1882) was a German-Swiss composer, pedagogue and pianist.
Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in Russia. Joachim was largely self-taught in music, studying the subject while working as a schoolmaster in Schmerikon, Schwyz and Rapperswil. He sent some of his piano compositions to Felix Mendelssohn who recommended them to Breitkopf & Härtel for publication. They were published in 1844 and received a favourable review in Robert Schumann's journal, the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, which prompted Raff to go to Zürich and take up composition full-time.
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 Bülow, 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 König 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. (This was at a time when women composers were not taken very seriously.) His pupils there included Edward MacDowell and Alexander Ritter. See: List of music students by teacher: R to S#Joachim Raff.
He died in Frankfurt on the night of June 24/25, 1882. His tomb is in Hauptfriedhof Frankfurt.
Raff was very prolific, and by the end of his life was one of the best known German composers, though his work is largely forgotten today. (Only one piece, a cavatina for violin and piano, is performed with any regularity today, sometimes as an encore.) He drew influence from a variety of sources - his eleven symphonies, for example, combine the Classical symphonic form, with the Romantic penchant for program music and contrapuntal orchestral writing which harks back to the Baroque. Most of these symphonies carry descriptive titles including In the Forest (No. 3), Lenore (No. 5) and To the Fatherland (No. 1), a very large-scale work lasting around seventy minutes. His last four symphonies make up a quartet of works based on the four seasons. A complete cycle of all his symphonies and many other orchestral works was recorded in the early 2000s by the Bamberg Symphony under Hans Stadlmair.
Raff's Symphony No. 3 "In the Forest" was enthusiastically received by the audience at that time, spread quickly to England and America and was one of the most played orchestral pieces in the world at the end of the 19th century. It fell into oblivion together with Raff himself, but influenced many later romantic composers including Tchaikovsky in his famous "Pathétique" for example. Arturo Toscanini conducted some performances of the symphony in 1931.
The Lenore symphony (No. 5), famous in its time, was inspired by a ballad of the same name by Gottfried August Bürger that also inspired works by several other composers, including Maria Theresia von Paradis (1789), Henri Duparc, Franz Liszt (late 1850s, mentioned by Alan Walker in his Liszt biography vol. 2), for example. The world premiere recording of Lenore was made in 1970 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bernard Herrmann, who championed Raff's orchestral music. He described it as "one of the finest examples of the Romantic Programme School - it deserves a place alongside the Symphonie fantastique of Berlioz, Liszt's Faust Symphony and the Manfred Symphony of Tchaikovsky".
Richard Strauss was a pupil of Hans von Bülow, a friend of Raff's, and it has been said that Strauss was influenced in his early works by Raff. For example, Raff's Symphony No. 7 In the Alps (1877) could be compared with Strauss's An Alpine Symphony (1915). Much of Raff's music has been said to forecast the early works of Jean Sibelius.
Raff also composed in most other genres, including concertos, opera, chamber music and works for solo piano. His chamber works include 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.
Raff's works include: