Max Joachim

Max Joachim, whose full first name was Maximilien Joachim, was born on 27 September 1870 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary. Little is known about his childhood and musical education. A French newspaper later described him as a “1er prix du Conservatoire de Vienne”, suggesting that he had received substantial musical training in Vienna. This statement, however, cannot at present be confirmed. The surviving student registers of the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna for the relevant period do not contain his name, and it is therefore possible that the contemporary French description referred to another Viennese music school or used the term “Conservatoire de Vienne” rather loosely.

Joachim must nevertheless have begun his professional musical career at an early age. The first trace so far discovered dates from 1889, when he was only nineteen years old. On 17 November of that year the Budapest newspaper Pester Lloyd mentioned a “Schnellpolka” titled "Am Donaustrand" by Max Joachim that had been published by the Budapest music publishing firm Zipser & König. This early publication suggests that Joachim already had connections with the musical life of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy before eventually moving westwards.

The next securely documented stage of his life is Nancy in north-eastern France. Municipal records identify him as “Maximilien Joachim”, a pianist born in Vienna on 27 September 1870. He arrived in Nancy on 2 September 1897 and lived at 20 rue Saint-Nicolas. His presence there can thus be established independently of the musical press.

Joachim quickly became active in the musical life of Nancy both as a pianist and as a conductor. An advertisement in L'Est républicain of 22 November 1898 describes him as a “pianiste chef d'orchestre” offering private lessons and also advertising his services in orchestration. The same address, 20 rue Saint-Nicolas, is given in the advertisement. This provides a particularly clear picture of his professional activities at the time: he earned his living not only through performance and conducting but also through teaching and arranging music.

Joachim was already composing songs during his Nancy years. In 1898 he wrote the mélodie Vos yeux on a text by the French chansonnier and poet Gabriel Montoya. The surviving autograph manuscript is signed and dated “Max Joachim, Nancy, 1898”. The collaboration is noteworthy because Montoya was an established figure in the Parisian cabaret and chanson world and later became particularly associated with the artistic milieu of Montmartre. Joachim also composed a work entitled Le Fou on a poem by Lucas, which was announced in the Nancy press in 1898.

By 1899 Joachim's activities had extended to Paris. On 7 November 1899 Le Petit bleu de Paris reported on the “Cigales et Cigaliers parisiens”, with Max Joachim appearing as their musical director. He was described as a well-known maestro, accompanied at the piano and presented a composition of his own entitled Élans de l'âme. Only a few days later, on 14 November 1899, the Allgemeine Wiener-Zeitung reported to its Austrian readers that Joachim had become concert director of the Parisian “Cigaliers” and remarked that the young Viennese musician had “made his fortune” or achieved success in Paris. These reports indicate that by the end of the 1890s Joachim had established a reputation beyond Nancy and was becoming involved in the flourishing Parisian world of cafés-concerts, chansons and popular entertainment.

He nevertheless remained connected with Nancy around the turn of the century. Local press notices document further musical activity there in 1900, including a work or production entitled Le Sang gaulois. His career at this period appears to have combined several overlapping fields: pianist, accompanist, conductor, teacher, orchestrator and composer of songs and lighter theatrical or concert music.

In January 1901 L'Union libérale again described Max Joachim as a “chef d'orchestre”. The newspaper also referred to him as a holder of a first prize from the Vienna Conservatory. Although the latter claim cannot presently be reconciled with the surviving official student lists of the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, the repeated references to his professional musical qualifications indicate that his Viennese training was regarded as an important part of his public identity in France.

Joachim continued to compose for the French popular-music and chanson repertoire. One of his later documented works is the romance J'en aime un autre !, with words by Paul Rosario. It was performed by the celebrated singer Paulette Darty and published in the illustrated music periodical Paris qui chante in 1907. The song appeared in issue no. 213, dated 17 February 1907.

The known evidence therefore reveals a musician whose career developed from the Austro-Hungarian musical world of the late nineteenth century into the French entertainment and concert scene. Born and apparently trained in Vienna, Joachim had a composition published in Budapest while still a teenager, settled in Nancy in 1897, and by the end of the decade was working both there and in Paris as a pianist, conductor and composer. His surviving music shows a particular association with French song and chanson, while contemporary advertisements demonstrate that his professional activities extended to teaching and orchestration.

The later course of Max Joachim's life remains unknown. No reliable record of his death has yet been identified, and after the publication of J'en aime un autre ! in 1907 his trail becomes increasingly difficult to follow. He should not be confused with the Austrian-born Max Joachim who emigrated to the United States and became the father of the comedians known as the Ritz Brothers; that man was born in 1871 and represents a different person.

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of Max Joachim's song Vos yeux for voice and piano on a poem by Gabriel Montoya. The manuscript is signed “Max Joachim” and dated “Nancy, 1898”. It therefore belongs precisely to the period shortly after Joachim settled in Nancy and is currently one of the few surviving musical documents that can be securely associated with this largely forgotten Viennese-born composer.