Joseph Joachim Raff was born on 27 May 1822 in the small town of Lachen, on the shores of lake Zürich in Switzerland. His father, Joseph, was a native of Empfingen, in Württemberg, south west Germany. In 1811, Joseph Raff had fled south to avoid compulsory conscription into Napoleon's army. After spells as organist & music teacher in a monastery in Wettingen and also in Lucerne, he set himself up as a schoolmaster in Lachen. In time he married the daughter of the local cantonal president - Katharina Schmid. 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.

Many of Raff’s works were premiered in Wiesbaden, sometimes with Raff himself conducting, but his world-wide fame spread until he came to be regarded as one of the foremost composers of his day - the equal of Brahms and Wagner. His skill at orchestration was prodigious and his ability as a melodist was universally praised, but he was not without his critics. Their main charge was grounded on the accusation that Raff was a Vielschreiber - someone who wrote (too) much and was too unselfcritical. He was accused of being an eclectic whose style was a synthesis of other composers’ styles rather than being his own. They felt that Raff’s natural aptitude was for character and salon pieces, rather than the symphonies, concertos and chamber music which he continued to produce. Raff could be a blunt and tactless person, who revelled in argument and enjoyed confrontation. He did little to placate his critics, however, and with growing success tended to become arrogant. "He was too proud" wrote even his daughter Helene.

He died at 60 of a heart attack on the night of 24/25 June 1882 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. Perhaps in writing the motto of his 6th. Symphony: "Lived, Struggled, Suffered, Fought, Died, Glorified", Raff was unconsciously penning what he hoped might be his own epitaph.

Raff's seven Piano Suites are the core of his "serious" output for piano and central to his efforts to perpetuate baroque forms in music. Typically they have five movements, "old bottles" called gigue or prelude into which Raff poured his highly romantic "new wine". It is easy to forget the extent to which he was a pioneer in this trend which was later to prove so popular. This first a minor suite of February 1857 set the pattern - a Preludio, followed by Mazurka, Toccatina and Aria before a final Fuga. Unlike many of the later suites however, which are very substantial pieces, each movement in this collection is short - but still full of Raff's typical virtouso pianism and romantic melos. The 2nd. and 3rd. suites followed within three months!

Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Raff).

Although originally created for Piano, I created this Interpretation of the Prelude from the Suite No. 1 in A Minor (Op. 69 No. 1) for Oboe & Concert (Pedal) Harp.