Prince Joachim Albrecht of Prussia

Prince Joachim Albrecht of Prussia was born on 27 September 1876 in Hanover (Germany). His full name was Wilhelm Friedrich Karl Ernst Joachim Albrecht Prinz von Preußen, and he was a member of the House of Hohenzollern. He was the second of the three sons of Prince Albert of Prussia (1837–1906) and his wife Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg (1854–1898).
Prince Joachim Albrecht studied law at the University of Bonn. Like other male members of the Hohenzollern family, he also pursued a military career and became an officer in the 4th Queen Augusta Guards Grenadier Regiment. During World War I he served as a lieutenant colonel and was seriously wounded. Music, however, had occupied an important place in his life long before this. He subsequently devoted himself increasingly to composing and conducting.
On 3 September 1919, Prince Joachim Albrecht married Marie Blich-Sulzer, but the marriage was not recognized by his family. On 9 October 1920 he married Karoline Kornelia Stockhammer in Vienna. The couple divorced in 1936.

Prince Joachim Albrecht died on 24 October 1939 in Berlin.

Music and especially composing appealed to Prince Joachim since his student days and he already made a name for himself composing at that time. In 1898, he presented a military waltz he wrote to a family gathering. An orchestra played it, while Emperor Wilhelm conducted it. In 1905, he wrote the libretto and pantomime for "The Apple of Paris", which was well received in Berlin. He also composed ballets and symphonies, and he also was an accomplished violin and cello player. He described himself as old-fashioned, especially in relation to music. He stated in 1927 that he was old-fashioned "because I am a thoroughly healthy individual. Much modern music is unnatural and discordant because composers and audiences have jaded nerves which need stirring up. I want my hearers to leave my concerts with the feeling that I have furnished them with esthetic delight and instilled harmony and beauty into their souls".
In 1926, Joachim accepted an invitation to present his compositions in a series of concerts in leading American cities. He received this invite after playing in a number of welfare concerts in Berlin, and conducting his own works throughout the previous summer in Central Germany. One such concert was planned for Newark, in which Joachim would be conducting an orchestra to music written by himself. All of these concerts would have been done for various charitable organizations. After his arrival in the United States however, it soon emerged that he would do no performing while in the country.

In my possession are two autograph manuscripts of unpublished compositions by Prince Joachim Albrecht of Prussia. The two compositions are "Tango 1926" and "Der Schönsten", both for small orchestra.

I obtained these manuscripts from an US source and they date from 1926 resp. 1927. So these scores were most likely sent to the US in preparation of the announced welfare tour through American cities. The address label of the package did not survive completely, but one can still read that it was sent from "Berlin W 62, Budapester Straße 2" (the private address of the Prince) to a "Dr. M. W. Sullivan" in New York.

Tango 1926

"Tango 1926" is scored for piano, harmonium, violin I, violin obbligato, cello, double bass and tenor banjo. The instrumental parts are manuscript copies made by Mischa Michaeloff, while the title page of the piano part is in the hand of Prince Joachim Albrecht and bears his signature.
Mischa Michaeloff, whose original name was Mischa Sisserman, was a Russian-born composer and conductor born in 1890. After leaving Russia he settled in Berlin. Independent biographical information confirms that in 1926 he lived at Steinplatz and collaborated with Prince Joachim Albrecht. This is particularly interesting in connection with the present manuscript. Michaeloff himself was active in the field of light and dance music, and a *Savoy Tango Medley* by him is also known. After 1933 he moved to England, where he became a British citizen and achieved some success with his "gypsy orchestra". He later returned to Berlin and died in 1967.

Der Schönsten

"Der Schönsten", additionally titled "A la plus belle", is a Valse Boston dating from 1927. It is scored for flute, clarinet in A, saxophone in E-flat, trumpet in A, trombone, piano, timpani in F and B, bells, violin I, violin obbligato, cello and double bass. The piano part is in Prince Joachim Albrecht's own hand, while the remaining instrumental parts were prepared by the "Notenschreib-Büro Dr. Wohlauer, Berlin W. 50, Ansbacher Straße 8".
The copying office belonged to the composer and conductor Adolf Wohlauer (1893–1943), who established his professional music-copying service at Ansbacher Straße 8 in 1921. Remarkably, surviving records from 1938 explicitly name Prince Joachim Albrecht of Prussia among the customers of Wohlauer's office.