Between 1856 and 1864 Joachim composed three more pieces that use ciphers. All three pieces were significantly delayed in seeing the light of day: they appeared in print long after they were composed, so that the passage of time, in effect, concealed some of their original meaning. The overture ‘Dem Andenken des unglücklichen Kleist demuthvoll geweiht’ (‘Humbly dedicated to the memory of the unhappy Kleist’), as Joachim referred to it on 20 November 1856, was slightly revised, published and performed with a changed title. The Notturno (1858) for violin and orchestra was published in 1874, but with a dedicatee different from that which the cipher suggested. And the third piece, the Violin Concerto in G major in three movements, was first performed in June 1864 but then set aside and eventually revived for a completely new occasion. These three compositions marked the end of Joachim's main compositional period. After completing the Concerto in G major, he returned to composing almost only for occasional works.

The three late pieces fall into a phase distinct from the cipher pieces of the early 1850s. From 1857 onwards Joachim's fixation on Gisela von Arnim for inspiration took a decided turn. After a nearly two-year pause in the correspondence (May 1857–February 1859) Herman married Gisela, and a new situation emerged. But between 1857 and 1859 some poignant developments took place as the chapter of Gisela and Joachim's long affair drew to a fatalistic end (enforced from the outside). Between the early 1860s and 1872 a phase of casual friendship emerged, which was not without problems, owing in part to their past intimacy. Some of Gisela's letters from the 1860s are preserved, and they show that she continuously reminded him to compose and, in her straightforward manner (inherited, perhaps from her mother) did not withhold her criticism of him as a ‘mere’ performing musician (‘in possession’ of the public).1 In 1872, however, another, final conflict separated von Arnim and Joachim until her death in 1889. But as we shall see, even this separation did not stop their secret dedication to one another. Some details came to light only after Gisela's death. How Gisela von Arnim's and Joseph Joachim's relationship developed after 1856 and how the three cipher pieces fit into this development is the focus of this chapter.