Kaiser was born in Milken, East Prussia (Miłki, Poland) in 1928. He was the son of a country doctor. Literature and music began to interest him at an early age, and at age eight he began to play the piano. After the flight and expulsion of Germans from Central and Eastern Europe 1945–1950, he attended the Wilhelm-Gymnasium (Hamburg). He then studied musicology, German studies, philosophy and sociology at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main and the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen. Among his fellow students were the musicologists Carl Dahlhaus and Rudolf Stephan.

Kaiser's career as a critic began in 1951. On his review of the Theodor W. Adorno publication: Music and Catastrophe. About the "Philosophy of New Music", Mathias Döpfner described him as one of "the best known and most successful Adorno students ever".^[1] Beginning in 1953, Kaiser took part in events of Group 47. In 1958 he was awarded a doctorate in German Studies at the University of Tübingen on the subject of Franz Grillparzer's dramatic style.

Kaiser worked in the cultural editorial department of the Süddeutsche Zeitung from 1959. He was a member of the writers' association PEN-Zentrum Deutschland.

Besides ground-breaking pianists such as Artur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, Sviatoslav Richter and Friedrich Gulda he introduced young interpreters and explained developments in the art of piano playing.^[2]

Kaiser felt a special connection to the work of Richard Wagner and supported and accompanied the new beginning of the Bayreuth Festival in 1951 under the direction of Wagner's grandchildren, Wieland and Wolfgang.

Kaiser married the translator and novelist Susanne Kaiser in December 1958.^[3] They had two children: the director Henriette Kaiser^[4] and the sports editor Philipp Kaiser. He lived in Munich on the edge of the Englischer Garten.^[5]

In 2009 he handed over his extensive private archive to the Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach as a Nachlass. Besides letters from Theodor W. Adorno and Alfred Andersch, it contains correspondence with Ingeborg Bachmann, Ernst Bloch and Heinrich Böll. From May 2009 onward, Kaiser answered readers' questions weekly in his video column Kaiser's Classic Customer on the website of SZ-Magazin which he had to give up two years later, due to ilness. The series has not been continued since.^[6]

Kaiser died in Munich, aged 88.

• Kleines Theatertagebuch.^[7] Rowohlt, Reinbek 1965 (with preface: Kritik als Beruf).
• Große Pianisten in unserer Zeit. Piper Verlag, Munich 1965; New edition 1996, ISBN 3-492-22376-1.
• Beethovens 32 Klaviersonaten und ihre Interpreten. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1975, ISBN 3-10-038601-9.
• Erlebte Musik. Von Bach bis Stravinsky.^[8] Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1977, ISBN 3-455-08942-9.
• Erlebte Musik. Teil 2. Von Wagner bis Zimmermann.^[9] DTV, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-423-01787-2.
• Mein Name ist Sarastro. Die Gestalten in Mozart's Meisteropern von Alfonso bis Zerlina.^[10] Piper, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-492-02818-7.
• Wie ich sie sah … und wie sie waren – Zwölf kleine Porträts. List, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-471-77969-8.
• Erlebte Literatur. Deutsche Schriftsteller in unserer Zeit.^[11] Piper, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-492-03048-3.
• Leben mit Wagner. Knaus, Munich 1990; New edition: Siedler, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-8275-0028-1.
• „Vieles ist auf Erden zu thun.“ Imaginäre Gespräche (…).^[12] Piper, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-492-03490-X.
• Was mir wichtig ist.^[13] Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-421-05056-2.
• Kaisers Klassik. 100 Meisterwerke der Musik. Schneekluth, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-7951-1425-X.
• Kaisers Klassik. Da Capo. Schneekluth, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7951-1732-1.
• Von Wagner bis Walser. Neues zu Literatur und Musik.^[14] Pendo, Zürich 1999, ISBN 3-85842-358-0.
• "Ich bin der letzte Mohikaner".^[15] (autobiography, with Henriette Kaiser). Ullstein, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-550-08697-7.

Catalogue of works

• Gesa Anssar, Gert Rabanus [de], Helmut Kreuzer [de]: Kaiser-Verzeichnis. Allitera, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-86520-019-2.

Lecture series edit

Kaiser's many years of lecturing activity at the Gasteig in Munich include his extensive series of lectures on specific artists and art forms, especially on the subject of music:

• About Ludwig van Beethoven in the 1970s; in Munich (Gymnasium Fürstenried, 60 lectures)
• About Mozart's operas; in the 1990s in Vaterstetten
• About Richard Wagner; i Munich Gasteig (Carl Orff-Hall), from 1989 to 11 May 1993 (63 lectures)
• About Symphony and Sonata between Beethoven, Brahms and Mahler
• The secret of great string quartet – Beethoven and Schubert as creators of classical chamber music works; at the Gasteig in Munich; the series was transferred to "The great late works", from 18 September 2007 to 16 November 2010.

From 11 October 1994 to 17 July 2007 Kaiser gave 206 lectures, a total of 322. With 170,000 listeners, Kaiser's lectures are the most successful event to date of the Münchner Volkshochschule [de].

Radio series edit

During weekly radio broadcasts (one hour long, for example "Kaisers Corner" in Bayern4-Klassik), he dealt with Chopin for half a year and with "Beethoven – Werk und Wirkung" for a whole year. In addition to this, there were regular word broadcasts, such as "Kaiser's Magazine Show".

• Der letzte Kaiser. TV-Feature, 2008, 5:25 Min., Buch: Peter Gerhardt, Produktion: Hessischer Rundfunk, ttt – titel, thesen, temperamente [de], First broadcast: 16 November 2008.
• Musik im Fahrtwind. Dokumentarfilm, 2006, 87 Min., Written and directed by Henriette Kaiser, Production: Lemuel Film, First broadcast: 5 November 2006, Bayerischer Rundfunk
• Der Klassik-Kaiser. Dokumentarfilm, 1997, Buch und Regie: Eckhart Schmidt, Production: Raphaela Film GmbH
• In the film Bruckners Entscheidung (1995) by Jan Schmidt-Garre Kaiser played the role of Richard Wagner.

• 1966: Theodor Wolff Prize
• 1993: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 1. Class
• 1993: Ludwig Börne Prize awarded for the first time
• 1997: Kultureller Ehrenpreis der Landeshauptstadt München [de]
• 2001: Hildegard von Bingen Prize for Journalism
• 2004: Julius-Campe-Preis [de] for critics
• 2009: Goldene Ehrenmünze der Landeshauptstadt München [de]
• 2010: Theodor-Wolff-Preis, for his life's work^[16]
• 2013: Distinction of the Medium Magazin [de], for his life's work^[17]

• Literature by and about Joachim Kaiser in the German National Library catalogue
• AudioVideo: Folge 10, über Bach bzw. Beethoven (Goldberg- bzw. Diabelli-Variationen) auf YouTube

Interviews

• "Ich weiß, dass ich sterben muss. Und zwar relativ bald". In Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 12 December 2008, Nr.50, Interview in nine little parts
• "Ich habe nichts gegen Dackel". In the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 24 October 2005

Obituaries

• Langjähriger Feuilletonchef und SZ-Kritiker Joachim Kaiser ist tot. In the Süddeutsche Zeitung, 11 May 2017
• tagesspiegel.de: Meinungshäuptling der deutschen Kulturnation
• FAZ.net: Vom Genie eines ergriffenen Begreifers
• welt.de / Manuel Brug: Er war der Florist im Garten der Prosa