DIRECTORIO / BIBLIOTECA DE VIOLONCELLISTAS HISTORICOS FAMOSOS

Apellidos empezando con K

** Christopher van Kampen
1945 – 1997
Britain
Important Activity:
Principal cello Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (London).  Principal Cello London Sinfonietta.  Cellist of the Nash Ensemble (London). Collaborator with Fitzwilliam Quartet.
Premieres:
Hans Abrahamsen's Lied in Fall.  
H.K. Gruber -  Cello Concerto.
Mark-Anthony Turnage - Kai
Friendships:
John Taverner.
Anecdotes:
* Pupil of Douglas Cameron.
* at one point Cello tutor to National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

** Moritz Kahnt 
1836 - ???? (at least 1895)
Germany (later Switzerland)
Important Activity:
Principal cello Basle Concert Orchestra. Professor Basle Music School. Superintendent of a Musicians’ Union (Basle).
Anecdotes:
* Pupil of Fr. Grutzmacherin Leipzig Consevatoire.
* He gave the premiere of Brahms - Cello Sonata No.1 in E minor, Op.38 (Basle, Switzerland), with Hans Von Bülow on piano

** Maurycy (Moritz) Karasowski
1823 – 1892
Poland
Important Activity:
Royal chamber musician Dresden Court, and Principal cello Royal Theatre Orchestra, Dresden.   Principal cello Warsaw Opera Orchestra.
Music/Publications:  
own original pieces for cello.  Also an important writer on general music themes in the Polish language. 
Anecdotes:
* pupil of Valentin Kratzer.
INFORMATION  BY  DOROTA PUKOWNIK

** ?. Karauschek
???? – 1789
Germany
Important Activity:
Service at Thum-and-Taxis Kapelle, Regensburg.
Anecdotes:
* served at the above post 1750 to 1760. An excellent cellist by contemporary reports, but religious fanaticism caused him later to go into a Carmelite cloister.

** Jan Karlowicz
1836 – 1903
Poland
Important Activity:
Cello soloist and music scholar.
Anecdotes:
* father of Polish composer Mieczyslaw Karlowicz
INFORMATION  BY  DOROTA PUKOWNIK

** Paul Kefér
1875 – 1941
France (later USA)
Important Activity:
Cellist of New York Philharmonic (1903-1905); New York Symphony Orchestra (1904-1913); also principal cellist in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Member of Trio Lutèce (1914); Franco-American Quartet; Rochester Philharmonic (1924-1941). Appointed professor of cello at the Eastman School of Music.
Anecdotes:
*  One of his two daughters was the film actress Rose Hobart, whose career flourished in the 1940s until she was blacklisted as a result of the House Un-American Activities Committee’s investigation of Communist influence in the film industry.

** Christian Kellerman
1815 – 1866
Denmark (later Austria, Germany)
Important Activity:
Principal cello Royal Danish Orchestra.
Anecdotes:
* Pupil of Merk in Vienna.

** Johann Friedrich Kelz
1786 – 1862
Germany
Important Activity:
Member Orchestra of Prince Frederick August, Brunswick. Royal chamber Musician Berlin Court.
Music/Publications:   
many own original pieces, but described as ‘superficial’.

** John Kennedy
1923 – 1978
Britain
Important Activity:
Principal cello Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London.
Anecdotes:
* son of cellist Lauri Kennedy; and father to violinist Nigel Kennedy.

** Lauri Kennedy
1898 – c.1985
Australia (later Britain)
Important Activity:
Principal cello BBC Symphony Orchestra. Principal cello London Philharmonic Orchestra.  Duo with pianist-wife Dorothy McBride. Trio (with Daisy Kennedy and McBride). Principal cello Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Professor Royal Celloge of Music, London.  
Anecdotes:
* largely self-taught.
* father of cellist John Kennedy, and grand-father of violinist Nigel Kennedy.
Article in JOHNSTONE-MUSIC

** Jenö Kerpely
1885 – 1954
Hungary (later USA)
Important Activity:
Waldbauer String Quartet.  Professor Academy of Music, Budapest.
Premieres:
Bartok – String Quartet No. 1
Anecdotes:
* pupil of Popper.
* Conservatoire teacher between 1913-18 and between 1928-48.
* lived in USA from 1948.
INFORMATION  BY  TIBOR MOLNAR

** Albert William Ketèlbey (born Ketelby)
1875 – 1959
England
Important Activity:
He was an English composer, conductor and pianist, best known for his short pieces of light orchestral music, and many songs. His works were frequently recorded during his heyday (the two decades after the First World War), and a substantial part of his output has been put on CD in more recent years. Under his own name and at least six pseudonyms Ketèlbey composed several hundred works, about 150 of them for the orchestra. Ketèlbey's popularity began to wane during the Second World War and his originality also declined. Recently there has been almost a revival of interest in his music. What concerns us here it that although he was primarily a composer and a skilled orchestrator he was also a capable player of the cello, clarinet, oboe, and horn!
Article in JOHNSTONE-MUSIC

** Aram Il’yich Khachaturian
1903 – 1978
Armenia
Important Activity:
Important 20th century composer, who started as a promising cello student before dedicating himself to composition. He studied cello under Mikhail Gnesin, and then composition with Myaskovsky.  He became Professor at the Gnesin State Musical and Pedagogical Institute (Moscow) and at the Moscow Conservatory.  Cello works include 2 concertos, and a Solo Cello sonata.

** Reginald Kilby    (also Kilbey)
1903 -1975
Great Britain
Important Activity:
Lighter music soloist (many BBC special programmes such as ‘Grand Hotel’). Member Max Jaffa Trio. Principal cello BBC Radio Orchestra.
Anecdotes:
* studied at Royal College of Music, London, with Ludwig Lebell
* made professional debut at just 17, playing Elgar’s Cello Concerto.
* later developed career as a professional conductor

** Hans Kindler
1892 – 1949
Holland (later USA)
Important Activity:
Principal cello Charlottenburg Opera.  Chamber music recitals with Ravel and Rachmaninov. Principal cello Philadelphia Orchestra, Founder of National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, USA) and was its chief conductor. Establisher of The Kindler Foundation Trust Fund.
Premieres: 
works by Schoenberg  (cello part  in ‘Pierrot Lunaire’), and by Ravel.  
Bloch – Schelomo, Hebrew rhapsody for cello and orchestra.
Dedications: 
Busoni/Bach – Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue for vlc/pno (dedicated by Busoni). 
Martinu – Cello Sonata No. 3 (in memoriam).  
Ornstein – Cello Sonata No.1, Op.52
Anecdotes: 
* Played a solo with Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra at age 18. 
* He orchestrated and recorded Cassado's "Frescobaldi Toccata."
* The key to him forming (in 1931) the National Symphony Orchestra was a concert given in Washington, D.C using unemployed musicians!
* as conductor, had a repertoire of more than 700 orchestral works.
* believed to have taken his own life.

** KING (Albert) Edward VII
1841-1910
Great Britain and Ireland
Important Activity:
Whilst a cello-playing Prince of Wales (in fact, the longest heir apparent in the history of Britain!), he founded the Royal College of Music, London.

** KING of Prussia – Frederick Wilhelm II
1744 – 1797
Important Activity:
Excellent amateur cellist, who was very interested in generating important cello repertoire. He was dedicated works by:
Boccherini – some 56 works !
Haydn – 6 String Quartets
Mozart – 3 String Quartets
J.P. Duport – 6 Sonatas
Beethoven – 2 Cello sonatas, Op. 5

** KING George III – (King of Great Britain and Ireland)
1738 – 1820
Britain
Important Activity:
An amateur cellist but who took the cello quite seriously!
The eight year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart received a commission for three violin sonatas from King George III's consort Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744-1818). There exists a CELLO part, which is an addition possibly made for this cello playing King himself, but most editions exclude it!

** KING George IV  – (King of Great Britain and Ireland)
1762 – 1830
Britain
Important Activity:
A serious amateur cellist !  – he was a pupil of  then famous English cellist John Crosdil
Article in JOHNSTONE-MUSIC

** Julius Klengel
1859 – 1933
Germany
Important Activity:
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (member at 15, principal cello at 22),  Gewandhaus Quartet (with Brodsky), Trio with Brodsky and Tanjeev, Duo with Max Reger,  Professor Leipzig Conservatoire
Premieres: 
Reger – Suite in G (Op.131/1) (also dedicatee), 
Reger – Cello Sonata No.4, Op.116 (1911)
Popper – Spinning Song, Op. 55 No.1. 
Dedications:
Grützmacher – ‘Elite Studies’ for solo cello (pieces becoming original arts)
Popper - Sinning Song & Jagdstück, Op.55 ( late 1880s)
Reinecke – Romanze in A minor, Op.263 (1903)
Music/Publications: 
many own original works  and studies. 
Friendships: 
Reger, Grieg, Brahms, Rubinstein, Brodsky
Anecdotes:
* Students included Piatigorsky, Feuermann, Paul Grümmer, Joachim Stutschewsky, Pleeth, and Edmund Kurtz.
** his brother Paul (1854-1935) was a choral conductor and professor at the Leipzig Conservatoire - he arranged Brahms’ G Major Sonata Op.78 for cello.
Article in JOHNSTONE-MUSIC

** Magnus Klietz
1828 - ????
Holland
Important Activity:
Principal cello Stadt-Theatre Hamburg (succeeding J.A.J. Goltermann). Member Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Co-founder Hamburg Quartet Union.
Anecdotes:
* Pupil of Ganz.

** Johannes Klingenberg
1852 — 1905
Germany
Important Activity:
Principal cello  Brunswick Hofkapelle. Cello Professor (in the Dresden school tradition).  Editor for Collection Litolff.
Music/Publications:  
His work includes amalgamating previous masters’ studies into new volumes/manuals. He revised Dotzaeur’s Cello method and his 113 Etudes.
Anecdotes:
* He mysteriously disappeared while hiking in the mountains

** Gustave Knoop
1805 – 1849
Germany (later USA)
Important Activity:
Member Meiningen Court Orchestra.
Anecdotes:
* Solely wed to get into his possession a valuable Violoncello which belonged to his new wife; that being, soon after the wedding he set out on a journey with the instrument, and did not return home again (went to North America in 1843).

** Svyatoslav Knushevitzky
1907 – 1963
Russia
Important Activity:
Principal cello Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra 1929-1943.  Principal cello Moscow Radio Orchestra.   Professor Moscow Conservatoire.  Trio (with Oistrakh and Oborin). Duo with Oborin.  Oistrakh (Beethoven)  String Quartet.
Dedications: 
Khachaturian – Cello Concerto in E minor (1946). 
Myaskovsky – Cello Concertó in C minor (1944) 
Vasilenko – Cello Concerto. 
Goedicke – Cello Sonata.
Gliere – Cello Concerto in D minor, Op.87 (1946)
Premieres:
Presumerably some of the afore- mentioned dedicated works (but not the Myaskovsky or Khachaturian concertos). 
Was the first cellist to record the ‘original version’ of Tchaikovsky – Rococo Variations.
Anecdotes:
* maintained a close long association with David Oistrakh.
* a pupil of Semyon Kozolupov at the Moscow Conservatoire, graduating with a gold medal. 
* In 1933 Knushevitsky won First Prize at the Аll-Union Music Competition
*He was awarded the USSR State Prize (1950), and the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1956)
* amongst his students number Mikhail Khomitzer, Stefan Popov, Yevgeny Altman and the double bassist Rodion Azarkhin.
* His wife Natalia Spiller (1909–1995) was a soprano soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre for over 30 years. She was a favourite of Joseph Stalin and often sang at the Kremlin. She taught at the Gnessin Institute 1950-76
* Unfortunately he was an alcoholic, which, along with his frenetic lifestyle, contributed to his early death at the age of 55 in 1963, in Moscow.

** Friedrich Ernest Koch
1862 – 1927
Germany
Important Activity:
Member Royal Orchestra of Berlin. Mmusic director (Kapellmeister) at Baden-Baden. Professor and director of theory at the Musikhochschule. Berlin.
Music:  
own original works include two symphonies, and piano trio.
Anecdotes:
* pupil of Robert Hausmann.
* later devoted to composing and teaching.

** Holocaust Victim - Eli Kochanski - Cellist and pedagogue, born in Odessa 1885, died in Warsaw 19/10/1940

** Zoltan Kodaly
1882 – 1967
Hungary
Important Activity:
Kodaly was very interested in cello playing in his youth – indeed it is said that his major youthful work – the Solo Cello Sonata, Op. 8, was an attempt to write down in notation all the things he physically could not do on the cello !

** Holocaust Victim - Pavel Kohn - Cellist, trumpet player, born in 13/12/1920, died in Auschwitz 30/09/1944

** Ignaz (Ignacy) Marceli Komorowski
1824 – 1857
Poland
Important Activity:
Member Warsaw theatre Orchestra.
Music/Publications:  
Own original pieces, including charming songs.
Anecdotes:
* Pupil of Adam Hermann
INFORMATION  BY  DOROTA PUKOWNIK

** Otto van Koppenhagen
1895 – 1978
Holland
Important Activity:
Principal New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Prpfessor at Brown University, Rhode Island.

** Samuel Kossowski
1805 – 1861
Poland
Important Activity:
Cellist.
Anecdotes:
* originally a violinist !
* a professional soloist who was almost entirely self-taught!
* between 1842-52 performed as soloist in many important European cities.
INFORMATION  BY  DOROTA PUKOWNIK

** Halina Kowalska
1913 - 1998
Poland
Important Activity:
Principal cello Warsaw Polish Radio Orchestra.
Anecdotes:
* later worked in Israel (1958) and Denmark (1971).
INFORMATION  BY  DOROTA PUKOWNIK

** Tadeusz Kowalski
1904 - ????
Poland
Important Activity:
Principal cello Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra.
Anecdotes:
* pupil of Maurice Eisenberg
INFORMATION  BY  DOROTA PUKOWNIK

** Semyon Kozolupov
1884 – 1961
Russia
Important Activity:
Professor Moscow Conservatoire
Produced high level of students, including Rostropovich.

** Anton Kraft
1749 – 1820
Austria
Important Activity:
Principal cello Esterházy orchestra,  Orchestra of Prince Antal Grassalkovich de Gyarak in Bratislava,  Orchestra of Prince Joseph Lobkowitz in Vienna, Professor Gesellschafter der Musikfreunde Conservatoire, Vienna (Conservatoire of the Viennese Society of the Friends of Music).  Schuppanzigh Quartet (patronized by Prince Karl Lichnowsky)
Premieres:    
Haydn – various Cello concertos, including possibly the D Major concerto. 
Music/Publications:
works for cello including a spectacular virtuoso concerto (c. 1790).
Friendships:  
Haydn, Beethoven
Anecdotes:
* Surely Beethoven had him in mind for the cello part in his Triple Concerto, Op. 56, but the premiere was finally given by J.F. Dotzauer.  

** Nicolaus Kraft
1778 – 1853
Austria (later Czech) (son of Anton Kraft)
Important Activity:
Member of Prince Joseph Lobkowitz’s Orchestra   Schuppanzigh String Quartet.
Premieres:   
first performances of several Beethoven string quartets
Music/Publications:  
Own original pieces

** Artur Krasa
1868 – 1929
Czech
Important Activity:
Principal cello Prague National Theatre Orchestra.
Anecdotes:
* First Czech cellist to play the Dvorak Concerto
* also an  initial firm exponent of the Lalo Concerto.

** Rudolf Krasselt
1879 – 1954
Germany
Important Activity:
Co-principal cello Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Principal cello Vienna Opera Orchestra. Principal cello Boston Symphony Orchestra. Professor (conducting) at Berlin Akademische Hochschule für Musik. Music Director of the Staatsoper Hannover. Director Stockholm Symphony Orchestra.
Anecdotes:
* Played co-principal in Berlin Philharmonic sharing first desk with Anton Hekking, and was made principal when Hekking left.
* He left the Boston Symphony Orchestra to prepare a conducting career.

** Hugo Kreisler
1884 – 1929
Austria
Important Activity:
Sub-principal cello Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.  Fitzner Quartet. Wiener Konzertverein Quartet.  Member Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Member Philadelphia Orchestra.  Professor Vienna Academy.
Anecdotes:
* brother of famed violinist Fritz Kreisler.
* pupil of Klengel (Leipzig Conservatoire).
* had a spell in America, but never felt at ease ( = somewhat homesick).

** J.J. Kriegck
1750 – 1813
Germany
Important Activity:
As violinist - Orchestra of Court of Meinigen (aged 12 !). Musician for Landgrave of Hesse-Philippstadt. Orchestral leader Opera Amsterdam. Then studied under Duport (junior) and adopted the cello. Cellist to the Prince de Laval- Montmorency. Chamber cellist in Court of Meinigen and later ‘konxertmeister’.Music/Publications:   Own original works, including 3 cello concertos.

** Hans Kronold
1872 - 1922
Poland (later USA)
Important Activity:
Member of major North American orchestras. Professor at New York College of Music. Recording artist for Columbia Records, and the Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Anecdotes:
* a pupil of Anton Hekking
* a composer of prolific miniatures; probably more than one hundred pieces for cello and piano

** Friedrich August Kummer
1797 — 1879
Germany
Important Activity:
Dresden Chapel Orchestra (as oboist), Dresden Opera Orchestra (tutti, then principal cello),  Quartet (with F. Schubert and B. Milller), Quartet (with  K. Lipinsky, F. Hiflweck, L. Hering), Quartet (with Pierre Baillot, Karol Lipinsky, and on viola, Felix Mendelssohn). Professor Dresden Conservatoire (from its opening).
Music:   
Own original pieces, studies and cello method
Friendships:   
C.M. von Weber
Article in JOHNSTONE-MUSIC