DIRECTORIO / BIBLIOTECA DE VIOLONCELLISTAS HISTORICOS FAMOSOS

Apellidos empezando con W

** {Patricia} Ruth Waddell (Waddel)
1891-1981
Scotland
Important Activity:
Member of the Reid (Symphony) Orchestra. violoncello teacher and performer.
Anecdotes:
* Sister of Mamie Waddell (sometimes the surname is spelled with one L as in Waddel)
* she was a student of Portuguese cellist Guilhermina Suggia
* In 1946 the University of Edinburgh awarded each of the two sisters an Hon.D.Mus
* after their deaths the Maimie and Ruth Waddell Memorial Prize was established for String Players
* amongst her students were Joan Dickson and Eleanor ‘Kitty’ Gregorson

** Henryk Waghalter     [considered a Holocaust Victim]
1869 – 1958
Poland
Important Activity:
Principal cello Warsaw Opera theatre Orchestra.  Also an organist.
Anedotes:
* born in Warsaw, died in Katowice
* pupil of Becker and Klengel.
* also cello professor, composer,  and orchestral conductor.
INFORMATION  BY  DOROTA PUKOWNIK

** Józef Wagner
1768 – 1855
Poland
Important Activity:
Cello professor in Warsaw.
INFORMATION  BY  DOROTA PUKOWNIK

** Herbert Walenn
1870 – 1953
Great Britain
Important Activity:
Founder of The London Violoncello School, Professor Royal Academy of Music (London).
Article in JOHNSTONE-MUSIC

** Alfred Wallenstein
1898 – 1983
USA
Important Activity:
Member San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Member Los angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Principal cello Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Principal cello New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Music Director Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Professor Juillard School of Music (New York).
Anecdotes:
* Toscanini advised him to become a conductor !

** Heinrich Warnke
1870 – 1938
Germany
Important Activity:
Member Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Principal cello Kaim Orchestra. Principal cello Boston Symphony Orchestra. Principal cello Metroplitan Opera Orchestra (New York).  Boston Symphony Quartet.
INFORMATION  BY  TERY KING

** Constant Noel Adolphe Warot
1812 – 1875
Belgium
Important Activity:
Professor Brussels Conservatoire.
Music/Publications:  
Several own original works.

** Franz Joseph Weigl
1740 – 1820
Bavaria
Important Activity:
Member Vienna Opera Orchestra. Chamber musician in Imperial Chapel (Vienna).
Anecdotes:
* A once celebrated cellist in Vienna – upon 50 years service the Emperor awarded him a gold medal.
* He was a cellist in the orchestra of the Esterházy family. He played under the directorship of Joseph Haydn, who also was godfather to the cellist's son
* Haydn MAYBE composed the Concerto in C for him!
* At some point after 1769 Weigl left the Esterházy Kapelle in order to move to Vienna to be able to join Leopold Hofmann’s orchestra at St. Peter’s where he remained active until at least 1783.
* He was the father of Joseph Weigl (1766 - 1846), the composer and conductor.

** Terence Weil
1921 – 1995
England
Important Activity:
Principal cello English Chamber Orchestra, founder member of Melos Ensemble. Cremona Quartet. Professor of chamber music at the Royal Northern Colege of Music.
Premieres:
Arthur Butterworth - Suite for viola and cello (with Cecil Aronowitz in 1951).
Anecdotes:
* He was well-known for correcting mispronunciations of his last name, which was commonly mispronounced as "wheel"!

** August Wenzinger
1905 – 1996
Switzerland
Important Activity:
Principal cello Bremen Orchestra. Principal cello Basel Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft (1936-1970).  Kabeler Kammermusik (Kabel Chamber Music). Kammermusikkreis Scheck-Wenziger (Scheck-Wenzinger Chamber Music Circle).  Professor Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Basle). Schola Cantorum Basiliensis viola da gamba trio. Professor at Harvard and Brandeis Univesities (USA).  Honorary doctorate from the University of Basel. Conductor Capella Coloniensis (baroque orchestra) of West German Radio in Cologne.
Premieres:
Hindemith – Cello Concerto (European premiere)
Music/Publications:  
a method book for viola da gamba in 2 volumes. Editions for cello of the Bach Suites.
Anecdotes:
* pupil Basle Conservatoire. Later studied with Paul Grümmer (Cologne Conservatoire), and Emanuel Feuermann (Berlin).
* by 1925 had mastered the Viola da gamba, and was accepted as a pioneer of historically informed performances, helped by both gamba playing, and as conductor of Baroque orchestral and opera music.

** Joseph Werner
1837 – 1922
Germany
Important Activity:
Principal cello Munich Hofkapelle.
Music/Publications: 
Own original pieces including pieces for ensembles of cellos, and a Cello method.

**?. Werner
???? (early 18th c.) – 1768
Bohemia
Important Activity:
Musician in the Crusaders' Church, Prague.
Music/Publications:  
Own original works, including cello concertos.
Anecdotes:
* Considered excellent player – rumoured that in his time no foreign cellist ventured/dared to play in Prague !

** William Whitehouse
1859 – 1935
Great Britain
Important Activity:
Professor Royal Academy of Music (London), London Trio with Simonetti and Goodwin, Professor Cambridge University, Professor Royal College of Music (London), Professor King’s College (London), Professor Manchester New College of Music. Member Bath Quartet Society. Ludwig Quartet.
Music/Publications:
Some original pieces. Own studies for cello, plus the autobiography ‘Recollections of a cellist’.
Friendships:
Piatti
Anecdotes:
* pupil of Piatti (Royal Academy of Music).
* Teacher to Felix Salmond, Paul Ludwig, Herbert Withers, Paterson Parker, John Snowdon, Warwick Evans, Ivor James, Kate Ould, BeatriceEvelyn and Beatrice Harrison. 
Article in JOHNSTONE-MUSIC

** Mateusz Wielhorsky
1794 – 1866
Russia
Important Activity:
Cellist.
Dedications:  
Adolf von Henselt – Duo, Op.14 (c.1845) 
Franchomme – Cello Concerto No.1 in C minor, Op.33
Anecdotes:  
* Was first important Russian-born cellist, working as a soloist, and a music organizer in his land.

** Alexander Wierzbilowicz
1850 – 1911
Russia (Polish father)
Important Activity:
Principal cello Russian Imperial Opera Orchestra, St. Petersburg String Quartet, Duo with Rubinstein.
Dedications: 
Popper – Serenata Oriental, Op.18, 
Popper – Spanish Dances, Op.54 (Serenade)
Glazounov – Chant du Menestral, for cello with orchestral/piano accompaniment, Op.71.
Glazounov – Melodie (Op.20 No.1 ) and Serenade Espagnole (Op.20 No.2) vlc and piano)
Victor Ewald – Romance, Op.82 (1894),
Leokadiva Kashperova – Cello Sonata, Op.1 (1890)
Neruda – Gavotte, Op.54
Nápravnik - several pieces
Special friendships: 
Popper, Glazounov
Anecdotes:
* He was a favoured student of Davidov

** Hanus Wihan
1855 — 1920
Czech
Important Activity:
Professor Mozarteum in Salzburg (age 18). Member private orchestra of a Russian patron in Nice and Lugano, then went to Benjamin Bilse’s orchestra in Berlin (the forerunner of the Berlin Philharmonic). Prince Schwarzenburg’s orchestra in Sondershausen. Court orchestra in Munich. Bohemian String Quartet (with violinists Karel Hoffmann and Josef Suk, and violist Oskar Nedbal). Chamber music and Cello professor at Prague Conservatory.
Premieres:
Strauss – Cello Sonata (also dedicated to him),
Strauss – Romance for Cello and Orchestra (no dedication, but officially written for him. The dedication in fact went to Strauss’s uncle).
Dvořák - Quartet in G major,
Dedications:
Richard Strauss - String Quartet in A, Op. 2,
Dvořák – Cello Concerto in B minor.
Dvorak – Rondo, Op.94.
Dvorak – Silent Woods (cello version),
Dvorak – 2 Slavonic Dances (cello versions).
Students:
The following important cellists studied with Wihan -
Ladislav Zelenka (who substituted him in the Czech Quartet) / Artur Krása / Otakar Berger / Jan Burian / Julius Junek / Rudolf Pavlata / Maximilian Škvor / and Bedřich Vaska.
Friendships:
Liszt, Dvorak, Hans von Bülow, Richard Wagner (who hired him to play at the Bayreuth Festival), Richard Strauss, Davidov, Tchaikovsky.
Anecdotes:
* Dvorak became rather angry at Wihan’s attempt to insert a possible cadenza in his cello concerto. However, the first performance by Leo Stern was as a result of Wihan’s professional diary not allowing him freedom to play (because of quartet commitments), and not because of worsening relations with the Composer (as sometimes suggested).
* It was also about Wihan whom Dvorak was thinking of when he wrote the melodious violoncello part in the piano trio Op. 90 (‘Dumky’ 1891).
Article in JOHNSTONE-MUSIC

** Bruno Wilifert
1836? – ????
Important Activity:
Principal cello German Opera Orchestra, Prague (1864).
Music/Publications:  
own original pieces.
Anecdotes:
* Pupil of Fr. Grutzmacher.
* Organizing member of Prague Musical Union.

** Kazimierz Wiłkomirski
1900-1995
Poland
Important Activity:
Cellist and conductor. Director of Baltic State Opera (Gdansk Opera). Professor Music Academy of Sopot.
Premieres:     
Bacewicz – Mazovian Dance  (written 1951, fp 1952 Warsaw)
Anecdotes:
* Excellent all-round musician – cellist, composer, orchestrator, arranger and conductor.

** Willem Willeke
1880 – 1950
Germany
Important Activity:
Principal cello with several important orchestras, also conductor. Also became physician! Kneisel quartet (succeeding Alwin Schroeder). Founder Elshuco Trio.
Director of Berkshire Music Festival (USA).
Dedications:
Wilhelm Jeral – Cello Concerto, Op.10 (c.1899)
Anecdotes: 
* Performed Grieg – Sonata with the composer, Brahms – both Sonatas with composer at the piano, and Saint-Saens – Cello Concerto No.1 with the composer conducting.

** Paul Anton Wineberger
1758 – 1821
Germany
Important Activity:
Principal cello Oettingen Orchestra, Wallerstein.  Member French Opera Orchestra, Hamburg. 
Music/Publications:   
some original works, including 2 cello concertos.
Anecdotes:
* also singer, organist, music theorist and composer.

** Herbert {William Stennet} Withers
1880 - 1961
Great Britain
Important Activity:
Cello soloist.
Dedications:
Percy Hilder Miles - Cello Concerto (but see underneath!)
Music/Publications:
He edited music of Nicolo Porpora, J.S.Bach
Anecdotes:
* A new cello concerto by Percy Hilder Miles (1878-1922) was initially dedicated to and rehearsed with the cello soloist Herbert Withers (1880–1961). It was announced for performance on 3rd September 1908 in Henry Wood's Promenade Concerts. However it was not finally performed because the composer voyaged to Australia in April 1908 and the orchestral parts were simply not completed in time. So instead Withers decided to perform the Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor. It seems the composer was not
* he became well known for his solo performances in the Queens Hall concerts
* He turned down the chance to play as principal cello in the Grand Opera, Vienna, so as to be able to stay in England!

** Friedrich Witt
1770 – 1836
Germany
Important Activity:
Composer. Learnt a number of instruments, but probably best as cellist !  Member Prince Kraft Ernst zu Oettingen-Wallerstein as a cellist.Later devoted himself to composition, including 23 symphonies.

** Franz Xaver Woczitka
c.1780 - ????
Poland
Service of Court of Mecklenburg- Schwerin. Member Electoral Band, Munich.
Music/Publications:   
Own original works, including cello concertos and sonatas (highly praised in their time).