DIRECTORY / LIBRARY OF FAMOUS HISTORICAL CELLISTS
Surname letter starting with R
** Hippolyte (François) Rabaud
1839 – 1900
France
Important Activity:
Professor Paris Conservatoire. Member Paris Opera Orchestra.
Anecdotes :
* father of Henri Rabaud, French conductor and composer.
* pupil of Baudiot and Franchomme (Paris Conservatoire – first prize in 1855)
* Hippolyte was also a singer.
* His most important student was Joseph Malkin, who was to be principal cellist of Boston Symphony Orchestra.
** Jean Marie Raoul
1766 – 1837
France
Important Activity:
He held a position as Crown lawyer, and later as Justice at the Paris Cour de Cassation. However, he was also a most dedicated cello player, and even published a Cello Method (and some original pieces)! Where he failed in France were in his attempts to restore the viola de Gamba into common usage once more.
** Johann Georg Rauppe
1762 – 1814
Germany
Important Activity:
Principal cello German opera Orchestra (Amsterdam).
Anecdotes:
* Noted for beauty and power of tone
** Adolf Rehberg
1868- 1935
Switzerland
Important Activity:
Cellist & composer
** Joseph Reicha
1752 – 1795
Germany
Important Activity:
Principal cello Orchestra of Count Ernst Kraft Prince von Oettingen-Wallerstein at Harburg castle (Donauwörth, Germany). Principal cello (also conducted) Electoral Court’s Orchestra (of Maximilian Franz of Habsburg) in Bonn.
Music/Publications:
some own original works (not only for cello)
Anecdotes:
* Uncle and teacher of Anton Reicha (famous music theorist and later teacher to Berlioz and Liszt, amongst others).
* performed with Mozart’s sister Nannerl, to high praise from Leopold Mozart.
* was an influence on the young Beethoven.
** Beatrice Reichart
1903 – ????
France (of German parents)
Important Activity:
cellist of Weiss Quartet.
Anecdotes:
* pupil of Antoni Sala (Paris) and Fr. Buxbaum (Vienna).
** Joseph Reinagle
1762 – 1836
Britain
Important Activity:
Cellist & composer.
Music/Publications:
Own original pieces, and a brief treatise for the cello.
Anecdotes:
* Finally settled at Oxford.
** Thelma Reiss
1906 – 1991
Great Britain
Important Activity:
Cellist of Café Trio in Plymouth.A varied life as professional cellist – classical concerts, but also played in theatres, night clubs, and even seaside pier variety acts. Chamber music with Myra Hess, Albert Sammons, and Harriet Cohen.
Premieres:
Bax – Sonatina (in D Minor) with Harriet Cohen (perf. 1934)
Anecdotes:
*studied Royal College of Music, with Ivor James
* a very warm concert personality, endearing her to audiences
Article in JOHNSTONE-MUSIC
** Gabor Rejto
1916 – 1987
Hungary
Important Activity:
Cellist in the Paganini Quartet and the Hungarian Quartet, and was a founding member of the Alma Piano Trio. Professor Manhattan and Eastman Schools of Music, and professor of ‘cello at the University of Southern California.
Anecdotes:
* pupil of Pablo Casals
* In 1972 Rejto was chosen Artist Teacher of the Year at the American String Teachers Association’s 25th Anniversary Conference
* Rejto’s son, Peter Rejto, is a cellist and a former faculty member at the Oberlin Conservatory. Gabor Rejto’s daughter, Nika S. Rejto is a jazz flutist
** Jacques F. Renard
c.1873 – 1960
Holland (later USA)
Important Activity:
A native of Amsterdam, he played in the Concertgebouw Orchestra at the age of fifteen. He later spent five years in the orchestra of the Holland Opera, before moving to England to develop a soloist career. Dutch New York Chamber Music Society: 1915-1918. Member of the New York Symphony Orchestra (1913-1916); Saslavsky String Quartet; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He later joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, where he played for twenty-five years, and also lectured at Columbia University on the performance of chamber music.
Anecdotes:
* With the Queens Hall Orchestra in London in 1905, Renard was the cello soloist in a performance of Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote, with the composer conducting.
* He was soloist at a 1916 Lenten-season musicale at the White House in Washington, D.C., during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson.
* At the age of 83, he wrote a letter to the New York Times – a self-described “cry in the wilderness” – protesting the inclination of younger cellists to use steel instead of gut strings!
** Jacques E. Rensburg
1846 – 1910
Holland
Important Activity:
Principal cello Orchestra of the Gurzenich Concerts (Colgne). Professor Rhenish School of Music at Cologne. Principal cello Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
Music/Publications:
very little is known of his compositions, except a “Recitative, Adagio, and Allegro, in the form of a Concerto.”
Anecdotes:
* Firstly studied with Giese, Daniel de Lange, and Emil Hegar. He then went to study with Schmitt (in Cologne), but his teacher was ill, and Rensburg immediately was his substitute! When Schmitt died, he was given permanently the two posts.
* Unrelenting practice brought on a nervous condition which led him into early private retirement.
** Louis-Charles-Joseph Rey
1738 – 1811
France
Important Activity:
Member Theatre Orchestra of Montpellier. Orchestra of Grand Theatre of Bordeaux. Orchestra of Paris Opera. Musician of King Louis XVI’s Chapel.
Music/Publications:
he wrote original vocal and instrumental music, including three ballets, one opera, four ariettas, six cello sonatas, six duos for cello and a trio.
Anecdotes:
*he was a pupil of Martin Berteau.
* he retired from the Opera House in 1806 and committed suicide less than five years later in Paris, cutting his throat with a razor
** Bernard Richards
1913-1996
England
Important Activity:
Member of the Martin string quartet
Anecdotes:
*he studied at the Royal College of Music, London, 1930-1936
** Ferdinand Ries
1784 – 1838
Germany
Important Activity:
Composer, pianist, cellist, arranger, writer.
Son of Franz Ries with whom he studied violin. Pupil of Romberg on the cello, piano with Beethoven and composition with Albrechtsberger ! Wrote chamber music usually featuring the cello. Also wrote the first biography of Beethoven, and newly-arranged some of his chamber works.
** Julius Rietz
1812 – 1877
Germany
Important Activity:
Conductor, cellist, and composer. Assistant conductor to Mendelssohn. Wrote 3 opera, 3 symphonies and several concertos. He studied with Romberg among others and played the cello throughout most of his career.
** Karl Ripfel
1799 – 1876
Germany
Important Activity:
Member Frankfort Theatre Orchestra.
Anecdotes:
* at first a piano prodigy, before switching to cello.
* Possessed great ability, but a very nervous performing character (appeared little as soloist in public). However, he was highly esteemed by Romberg as a Paganini-type virtuoso.
* also composed occasionally
** Haydn Rogerson
1902-1971
Great Britain
Important Activity:
Principal cello Halle Orchestra. Principal cello BBC Northern Orchestra (now the BBC Philharmonic). Principal cello Philharmonia Orchestra (London). Principal Cello Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Chamber music player, recording artist, West End shows. Cello Professor at the London College of Music.
Anecdotes:
* lived part of his professional in north England, and the second half in London
* his cellist son Paul was a close colleague of Benjamin Britten at one point.
* made a historical disc as cellist alongside Elizabeth Scharzkopf and the Philharmonia Orchestra
* his grandson Ben is also a fine professional cellist
** Bernhard Heinrich Romberg one of ‘founding fathers’ of the German cello school
1767 – 1841
Germany
Important Activity:
Münster Court Orchestra, Court Orchestra of the Prince Elector Archbishop of Cologne in Bonn, Quartet sessions with Franz Ries, Andrea Romberg, and Beethoven (!). Also trios and quartets with Beethoven himself. Professor Paris Conservatoire (1801-03). Court musician in the Berlin Chapel (1815-1819). Teacher in Berlin and Hamburg.
Premieres:
probably gave the SECOND performances of Beethoven’s Op. 5 cello sonatas in Vienna (Jan 1797) with the composer at the piano (and these were certainly Austrian premieres).
Dedications:
Ferdinand Ries – Grande Cello Sonata, Op.20 (Grande Sonate pour le Pianoforté et Violoncello obligé) and also the Cello Sonata Op.21
Music/Publications:
Many original own works, and Cello treatise (1839).
Friendships:
Christian Neefe, the Ries family, Beethoven
** Cyprian Romberg (nephew of Bernhard)
1807? 1810? – 1865
Germany (period in Russia)
Important Activity:
Member Imperial orchestra St. Petersburg.
** Segismundo Romero Mejías
1886 – 1974
Spain
Important Activity:
Famous Spanish cellist of his time. He is considered founder of the Orquesta Bética Filarmónica. Conservatoire professor in Seville.
Music/Publications:
Compositor of popular pieces – famous for the song ‘Yo me subí a un pino verde’, identified with ¡Anda jaleo!’, performed and staged many times, including a recording by Federico García Lorca and La Argentinita en 1931.
Friendships:
Manuel de Falla (close colleague and collaborator)
Anecdotes:
* Born in Granada, died in Seville.
* His descendents have endured difficulties in receiving the rightful performing rights monies for the above mentioned song from the Spanish Performing Rights Society S.G.A.E.!
INFORMATION FROM WEB PAGE OF ORQUESTA BÉTICA FILARMÓNICA
Holocaust Victim – Eduard Rosa (formerly Rosenblum) – Cellist, born in Jassy, Romania 29/03/1859, died in Theresienstadt 24/01/1943
Article in JOHNSTONE-MUSIC
** Leonard Rose
1918 – 1984
U.S.A .
Important Activity:
NBC Orchestra, Principal cello Cleveland Orchestra, Principal cello New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Trio (with Stern and Istomin).
Professor Juilliard School (New York), Professor Curtis Institute, and Galamian’s Meadowmount Summer School. Duos with Glenn Gould.
Friendships:
Leonard Bernstein, Eugene Ormandy, George Szell and Bruno Walter.
** Louis Rosoor
1883 – 1969
France
Important Activity:
Principal cello at the Concerts Hasselmans. Cello professor Bordeaux Conservatoire. Marsick Quartet and other chamber music groups.
* Dedications:
Julien Fernand Vaubourgoin – Sonata for piano and cello
Anecdotes:
* Main founder of the Society of Chamber Music of Bordeaux.
** Frederic Rousseau
1755 – 1812
France
Important Activity:
Member Paris Opera Orchestra. Established successful music school in Versailles.
Music/Publications:
Own original works.
Anecdotes:
* Teachers included Jean-Louis Duport
** Scipion Rousselot
1804 – ????
France (later Britain)
Important Activity:
Cellist & composer.
Music:
own original works, including a symphony. 3 Sonatinas and many smaller pieces for cello.
Anecdotes:
* pupil of Baudiot (Paris Conservatoire). Also composition classes from Reicha.
* after 1846, Baudiot directed the French ‘Beethoven Quartet Society’, playing in a quartet that performed each of the Beethoven string quartets at least twenty times publically !
* Berlioz praised him as an ‘intellectual man of the world, and a skilful cellist’.
** Giuseppe Rovelli Founder of Lombardian cello school
1753 — 1806
Italy
Important Activity:
Patronage from Duke of Parma, as chamber virtuoso. Music/Publications: Own original works, including cello concertos.
** Margaret Avery Rowell The ‘Music Educator’
1900 – 1995
USA
Important Activity:
Professor San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Professor University of California at Berkely, Stanford University, Mills College and San Francisco State University. Co-organizer California Cello Club. Workshops for String teachers.
Friendships:
Colin Hampton, Casals, Piatigorsky, Rostropovich, Starker, Greenhouse, Irene Sharp.
** Agustín Rubio
1856 – 1936
Spain (later Britain)
Important Activity:
Trio (with Arbos and Albéniz). Patronage from Conde Morphy and King Alfonso XII (Spain).
Anecdotes:
* pupil of Castellanos and Mirecki in Spain, Hausmann in Berlin (with chamber music coaching from Joachim).
* lived large part of life in London.
** Fritz Albert Christian Rudinger
1838 – 1925
Denmark
Important Activity:
Member Danish Royal Orchestra. Principal cello Copenhagen Orchestra. Professor Copenhagen Conservatoire.
Anecdotes:
* pupil of F. Rauch, and Fr. Grutzmacher (Dresden).
* a very active chamber music musician.
** Elsa Ruegger
1881 – 1924
Belgium (later USA)
Important Activity:
Chamber music tours with Geiger Alexander Petschnikoff, Marie Nichols, Clotilde Clover Hill and Ernestina Schumann Heink. Professor Scharwenka Klindworth Conservatoire, Berlin.
Anecdotes:
* pupil of E. Jacobs (Brussels Conservatoire)
* performed Herbert’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with composer conducting.
** Herman Ruhoff
1846 – 1922
Germany
Important Activity:
Principal cello Pesth Royal Theatre Orchestra. Professor Musical Institute Zurich.
Anecdotes:
* A nervous affection afflicted his cello-playing career, and later years were devoted to teaching.
** Alejandro Ruiz de Tejada
1864 – 1936
Spain
Important Activity:
Important Spanish career as soloist
Anecdotes:
* pupil of Mireck and Delsart
* received the Spanish “Gran cruz de la Orden de Isabel la Católica”