AUGUST - ON THIS #CELLO DAY

1 August - On this #cello day

** 1843- birth of Jules de Swert {Deswert} (Louvain, Belgium) d.1891

cellist, orchestra principal cello, composer & teacher

** 1909 - birth of Micki Ovitz (Rozavlea, Romania) d. 1972

cellist & accordionist {Nazi Holocaust victim}

2 August - On this #cello day

** 1900 - birth of Gertrud Hindemith {nee Rottenberg} (Franfurt, Germany) d. 1967

cellist

** 1923 - birth of Don {Donald Richard} Whitton (London, Ontario, Canada) d.2018

cellist, recording musician, classical-jazz-rock fields, viola de gamba & teacher

** 1923 - birth of Josef Luitz (Vienna)

cellist, orchestra principal cello, cello teacher & co-founder of the international chamber music festival Allegro Vivo

3 August - On this #cello day

** 1829 - premiere of Rossini - Opera ‘William Tell’ {the opening section of the overture features important writing for 5 solo cellos}

(Salle Le Peletier, Paris)

** 1948 - birth of Antony Cooke (Sydney, Australia)

cellist, recording artist, university professor, composer, and author of published books and articles on musicology and astronomy {based U.S.A.}

** 1985 - birth of Brent Michael Kutzle (Newport Beach, California, USA)

cellist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer & film composer

4 August - On this #cello day

** 1756 - Luigi Boccherini, thirteen years old, makes his official debut, performing a cello concerto of his own writing

(Lucca, Italy)

** 1764 - Luigi Boccherini performs for the first time in his new position of cellist for the town of Lucca (a Vespers service in the Chapel)

** 1952 - birth of Tadeusz Wojciechowski (Warsaw)

cellist , chamber musician and conductor

5 August - On this #cello day

** 1694 - birth of Leonardo {Ortensio Salvatore de} Leo (San Vito dei Normanni,Italy) d.1744 

cellist, organist & composer

** 1797 - birth of Friedrich August - On this #cello day Kummer (Meiningen, Germany) d.1879

cellist, orchestra principal cello, oboist, composer & pedagogue

** 1775 - birth of Eino Matti "Eicca" Toppinen  (Vantaa Hakunila, Finland)

rock cellist (founder ‘Apocalyptica’), songwriter, arranger & drummer

** 1913 - David Popper recives notification from the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian empire of the award of the title of Court Councillor (‘Hofrat’) in recognition of his services to the State (unfortunately Popper died just two days later)

** 1974 - Peter Racine Fricker completes his Courante for solo cello (F149)

** 1995 - birth of Devo Keenan (USA)

cellist

6 August - On this #cello day

** 1868 - Victor Mirecki Larramat receives the ‘premio de honor’ of the Paris Conservatoire.

** 1946 - birth of Janet Monteith “Jan” Gilbert (New York City)

composer, cellist, electronic music specialist and professor of music

7 August - On this #cello day

** 1983 - first performance of Wolfgang Rihm - Zweiter Doppelgesang for clarinet, cello and orchestra

(Hitzacker, Germany)

8 August - On this #cello day

** 1871 - birth of William Henry Squire (Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, England) d.1963

cellist, composer and pedagogue

** 1924 - birth of Christopher Bunting (London) d.2005

cellist, composer and pedagogue

** 1979 - birth of Richard Harwood (Great Britain)

cellist, orchestra principal cello

9 August - On this #cello day

** 1875 - birth of Albert William Ketèlbey (Birmingham, England) d.1959

composer & multi-instrumentalist incl. cellist

** 1983 - first performance of Ernst Krenek - Cello Concerto No.2 

(Salzburg)

** 1967 - Pierre Fournier performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms

with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Pritchard

** 1968 - Vladimir Orloff performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms

with the Hallé Orchestra, conducted by John Barbirolli

10 August - On this #cello day

** 1947 - first complete performance of Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras no.5 for soprano and eight cellos

(Paris)

11 August - On this #cello day

** 1835 - birth of Alessandro Pezze (Milan, Italy) d.1914

cellist, orchestra and opera principal cello & professor {based Italy-England}

** 1917 - birth of Samuel H. Mayes (St. Louis, Missouri, USA) d.1990

cellist, orchestra principal cello & professor

12 August - On this #cello day

** 1762 - birth of George IV, King of United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland d.1830

Royalty…and an amateur cellist!

** 1927 - birth of Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (Baku, Azerbaijan, USSR) d.2007

cellist & conductor

** 1959 - Andre Navarra performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms

with theBBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John Hollingsworth

13 August - On this #cello day

** 1813 - birth of Carl (or Karl) Schlesinger (Germany) d.1871

cellist, orchestra principal cello, originally a violinist

** 1916 - first performance of Oswald - Sonata-Fantasia in Eb Major, Op.44

Alfredo Gomes/cello and Joaquim Antonio Barrozo Netto/piano (Rio de Janeiro, Salão do Jornal de Comércio)

14 August - On this #cello day

** 1872 - birth of Zygmunt Butkiewicz (Lida Uezd, Poland) d.1935

cellist, chamber musician & pedagogue

** 1873 - birth of Adolph Schiffer (Prague) d.1950

cellist & pedagogue

15 August - On this #cello day

** 1778 - ‘debut’ concert of cellist Jean-Baptiste Breval (Paris)

16 August - On this #cello day

** 1899 - first performance of de Falla - Melodía for cello and piano

compositor on piano (Salón Quirell, Cádiz, Spain) 

** 1908 - birth of Orlando Cole (Philadelphia, USA) d.2010

cellist & pedagogue

** 1978 - first performance of Noam Sheriff - Tre'y-Assar, for 12 Cellos

The 12 Cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic (Jerusalem, Israel)

** 1983 - first performance of FeBland - Elegy for solo cello

soloist - David Johnstone (Southwark Cathedral, London)

17 August - On this #cello day

** 1748 - birth of Johann Jager (Schlitz, Germany)

cellist, oboist, court ‘chamber soloist’

** 1784 - Luigi Boccherini renews his contract with Infante Don Luis of Spain, with an additional 12,000 reals

(however the Infante dies within as year, as did Boccherini’s wife)

** 1942 - birth of Stephen Geber (Los Angeles, California, USA)

cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician & professor

** 1948 - birth of Alexander Ivashkin (Russia) d.2014

cellist, writer, academic & conductor

** 1993 - first performance of Edward Cowie - Cello Concerto 

(Brisbane, Australia)

18 August - On this #cello day

** 1968 - Daniel Barenboim (piano) and Jacqueline du Pré (cello) finish recording the two Brahms - Cello Sonatas

(Abbey Road, London)

** 1969 - Release date (premiere screened in New York City, U.S.A.) of the film “Take the Money and Run”

directed by Woody Allen, starring Woody Allen, Janet Margolin and Louise Lasser 
Take the Money and Run is a 1969 American ‘mockumentary’ comedy film. the film chronicles the life of Virgil Starkwell (Woody Allen), an inept bank robber. He is a ‘notorious criminal mastermind’ who tries to learn how to play the cello. It is abominable. Excruciating - he even tosses the cello out the window! He joins a marching band but he can hardly keep up because he has to drag a chair along. A street gang puts the cello out of its misery! 

19 August - On this #cello day

** 1813 - birth of Karl Schlesinger (Germany) d.1871

cellist, orchestra & opera principal cello, chamber musician & professor {based Hungary-Austria}

** 1824 - birth of Georg Goltermann (Hannover, Germany) d.1898

cellist, composer and pedagogue

** 1889 - first performance of Jean Sibelius - Tempo di valse [Lulu Waltz] for cello and piano 

(Loviisa, Finland)

20 August - On this #cello day

** 1899 - a Casals private recital for Queen Victoria of Great Britain 

Osborne House, Isle of Wight

21 August - On this #cello day

** 1895 - birth of Caillo Oblach (Padua, Italy) d.1954

cellist

** 1698 - birth of Bartolomeo Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri, del Gesù (Cremona, Italy) d.1744

expert luthier of string instruments {known as Guarneri del Gesù}

22 August - On this #cello day

** 1923 - birth of Lawrence Leonard d.2001

conductor, cellist,composer, teacher and writer {based Canada-England}

** 1971 - birth of Richard {Crispin} Armitage (Huncote, England)

film/television/theatre/voice actor & adolescent cellist

** 1980 - first performance of Michael Tippet - Triple Concerto for Solo Violin, Viola, Cello and Orchestra

soloists - György Pauk, Nobuko Imai, Ralph Kirshbaum with London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Colin Davis (London)

23 August - On this #cello day

** 1852 - birth of Robert Hausmann (Rottleberode, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) d.1909

cellist

** 1867 - birth of Alexei August - On this #cello dayovich Davidov (Moscow) d.1940

cellist & composer, and also banker, industrialist and businessman

** 1907 - birth of Ludwig Hoelscher (Solingen, Germany) d. 1996

cellist

** 1925 - birth of Sulkhan Fyodorovich Tsintsadze (Gori, Transcaucasian SSR, Soviet Union) d.1991

composer & cellist

** 1957 - birth of Antonio Menesis (Recife, Brasil)
cellist

** 1989 - Truls Mork performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms (also in 1996)

with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Marris Jansons

24 August - On this #cello day

** 1846 - premiere of Suppé - Operetta ‘Poet and Peasant’ {the overture features an important orchestral principal cello line}

conducted by the composer (Theater an der Wien, Vienna)

** 1979 - birth of Gérard Hekking (Nancy, France) d. 1942  

cellist, orchestra principal cello

** 1990 - first performance of John Tavener - Thrinos for cello

(Edinburgh)

25 August - On this #cello day

** 1843 - first performance of Piatti - Capriccio Op.22 on the aria “I tuoi frequenti palpiti” for solo cello (the only existent capriccio per violoncello solo composed by Alfredo Piatti apart from the famous Dodici Capricci of op. 25)   

soloist - Alfredo Piatti 

** 1953 - Amaryllis Fleming performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms (also in 1972)

with theHallé Orchestra, conducted by John Barbirolli)

** 1954 - birth of Șerban Nichifor (Bucharest)

cellist, composer & music educator

** 1987 - birth of Luka Šulić (Maribor, Slovenia)

cellist

26 August - On this #cello day

** 1846 - premiere of Mendelssohn - Oratorio ‘Elijah’ (movement 26; the aria ‘It is Enough’ features an important orchestral principal cello line}

(Birmingham Town Hall - sung in English language version)

** 1927 - birth of Edward (Russell) Bisha (Louisville, USA) d. 1991 

cellist, orchestra principal cello & teacher

** 1956 - Peter Racine Fricker completes his Cello Sonata, Op.28

(BBC anniversary commission, for Sir William Walton)

** 1970 - Joan Dickson performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms (also in 1973)

with theBBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John Pritchard

** 1980 - first performance of Cesat Bresgen - Elegie, for 12 Cellos

The 12 Cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic (Salzburg Festival, Salzburg, Austria)

** 1982 - first performance of Lutoslawski - Grave       

soloist Mischa Maisky with Polska Orkiestra Kameraina, conducted by Jerzy Maksmiuk (Festival Estival de Paris)

** 1994 - birth of Anastasia Kobekina (Yekaterinburg, Urals, Russia)

cellist, chamber musician

27 August - On this #cello day

** 1802 - birth of August - On this #cello day Theodore Müller (Brunswick, Germany) d.1875 

cellist, chamber musician

** 1860 - probable German premiere of Wilhelm Bernhardt Molique - Cello concerto 

(Baden-Baden, Germany)

** 1991 - first performance of Sofia Gubaidulina - Aus dem Stundenbuch for cello and orchestra, chorus and speaker

(Helsinki)

28 August - On this #cello day

** 1761 - Luigi Boccherini, eighteen years old, formally petitions the town of Lucca for a position as cello player; however, they will not decide for two-and-a-half years!

** 1969 - first performance of Hugh Wood - Cello Concerto 

(London)

** 1969 - Zara Nelsova performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms (also in 1971 and 1979)

with theBBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Charles Grove

** 1976 - first performance of Gerhard Wimberger - Plays, for 12 Celli soli, winds and percussion.

The 12 Cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic (Salzburg, Austria)

** 1994 - first performance of Peter Sculthorpe - Chorale for eight cellos

(Vale of Glamorgan Festival, Cardiff, Wales)

29 August - On this #cello day

** 1866 - birth of Bruno Steindl (Zwickau, Germany) d.1949 

cellist, orchestra principal cello {based USA}

** 1901 - birth of Joseph Klonowski (Berlin) d.1967

cellist, orchestra principal cello,  bandmaster  & entomologist {based Poland}

** 1948 - birth of Boris Pergamenschikow (Leningrad/St. Petersburg, Russia) d.2004

cellist

30 August - On this #cello day

** 1783 - birth of Frederik Christian Funck (Denmark) d.1866

cellist, orchestra principal cello & composer

** 1870 - birth of Heinrich Warnke (Wesselburen, Germany) d.1938

cellist, orchestra principal cello and occasional composer  {based Germany & USA}

** 1922 - Beatrice Harrison performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms

with the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra, conducted by Henry Wood (Queen’s Hall, London) {she also performed the work again at the following year Proms, and again in 1928 & 1931, EVERY year from 1937 to 1942, and 1944)

** 1964 - Rostropovich (with Richter at the piano) plays for the only time in his career the complete Beethoven Cello Sonatas in one concert, at the Edinburgh Festival

** 1980 - first performance of Rudolf Kelterborn - Scene, for 12 Cellos

The 12 Cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic (Musikfestwochen Luzern, Switerland)

** 1999 - first performance of John McCabe - Cello Sonata

Alice Neary/cello and Gretel Dowdeswell/piano (Presteigne Festival, UK)

31 August - On this #cello day

** 1964 - Sviatoslav Richter (piano) and Mstislav Rostropovich (cello) are credited as having completed recording on this day all 5 Beethoven Cello Sonatas on the Doremi label

96 entries for month of August - On this #cello day

{as at June 2019}

ON THIS (CELLO) DAY

This is a feature on offer from Johnstone-Music which is virtually unique in the cello world. It is ongoing and suggestions are welcome - write to us with ideas!

Guidelines:

--   cellists can qualify from any period, but we do not include any event (birth, first performance etc.) after the year 1999, in order to maintain a certain historical perspective!
-   we include births but NOT deaths…..

--   we are especially interested in major professional influences - cellists who are/were orchestral principal cellists, artists with highly publicized and sought after soloist careers, well-established and respected chamber music artists, and cello professors in some of the major musical educational centres recognized around the world.

--   non-classical cellists can be included, if truly having a proven concert experience and fame in other genres.

From these guidelines we may not be able to use every suggestion, but thank you very much in advance for any ideas!!!

All entries are given in good faith and are thoroughly checked, but Johnstone-Music cannot accept responsibility for small inaccuracies, so please use them at your discretion …

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