DECEMBER - ON THIS #CELLO DAY

1 December - On this #cello day

** 1914 - Sibelius finishes writing ‘Cantique and Devotion’, Op.77 for violin or cello and piano (or orchestra)

2 December - On this #cello day

** 1781 - birth of Louis Pierre Norblin (Warsaw) d.1854 {father of cellist Emile]

cellist & professor {based in France}

** 1897 - the last performance of David Popper in London (and also his last performance of Volkmann - Cello Concerto)

soloist - David Popper with London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Alexander Mackenzie (Crystal Palace, London)

** 1899 - birth of Sir John Barbirolli (London) d.1970

conductor & cellist

** 1901 - first performance of Rachmaninov - Cello Sonata in G minor, Op.19      

Anotoli Brandukov/cello with composer at piano (Moscow) 

** 1924 - first performance of Webern - 3 Little Pieces for cello and piano

(Mainz, Germany)

** 1949 - birth of Sharon Robinson (Houston, Texas, USA)

cellist

** 1980 - birth of Bartosz Koziak (Poland)

cellist

 3 December - On this #cello day

** 1596 - birth of Nicolò Amati (Cremona, Italy) d.1684

luthier of excellent string instruments {the grandson of Andrea Amati, founder of the Amati family of violin/cello making}

** 1843 - birth of Franz Neruda (Brno, Slovakia) d.1915

cellist, orchestra principal cello & composer {based Denmark}

** 1883 - birth of Anton {Friedrich Wilhelm von} Webern (Vienna) d.1945

composer, pianist and cellist

** 1891 - birth of Max Steindel (Gladbach, Germany) d.1964

cellist, orchestra principal cello & teacher {based USA}

** 1970 - birth of Matt Haimovitz (Bat Yam, Israel)

cellist

** 1993 - birth of Christoph Croisé (Filderstadt, Germany - raised in Niederlenz/Switzerland)

French-German-Swiss cellist

4 December - On this #cello day

** 1918 - first performance (reduced form/piano) of Stanford - Irish Concertino for solo violin, solo cello and orchestra

May Harrison/violin & Beatrice Harrison/cello (London - Wigmore Hall)

5 December - On this #cello day

** 1899 - first performance of Hurlstone - Cello Sonata in D Major

Herbert Walenn/cello and Ethel Bauer/piano (Queen’s Hall chamber room, London)

** 1948 - first performance of Ernst Bacon - Cello Sonata

Anake Camp/cello and the composer at piano (Syracuse University, New York)

** 1955 - first performance of Martinu - Cello Concerto No.1 (third/final version)       
soloist Pierre Fournier with Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, conducted by Victor Desarzens

** 1979 - first performance of Vivian Fine - Chamber Concerto for Cello and Six Instruments 

(Putney, VT, USA)

** 1987 - birth of Marcin Zdunik (Warsaw)

cellist

6 December - On this #cello day

** 1881 - birth of Elsa Ruegger (Lucerne, Switzerland) d.1924

cellist, chamber musician {based USA}

** 1883 - first performance of R. Strauss - Cello Sonata in F Major, Op.6       
(Hans Wihan/cello and Hildergard von Koenligs/piano (Nuremberg, Germany)

** 1901 - birth of Ippolito {Nievo} Albertelli (Palma, Italy) d.1938

cellist

** 1907 - cellist Carlo de Guaita (1885-1912, originally from Venice, and a student of Hugo Becker) played an important recital in Berlin which included Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with a piano accompaniment, receiving praise from the critics for his performance. Later an assistant to Becker, Guaita unfortunately died from meningitis on 30 September 1912, aged just 27

** 1929 - birth of Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Johann Nikolaus Graf [Count] de la Fontaine und d’Harnoncourt-Unverzagt (Berlin) d.2016

cellist, orchestra cellist, early music specialist & conductor

** 1951 - birth of David Finckel (New Jersey, USA)

cellist & professor

** 1963 - US President President Lyndon B. Johnson would award Casals the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House on this day

** 1969 - birth of Robert de Maine (Oklahoma, USA)

cellist

** 1975 - first performance of Phill Niblock - Long Distance for cello

(Albany, NY, USA)

7 December - On this #cello day

** 1743 - birth of Johann Heinrich Viktor Rose (Quedlinburg, Germany)  

cellist, organist & composer

** 1795 - birth of Vincenzo Merighi (Mila, Italy) d.1849

cellist & professor

** 1872 - first performance of Saint-Saens - Cello Sonata No.1 in C minor, Op.32

?/cello - the composer at piano (Paris)

** 1976 - first performance of Ustvolskaya - Grand Duet for cello and piano (1959)      

Oleg Malov/cello & Oleg Stolpner (Lenningrad)

** 1992 - first performance of Isang Yun - Espace I for cello and piano

(Hamburg, Germany)

8 December - On this #cello day

** 1884 - first performance of Herbert - Cello Concerto No.1, Op.8        

soloist - the composer ? / (Stuttgart, Germany)

** 1887 - The “New York String Quartet” opens its season in Steinway Hall - the cellist is Victor Herbert 

** 1970 - first performance of Wuorinen - Cello Variations I, for solo cello

(Blauvelt Theatre, Philadelphia, USA)

 9 December - On this #cello day

** 1892 - birth of Beatrice Harrison (Roorkie, India) d.1965

cellist

** 1903 - birth of Zofia Adamska (Warsaw) d.1988 

cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician & teacher

** 1921 - birth of Terence Weil (Figueras, Spain) d. 1995

cellist, orchestra principal cello & cello teacher

** 1927 - first performance of A. Somervell - Aria in D

cellist/Juliette Alvin (Wigmore Hall, London)

** 1945 - first European performance of Prokofiev - Cello Concerto

soloist - Maurice Gendron with London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Walter Susskind

* 1950 - birth of Denis Brott (Montreal)

cellist, teacher, founder of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival {son of Alexander Brott and brother of Boris Brott}

** 1958 - birth of John Sharp (Waco, Texas, USA)

cellist, orchestra principal cello

** 1975 - first British performance of Bernd Alois Zimmermann - Cello Concerto

soloist - ? / Royal Scottish National Orchestra

 10 December - On this #cello day

** 1890 - first performance of Arthur Foote - Romance and Scherzo for cello and piano, Op.22

(New York)

** 1925 - birth of Amaryllis Marie-Louise Fleming (Switzerland) d.1999

cellist & teacher

** 1950 - birth of Steven Doane (USA)

cellist, recitalist, chamber musician & professor

** 1981 - birth of Thomas Rann (Adelaide, Australia)

cellist

11 December - On this #cello day

** 1899 - birth of Benar Heifetz (Mogilev, Russia) d.1974

cellist, orchestra principal cello & chamber musician {based USA}

** 1971 - Daniel Barenboim (piano) and Jacqueline du Pré (cello) finish recording Chopin - Cello Sonata & Franck - Sonata in A Major

(Abbey Road, London)

12 December - On this #cello day

** 1753 - birth of Prince Christian von Wittgenstein-Berleberg (Germany) d.1800

singer, clavier, patron of music orchestra, serious cello study in later years

** 1875 - birth of Fritz Gaillard (The Hague, Holland) d.1939

cellist, orchestra principal cello {based Holland and USA}

** 1919 - birth of Antonin Kohout (Czech Republic) d.2013

cellist & chamber music player

** 1923 - unusual programme in recital of John Barbirolli (cello) and Ildebrando Pizzetti (piano), including the Cello Sonata by Pizzetti and including his Cradle song, op. 8 no. 1 and Jesukin, op. 4 no. 2

(Concert of the London Contemporary Music Centre, Queen Square Hall, London)

** 1930 - birth of Saša Večtomov (Czech Republic) d.1989 {son of  father, cellist/composer Ivan Večtomov}

cellist & chamber music player

** 1948 - birth of Mischa Maisky (Riga, Latvia)
cellist

** 1950 - first performance of Ross Lee Finney - Cello Sonata No.2 in C Major

(Anne Arbor, Michigan, USA)

** 1977 - first performance of Sofia Gubaidulina - Ten Etudes for cello

(Moscow)

** 1986 - first performance of Hans Werner Henze - Sieben Liebeslieder for cello and orchestra

(Cologne, Germany)

13 December - On this #cello day

** 1907 - cellist Elsa Ruegger (1881-1924) played the first of two important Berlin recitals, the other took place four days later (in fact, she had already made her Berlin debut in 1895). Both concerts (with pianist Paul Goldschmidt were warmly endorsed by the critics: on the first concert’s programme of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, her performance of the 5th Bach Suite was described as “absolutely perfect.”

** 1920 - birth of Pavel Kohn d.1944

cellist & trumpet player - Auschwitz Holocaust victim

** 1924 - birth of Laszlo Varga (Hungary) d.2014

cellist & professor

** 1931 - first performance of Martinu - Cello Concerto No.1 (first version)        

soloist Gaspar Cassadó (Berlin)

** 1974 - first performance of Walter Piston - Duo for cello and piano

(Washington, DC, USA)

** 1975 - first performance of Michael Braunfels - Symposion, for 12 Cellos, Op.59 N.1

The 12 Cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic (Cologne, Germany)

** 1979 - first performance of Ginastera - Cello Sonata, Op.49

(Alice Tully Hall, New York)

** 1991 - birth of Jay "Bluejay" Greenberg (New Haven, Connecticut, USA)

composer and cellist

14 December - On this #cello day

** 1778 - birth of Nikolaus Kraft (Esterhazy, Hungary) d.1853

cellist & composer [son of Antonin Kraft]

** 1888 - birth of Michel Penha (Amsterdam, Holland) d.1982

cellist, orchestra principal cello & studio musician  {based USA}

** 1904 - first performance of Reger - Cello Sonata No.3 in F Major, Op.78

composer at piano (Museumssaal im Palais Portia, Munich, Germany)  

   
** 1908 - birth of Morey Amsterdam (Chicago, USA) d.1996

comedian & cellist!

** 1977 - first performance of Galina Ustvolskaya - Grand Duet for piano and cello

(St. Petersburg, Russia)

** 1992 - first performance of Iannis Xenakis - Paille in the wind, for cello and piano

(Milan, Italy)

15 December - On this #cello day

** 1883 - first public performance of Fauré - Elegie, Op.24      

Jules Loeb/cello with composer at piano (Paris - Société National de Musique)

** 1892 - birth of José María Castro (Avellaneda, Argentina) d.1964

cellist, composer & conductor

** 1950 - birth of Jerry Grossman (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)   

cellist, orchestra principal cello

16 December - On this #cello day

** 1848 - birth of Richard Vollrath (Sonneberg, Germany)  

cellist, orchestra principal cello & teacher  

** 1880 - first performance of Klengel - Cello Concerto No.1

soloist Julius Klengel with Gewandhaus Orchestra (Leipzig, Germany)

** 1882 - birth of Zoltán Kodaly (Kecskemét, Hungary) d.1967

composer, cellist, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue & philosopher

** 1883 - birth of Alexander Barjansky (Odessa, Russia) d.1946

cellist

** 1893 - world premiere of Symphony no.9 “from the New World” by Antonín Dvorák, in Carnegie Hall, New York to great acclaim.

At the insistence of the composer, the cello section is led by Victor Herbert 

** 1894 - first performance (in orchestral version) of Dvorak - Rondo in G minor, Op.94; in the same concert the orchestrated version of Dvorak’s ‘Silent Woods’ with cello soloist was also heard for the first time

soloist - Moritz Kahnt, conducted by Alfred Volckland (Bohemia/Moravia)

** 1911 - John Barbirolli makes his public debut as solo cellist at a concert at the Queen’s Hall, London

** 1927 - first performance of Florence Schmitt - Introït, récit et conge, for cello and orchestra

(Paris)

** 1983 - birth of Joshua Roman (Oklahoma, USA)

cellist. orchestra principal cello

** 1994 - birth of Brannon Cho (New Jersey, U.S.A.)

cellist

17 December - On this #cello day

** 1976 - birth of Mark Kosower (Eau Claire, Minneapolis, USA)

cellist, orchestra principal cello & teacher {based USA-Germany}

18 December - On this #cello day

** 1848 - birth of Karl Schröder {II} (Zurich) d.1935 {father was Karl Schröder I, violinist}

cellist, composer & conductor

** 1905 - birth of (Hans) Richard Strurzenegger (Zurich) d.1976

cellist, orchestra principal cello, teacher & composer

** 1906 - the Trio Cortot-Thibaud-Casals makes its debut in a concert, in Lille, France

** 1907 - Monroe Bostelmann (lived 1880-1920, originally from New York) made his Berlin debut playing cello sonatas of Beethoven and Brahms, with the pianist Josef Weiss. It appears that the pianist upset the critics; one (Arthur Laser) wrote: “It is time to make an energetic protest against the kind of playing that Herr Weiss favors. If he does not take art seriously, he should practice his craft where caricatures are fully appreciated, namely in the Variéte-Theater”. The cellist returned to the US in 1909, where he apparently abandoned his musical career, and died very young.

** 1947 - birth of Raphael Ramos (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain)
cellist, orchestral principal cello & profesor

19 December - On this #cello day

** 1840 - birth of Pierre Joseph Ernest de Munck (Brussels) d.1915

cellist & composer {son of cellist-composer François de Munck}

** 1912 - first performance of Klengel - Double Cello Concerto, Op.45

soloists Julius Klengel & {daughter} Eva Klengel with Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Artur Nikisch (Leipzig, Germany)

** 1958 - birth of Steven Isserlis (London)

cellist

** 1988 - birth of Astrig Siranossian (Lyon, France)

cellist

 20 December - On this #cello day

** 1680 - Domenico Gabrielli is appointed cellist at S. Petronio, Bologna (Italy)

** 1882 - birth of Arnold Földesy (Budapest) d.1940

cellist, orchestra principal cello, recording artist

** 1886 - first performance of Brahms - Trio in C Minor, Op.101(programme also featured Brahms - Cello Sonata No.2 in F Major, Op.99)

with David Popper - cello, Jenö Hubay - violin and composer at piano (Budapest)

** 1907 - cellist Sara Gurowitsch (from a Russian family living in the Bronx) made her Berlin debut after finishing her education in Berlin at the Hochschule and receiving a Mendelssohn Prize stipend in 1906. Critics of her December concert found her sound inadequate for a large hall, however she shortly afterwards made her American debut playing the d’Albert Cello Concerto, which was very popular at this time, and other solo performances with orchestras before the First World War. After her solo career, she taught for many decades (d.1981)

** 1991 - first performance of Peter Sculthorpe - Threnody for solo cello 

(Sydney)

21 December - On this #cello day

** 1861 - birth of Otto Kohler (Neuhaldensleben, Mereseberg, Germany)

cellist, orchestral principal cello

** 1904 - Richard Strauss accompanied cellist Carl Fuchs, in a performance of his Cello Sonata in F Major, Op.6

(Manchester, Great Britain)

** 1919 - birth of Nelson Ripley Cooke (Bellbird, New South Wales, Australia) d.2018

cellist, orchestral principal cello {based England}

** 1921 - birth of Joan Dickson (Edinburgh) d.1994)

cellist, chamber musician & professor 

** 1931 - birth of David Nathaniel Baker Jr. (Indianapolis, USA) d.2016

jazz composer, conductor, trombonist & cellist 

** 1946 - birth of Étienne Péclard (Deux-Sèvres, France)

cellist, orchestra principal cello

** 1963 - first performance of Khachaturian - Cello Concerto-Rhapsody       

soloist Mstislav Rostropovich, with London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by George Hurst (London Royal Festival Hall)

** 1974 - first performance of Britten - Solo Cello Suite No.3, Op.87       

soloist Mstislav Rostropovich (England - Snape Maltings Concert Hall)

** 1984 - Release date (premiere screened in U.S.A.) of the film “Micki and Maude”

directed by Blake Edwards, starring Dudley Moore, Amy Irving, Ann Reinking, Richard Mulligan, George Gaynes & Wallace Shawn
Micki & Maude is a 1984 American comedy film. Rob (Dudley Moore) interviews a young cellist, Maude Guillory (Amy Irving). He is smitten with her and begins a relationship with her. Rob prepares to confess to Micki and get a divorce. The film ends with the women pursuing their careers: Micki as a judge presiding in a courtroom, Maude playing cello in a symphony orchestra. Amy Irving took cello lessons for the film and learned cello to a passable degree!

22 December - On this #cello day

** 1723 - birth of Carl Friedrich Abel (Cöthen, Germany) d.1787

cellist, viola da gamba and composer

** 1822 - birth of Charles Joseph Lebouc (Besancon, France) d.1893

cellist, chamber musician, professor & composer 

** 1874 - birth of Franz Schmidt (Bratislava, Slovakia) d.1939

cellist, pianist, conservatoire director, teacher & above all composer 

** 1885 - birth of Felix Fleischmann (Berlin)

cellist, trombonist & drummer (light music) {Nazi Holocaust victim} 

 23 December - On this #cello day

** 1889 - birth of Juan Ruiz Casaux (Cadiz) d.1972

cellist & teacher

** 1918 - birth of Zara Nelsova (Winnipeg, Canada) d.2002

cellist

** 1933 - birth of Akihito - Emperador de Japón

amateur cellist!

** 1982 - birth of Han-na-Chang (Suwon, South Korea)

cellist & conductor

24 December - On this #cello day

** 1805 - birth of Sebastian Lee (Hamburg, Germany) d.1887

cellist, opera orchestra principal cello & professor {based Germany-France}

** 1913 - birth of Halina Kowalska , daughter of Abram (Suwałki, Poland) d.1998

cellist

** 1951 - birth of Lubomir Georgiev (Varna, Bulgaria) d.2005

cellist, orchestral principal cello, teacher and composer {based U.S.A.}

** 1966 - Jacqueline Du Pré meets Daniel Baremboim, shortly after to become one of the most famous musician couples of the second half of the 20th century

25 December - On this #cello day

** 1883 - birth of Jean Bedetti (Lyon, France) d.1973

cellist, orchestra principal cello {based USA}

** 1917 - Richard Strauss finishes writing the orchestral suite “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme”

{the work features an important orchestral principal cello line}

** 1934 - first performance of Shostakovich - Cello Sonata in D minor, Op.40     

Victor Kubatsky/cello with composer at piano (Moscow)

26 December - On this #cello day

** 1831 - birth of Charles  Meerens (Bruges, Belgium)

cellist & musical writer 

** 1898 - birth of Yvette Lamontagne (Montreal) d.1992

cellist, chamber musician & teacher 

** 1920 - birth of Maurice Gendron (Nice, France) d.1990

cellist, conductor, arranger & teacher 

** 1972 - first performance of Boris Blacher - Sonata for 2 Cellos and 11 Instruments ad Libitum

cellists: Wolfgang Boettcher and Eberhard Finke with Berlin Philharmonisches Orchester, conducted by Walter Gillessen (Berlin)

27 December - On this #cello day

** 1891 - Dvorak arranges in one day his Slavonic Dance No.8 (Op.46/8) for cello and piano for a cello premiere 10 days ahead with Hans Wihan

** 1902 - birth of Yves Chardon (Villier-sur-Marne, France) d.2000

cellist, orchestra principal cello & conductor {based Greece then USA}

** 1907 - birth of Willem Van Otterloo (Bilthoven, Holland) d.1978

conductor, cellist & composer

** 1960 - birth of Gerald Eckert (Nurembrrg, Germany)

composer, cellist, and painter

28 December - On this #cello day

** 1876 - birth of {August Wilhelm} Julius Rietz  (Berlin) d.1877

composer, conductor, cellist & teacher

** 1906 - birth of Adolphe {Clémont Jules Louis} Frezin (Lessines, Belgium)  d.1978

cellist, orchestra principal cello & chamber musician {based USA}

** 1907 - The 20-year-old Amsterdam-born cellist Max Orobio de Castro (1887-1962) made an important debut in Berlin, playing both D’Albert’s Cello Concerto and the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with orchestra (under conductor Landon Ronald). Nine years later he would become principal cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic, later undertaking a long career teaching at the Amsterdam Conservatory

** 1931 - first performance of Arthur Farwell - Land of Luthany op.87 for cello and piano

** 1988 - first performance of Alfred Schnittke - Klingende Buchstaben for cello

(Moscow)

** 1994 - first performance of Krzysztof Penderecki - Divertimento for cello

(Cologne, Germany)

29 December - On this #cello day

** 1876 - birth of {Pablo} Pau Casals (Vendrell, Tarragona, Catalonia) d.1973

cellist, teacher & conductor

** 1887 - birth of Kiyoshi Nobutoki (Osaka, Japan) d.1965

composer, teacher and cellist

** 1908 - birth of Edmund Kurtz (St. Petersburg, Russia) d.2004

cellist, orchestra principal cello {based Germany-USA}

** 1923 - first performance of André Caplet - Cello concerto ‘Epiphanie’

(Paris)

** 1924 - in a rich six weeks work and relax, Bloch completes:  Méditation hébraïque for cello and piano, and Three Jewish pieces for cello and piano (From Jewish Life)

30 December - On this #cello day

** 1749 - birth of Antonin Kraft (Rokycany, Bohemia) d.1820

cellist & composer [father of cellist Micolaus Kraft]

** 1901 - birth of Isadore Gusikoff (New York) d.1962

cellist, orchestra principal cello

** 1922 - birth of John Kennedy (London) d.1980

cellist, orchestral principal cello & teacher [son of cellist Lauri Kennedy]

** 1965 - birth of Tomasz Strahl (Cieplice Śląskie, Poland)

cellist

31 December - On this #cello day

** 1860 - birth of Aurel Czerwenka (Karansebes, Hungary) 

cellist, orchestra principal cello {based Germany}  

** 1963 - birth of Maya Beiser (Gazit, a kibbutz in Israel)

cellist, performing artist and producer {based U.S.A.}

150 entries for month of December - On this #cello day

{as at April 2020}

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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