JULY - ON THIS #CELLO DAY

1 July - On this #cello day

** 1900 - birth of Marcus Adeney (London) d.1998 

cellist, chamber musician, teacher & writer

** 1948 - birth of Maxine Neuman (New York)

cellist, chamber music player & teacher

** 1972 - first performance of original 5-string “violino grande” Penderecki - Cello Concerto No.1      

soloist - Bronislaw Eichenholz (violino grande) with Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Henryk Czyz (Östersund, Sweden) 

2 July - On this #cello day

** 1808 - birth of Marius André Gueit (Hyères, France) d.1862

cellist, organist & composer

** 1906 - birth of Thelma Reiss (Plymouth, England) d.1991

cellist

3 July - On this #cello day

** 1862 - birth of Friedrich Ernst Koch (Berlin) d.1927

cellist, music director (Kapellmeister), composer & professor

** 1872 - birth of Hans Kronold (Krakov, Poland) d.1922

cellist, orchestral, early recording artist & composer {based USA}

** 1890 - birth of Gilberto Crepax (Dolo, Italy) d.1970

cellist, orchestral principal cello, chamber musician & professor

** 1923 - first British performance of Delius - Cello Concerto

soloist - Beatrice Harrison (Queen’s Hall, London)

** 1972 - in order to leave in Catalonia all the legacy he had in his house in El Vendrell, to which the master would surely no longer return, Pau Casals and his wife Marta created the “Pau Casals Foundation” on 3rd July, 1972

** 1977 - first performance of Pierre Boulez - Messagesquisse for solo cello and six cellos

(La Rochelle, France)

** 1988 - birth of Kanon Wakeshima (Tokyo)

cellist, singer, popular music

4 July - On this #cello day

** 1858 - birth of Marie Joseph Anatole Elijah of Riquet of Caraman, 19th Prince of Chimay (Paris) d.1937 {Joseph de Caraman-Chimay, the younger}

Aristrocat, French Olympic fencer, and very fine amateur cellist!

 ** 1919 - British premiere of Bloch Schelomo (in cello-piano version)

May Mukle/cello and ?/piano (London)

5 July - On this #cello day

** 1896 - birth of Lauri Kennedy (Sydney) d.1985

cellist, orchestral principal cello  [father of cellist John Kennedy]

** 1924 - birth of János Starker (Budapest) d.2013

cellist & pedagogue

6 July - On this #cello day

** 1678 - birth of Nicola Francesco Haym (Rome) d.1729

Italian librettist, cellist, composer and ancient coin expert!

** 1905 - birth of Charles Houdret (Liege, Belgium) d.c.1964

cellist, conductor, composer & radio producer 

** 1981 - first performance of Ginastera - Cello Concerto No.2

soloist - Aurora Nátola(Buenos Aires)

7 July - On this #cello day

** 1907 - first performance of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Fantasiestück for cello and orchestra

(New Brighton, England)

** 1910 - birth of Elizabeth Cowling (USA) d.1997
cellist & professor

** 1953 - last performance of ‘original’ version of Sullivan - Cello Concerto in D Major (orchestral material destroyed by fire in May 1964)

soloist - William Pleeth with Goldsbrough Orchestra, conducted by Charles Mackerras (BBC Third Programme live performance, London)

** 1954 - birth of Carter Brey (Montclair, New Jersey, USA)

cellist

** 1978 - first performance of Ginastera - Cello Concerto No.1, Op.36 (1968)

soloist - Aurora Nátola (Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA)

** 1983 - birth of Adrien Frasse-Sombet (Ollioules, Var (department), France)

cellist

** 1991 - first performance of John Casken - Cello Concerto

soloist - Heinrich Schiff, in the Schleswig-Holstein Festival (Germany)

8 July - On this #cello day

** 1749 - birth of Louis-Auguste-Joseph Janson (Valenciennes, France) d.after 1815 {brother of cellist Jean-Baptiste)

cellist, opera orchestra & composer

** 1844 - The young solo cellist Alfredo Piatti (22 years old) was already giving concerts around Italy and in Europe when he arrived in London, where by good fortune he became acquainted with Mendelssohn - together they played a sonata for cello and piano (it could have been either one!), Piatti playing so well that the celebrated composer sent him the following card on today’s date in 1844: “To Mr. Piatti with all gratitude for the pleasure you have given me playing my sonata this morning, and with my most sincere admiration of your wonderful talent”.

** 1912 - birth of Florence Hooton (Scarborough, England) d.1988

cellist and professor

9 July - On this #cello day

** 1816 - birth of Alexander Batta (Mastricht, Belgium)  d. c1900-1902

cellist and composer {based Paris}

** 1879 - Of course it is, and always has been, necessary for concert artists to help in the promotion of their own career, but…it is rather unusual to find historical documents relating to this! However, here is one such case: Robert Hausmann wrote a letter from Berlin to the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, on 9th July, 1879, seeking out opportunities to continue performing in London. He wrote a very neat letter, although with imperfect English, with courteous salutations and interestingly he closed his communication (I haven’t corrected any of the English!):
“Will you be kind enouf to remember my violincello, when you arrange the programs for the next Philharmonie season? The best time for me, to go over to London next year the month of March will be I think.”

** 1903 - birth of Eleanor Gregorson (Edinburgh) d.2004
cellist and cello teacher in Edinburgh

** 1925 - birth of Donald White (Richmond, U.S.A.) d.2005

cellist, orchestra musician {the first African American cellist to play in the Cleveland Orchestra}

** 1944 - birth of Dorian Rudnytsky (New York City)

cellist and composer, co-founder of a rock band “New York Rock & Roll Ensemble”

** 1956 - birth of Georg Faust (Porz near Cologne, Germany) is a German 

cellist, orchestra principal cello, artistic leader of the 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic

 10 July - On this #cello day

** 1895 - birth of Carl Orff (Munich, Germany)
composer … and in his formative years (5+) he studied piano, organ and cello, and started composing (songs etc. while still at primary school!)

** 1927 - Pau Casals was given the title of ‘Adoptive Son’ (“hijo predilecto”) of El Vendrell (Tarragona, Catalonia) - he was given as a ceremony gift a special olive wood conductor baton!

11 July - On this #cello day

** 1841 - birth of Daniël de Lange (Rotterdam, Holland) d.1918

composer, choral conductor, pianist, organist, teacher, music critic ….and cellist!

** 1878 - this day featured the debut concert of Eduard Rosenblum in Vienna - he trained as a cellist at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna between 1876 and 1879, where he had Karl Udel and Reinhold Hummer as teachers and his brother Arnold also studied.

** 1892 - birth of Giorgio Federico Ghedini  (Cuneo, Italy) d.1965

composer and cellist

** 1986 - first complete Irish performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber - Variations

soloist - David Johnstone, with The Rubato Dance Company (Edmund Burke Hall, Dublin)

12 July - On this #cello day

** 1675 - birth of Evaristo Felice Dall’Abaco (Verona, Italy) d.1742

composer and cellist {based Italy-Germany-France}

** 1984 - birth of Marçal Ayats (Vic, Catalunya)

cellist, pop & light music specialist, professor and musical arranger (especially cello ensembles!)

** 1996 - first performance of William Bolcom - Solo Cello Suite No.1

(Tanglewood, Lenox, Massachusetts, USA)

13 July - On this #cello day

** 1917 - first performance of Bridge - Cello Sonata (1913-17)

Felix Salmond/cello and Harold Samuel/piano (Wigmore Hall, London)

** 1952 - birth of Janet Horvath (Toronto, Canada)

cellist, orchestral front desk player, chamber musician, writer of articles on music and musicians, conference speaker and invited guest to seminars, an expert in the area of the medical problems of performing artists {daughter of cellist George (György) Horvath}

** 1985 - birth of Maja Kleszcz (Warsaw)

vocalist, cellist, music producer, author of theater and film music (former member of band Kapela ze Wsi Warszawa)

** 1991 - first performance of Alfred Schnittke - Madrigal, in memoriam Oleg Kagan for violin or for cello

(Kreuth, Germany)

** 1999 - first performance of John Casken - Darting the Skiff for cello and orchestra

(Cheltenham, England)

14 July - On this #cello day

** 1862 - first performance of Piatti - Tème Varié       

soloist - Alfredo Piatti (Philharmonic Society Jubilee concert)

** 1899 - first performance of De Falla - Romanza for cello and piano

(private concert, at the home of Salvador Viniegra in Cádiz, Spain)

15 July - On this #cello day

** 1825 - birth of (Johann August) Julius Goltermann (Hamburg, Germany) d.1876 [not be confused with the cellist-composer Georg Goltermann (1824 – 1898) ]

cellist and professor

** 1927 - birth of Rowland Sterlimg Pack (London, Ontario, Canada) d.1964

cellist, orchestra primcipal, organist and choirmaster

** 1965 - premiere of Bernstein ‘Chichester Psalms’ - (the work features an important orchestral principal cello solo}

conducted by the composer (Philharmonic Hall, New York City)

16 July - On this #cello day

** 1667 - birth of Giuseppe Maria Jacchini (Bologna, Italy) d.1727

cellist and composer

** 1858 - birth of Eugène Ysaye (Liege, Belgium) d.1931

violinist, conductor, composer … and occasional cellist!

** 1982 - birth of Eric Jacobsen (Long Island, New York, USA)

conductor and cellist

17 July - On this #cello day

** 1926 - birth of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch (Breslau, Germany - today Wrocław, Poland) [mother of cellist Raphael Wallfisch}

cellist, orchestra principal cello - a survivor from Auschwitz Concentration Camp {based England}

** 1974 - Vasso Devetzi (piano) and Mstislav Rostropovich (cello) record Beethoven -  Variations on "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen" for Cello and Piano

(Salle Wagram, Paris) 

** 1988 - birth of Eros Jaca (Zaragoza, Spain)

cellist, chamber musician, contemporary music expert

18 July - On this #cello day

** 1670 - birth of Giovanni Bonocini {Buoncini} (Modena, Italy) d.1747

cellist, singer, teacher & composer 

** 1883 - birth of Oscar Eberle d.1943 {son of cellist Oscar Eberle}

cellist, chamber musician & teacher

** 1936 - last performance of the Pau Casals Orquestra, Barcelona

** 1959 - first performance of Milhaud - Cello sonata, Op.377

Vancouver, Canada)

.

** 1992 - Raphael Wallfisch was cello soloist, along with Tasmin Little/violin, in Johannes Brahms - Double Concerto for violin and cello in A minor, with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley

{Prom Concert "In memoriam Charles Groves (10/3/1915 - 20/6/1992)”, Royal Albert Hall, London}

19 July - On this #cello day

** 1936 - birth of Gerald Appleman (Los Angeles, California, USA)

cellist, orchestra principal cello & chamber musician

** 1955 - first performance of Finzi -  Cello Concerto, Op.40      

soloist Christopher Bunting with Hallé Orchestra, conducted by John Barbirolli (Cheltenham Music Festival)

** 1973 - birth of Aldo Mata (Madrid)

cellist, orchestral principal cello, professor of cello & chamber music, baroque/classical music specialist, investigator and writer

** 1993 - Paul Watkins performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms

with theBBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis

20 July - On this #cello day

** 1744 - birth of Johnann Baptiste Mara (Berlin) {son of cellist Ignatz}

cellist

** 1866 - birth of André Hekking (Bordeaux, France) d.1925

cellist & professor

** 1956 - first performance of Kenneth Leighton - Cello Concerto 

(Cheltenham, England)

** 1958 - last public concert performance of Beatrice Harrison

(Coventry Cathedral Festival of the Arts, England - performance televised)

** 1974 - Thomas Igloi performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms

with theRoyal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra , conducted by Charles Grove

21 July - On this #cello day

** 1847 - birth of Victor (Alexander Marie) Mirecki Larramat (Tarbes, France) d.1921

cellist, chamber music & professor {based Spain}

** 1867 - an interesting review appeared on today’s date, detailed as ‘London Music Halls’ Era (London); interesting because later in his career the same performer was famed for doing exactly the opposite!  It said:
“The concert introduced a very young, but very good, violoncellist, Herr Auguste Van Biene. He plays very smoothly, and with thoroughly unaffected expression.”

** 1899 - birth of Ernest Miller Hemingway (Oak Park, Illinois, USA) d.1961

writer & amateur cellist

22 July - On this #cello day

 ** 1977 - first recording of Luis Navidad - Nocturno for cello and piano

Carlos Baena/cello and Ana María Gorostiaga/piano (Casa de la Readio, RNE, Madrid

** 1992 - Timothy Hugh was cello soloist in Henri Dutilleux - 'Tout un monde lointain ...' {Proms premiere}, with BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jan Pascal Tortelier {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

** 1995 - Colin Carr was cello soloist in William Walton - Cello Concerto, with BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

** 1996 - Russian cellist Nina Kotova made her concert debut in the West at the prestigious Wigmore Hall in London

** 1997 - Steven Isserlis performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms

with theBBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Tadaaki Otaka

23 July - On this #cello day

** 1923 - first British performance of Delius - Cello Concerto (1920-21)    

soloist Beatrice Harrison, conducted by the composer

** 1977 - Ralph Kirshbaum performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms (also in 1991 & 1999)

with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Charles Grove

** 1980 - Heinrich Schiff was scheduled to be the cello soloist in Robert Schumann - Cello Concerto in A minor {reorchestrated Dmitry Shostakovich}, with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London} - HOWEVER, due to industrial action by the Musicians' Union this concert was cancelled!

** 1990 - Rocco Filippini was cello soloist in Luigi Boccherini - Cello Concerto in D major, G479 {Proms premiere}, with I Virtuosi di Roma conducted by Angelo Stefanato-violin/director {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

24 July - On this #cello day

** 1825 - birth of Guillaume Paque (Brussels) d.1876

cellist, orchestra principal cello, teacher & composer

** 1947 - Anthony Pini was cello soloist in Edward Elgar - Cello Concerto in E minor, with London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

** 1993 - Mischa Maisky was cello soloist in Dmitry Shostakovich - Cello Concerto No 1 in E flat major, with London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

25 July - On this #cello day

** 1878 - birth of Louis Hasselmans (France) d.1957

cellist & conductor

** 1964 - Amaryllis Fleming was cello soloist in Camille Saint‐Saëns - Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent {Prom Concert - First Night of the Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London}

** 1974 - probable American premiere of Brahms - Cello Sonata in G Major, Op.78 {reworked by Brahms from his Violin Sonata in D Major}

Janos Starker/cello and Buchbinder/piano

** 1993 - first performance of Luis de Pablo - Ritornello, for eight cellos (1992)

cellists: Octeto de Violoncellos Conjunto Ibérico, conducted by Elias Erizcuren (Real Colegiata de San Isidoro at the Festival de Música Española del Siglo XX, Madrid, Spain)

26 July - On this #cello day

** 1947 - birth of Andrzej Wróbel ( Nieporęt, Poland)

cellist, chamber musician and teacher

** 1948 -Paul Tortelier was cello soloist in both Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra and Richard Strauss - Don Quixote, Op 35, with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

** 1953 - birth of George Kennaway (Edinburgh)

cellist, conductor, researcher, lecturer, teacher and musicologist

** 1988 - Timothy Hugh was cello soloist in Benjamin Britten - Symphony for Cello and Orchestra, Op 68, with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by John Pritchard {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

27 July - On this #cello day

** 1780 - birth of Mauro Giuliani (Naples, Italy) d.1829

composer, guitarist & cellist

** 1784 - birth of George Onslow  (Clermont-Ferrand, France) d.1853

composer, pianist & fine amateur cellist

** 1877 - birth of Ernst von Dohnányi (Pozsony, today Slovakia) d.1960

composer, conductor, pianist & cellist

** 1918 - birth of Leonard (Joseph) Rose (Washington DC) d.1984

cellist, orchestra principal cello & teacher

** 1957 - first performance of Earle Brown - Music for cello and piano

(Darmstadt, Germany)

** 1958 birth of Dorota Pukownik (Poznań, Poland)

cellist, orchestra cello, chamber musician & professor

** 1970 - Maurice Gendron was cello soloist in William Walton - Cello Concerto, with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

28 July - On this #cello day

** 1808 - birth of Charles Lucas (Salisbury, England) d.1869

cellist, composer, publisher, conductor and conservatoire principal

** 1817 - birth of Hippolyte Prosper Seligmann (Paris) d.1882

cellist & composer

** 1942 - birth of Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi (Tokyo)

cellist & professor

29 July - On this #cello day

** 1838 - birth of Jules Lasserre (Tarbes, France) d.1906

cellist, orchesta principal cello, composer

** 1935 - birth of Bonnie Hampton (Berkeley, California, USA)

cellist, chamber music player and professor

** 1946 - birth of David Geringas (Vilnius, Lithuania)

cellist & conductor

** 1947 - Zara Nelsova was cello soloist in Richard Strauss - Don Quixote, Op 35, with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

** 1962 - birth of Martin McCarrick (Luton, Bedfordshire, England)

cellist, keyboardist, guitarist and composer

 ** 1968 - birth of Paavo Lötjönen (Finland)

'modern’ cellist (Apocalyptica)

** 1991 - Christopher Van Kampen was cello soloist in HK Gruber - Cello Concerto {Proms premiere}, with London Sinfonietta conducted by Lothar Zagrosek {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

** 1993 - Alexander Baillie was cello soloist in Frederick Delius - Cello Concerto, with BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Vernon Handley {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

** 1995 - Boris Pergamenshikov was cello soloist in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alexander Lazarev {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

30 July - On this #cello day

** 1808- birth of Frederick Nicholls Crouch (London) d.1896

cellist & composer (vocal/opera) {based USA} 

** 1989 - first performance of Arvo Pärt - Fratres in version for cello and piano

(Hitzacker, Germany)

31 July - On this #cello day

** 1828- birth of François-Auguste Gevaert  (Huysse, Belgium) d.1908 

professor, editor & composer related to the cello world 

** 1945 - Anthony Pini performs the Elgar Cello Concerto at the Proms (and later twice in 1947, 1948, 1949, twice in 1950, 1951, 1956)

this time with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Basil Cameron

** 1953- birth of Hugh (Alexander) McDowell (England)

‘modern’ cellist (Electric Light Orchestra)  

** 1962 - Paul Tortelier was cello soloist in Dmitry Shostakovich - Cello Concerto No 1 in E flat major, with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

** 1996 - Steven Isserlis was cello soloist in Dmitry Shostakovich - Cello Concerto No 1 in E flat major, with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Mark Wigglesworth {Prom Concert, Royal Albert Hall, London}

124 entries for month of July - On this #cello day

{as at October 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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