JUNE - ON THIS #CELLO DAY

1 June - On this #cello day

** 1776 - birth of George Schetky (Edinburgh) d.1831

cellist, teacher, composer and music publisher {based Scotland-USA}

** 1834 - birth of William Muller (Brunswick, Germany)

cellist, court solo cellist  and professor {based Germany-USA}

** 1884 - birth of Willem Dehé (Groningen, Holland) d.1942

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

** 1891 - birth of Roger Marie Bricoux (Cosne-sur-Loire, France) d.1912

a French cellist on the RMS Titanic on its maiden voyage - he died in the disaster

** 1909 - birth of Antonia Butler (London) d.1997

cellist and professor

** 1971 - first performance of Peter Racine Fricker - Sarabande for solo cello (in Memoriam Igor Stravinsky)

soloist - Geoffrey Rutkowski (Lotte Lehmann Concert Hall, University of California, USA)

** 1984 - birth of Joseph Kuipers (Rochester, MN, USA)
cellist, composer, writer and teacher

 2 June - On this #cello day

** 1933 - birth of Pedro Corostola (Errenteria, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country) d.2020 

cellist, orchestral principal cello, chamber musician and professor

** 1950 - It had been five years since Pau Casals had last performed in public and he did so on 2nd June in the church of San Pedro de Prades, in the new Prades Festival, interpreting Bach's “Suite No. 1”. The festival was a great worldwide success

3 June - On this #cello day

** 1865 - birth of Carl Fuchs (Offenbach am Main, Germany) d.1951

cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician & teacher

** 1913 - first performance of Anotonio Torrandell Jaume - Cello Sonata Op.21

(Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées, Paris)

** 1970 - first performance of Webern - 2 Pieces for cello and piano (1899), and Cello Sonata (1914)

(Cleveland, USA)

** 1992 - birth of Kian Soltani (Bregenz, Austria)

cellist

4 June - On this #cello day

** 1738 - birth of George III, King of United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland d.1820

Royalty…and an amateur cellist!

** 1767 - birth of Christian Friedrich Bauersacha (Pegnitz, Anspach, Germany) d.1845

cellist, basset-horn…and later miner!  

** 1907 - birth of John Adasskin (Toronto) d.1964

conductor, radio producer, administrator & cellist 

** 1915 - birth of Alan Shulman (Baltimore, Marland, USA) d.2002

composer & cellist

** 1982 - first performance of Lukas Foss - For 200 Cellos (A Celebration)

(University of Maryland, College Park, USA)

5 June - On this #cello day

** 1855 - birth of Hans Wihan {Hanuš Wihan } (Police nad Metují, Czech) d.1920

cellist, string quartet specialist & professor

** 1943 - After having been arrested the previous year and sent to prison, the trial of Anita Laster-Wallfisch and her sister took place on this date and she was sentenced to 18 months in concentration camp (her sister three years and a half of forced labour). She was a prisoner till the liberation in 1945.

** 1962 - An interesting recital given by Gaspar Cassadó with Chieko Hara de Cassadó, piano
Programme: Marcello - 2 Sonatas [but no keys or numbers given] // Bach - Prelude, Suite No. 5 in c minor // Chopin - Fantasy in f minor // Chopin - Nocturne in f# minor // Chopin - 2 Etudes [but no keys or numbers given] // Strauss - Sonata

 6 June - On this #cello day

** 1807 - birth of Adrien-François Servais (Hakke, Belguium) d.1866

cellist, professor & composer

** 1860 - first performance of Schumann - Cello Concerto in A minor, Op.129         

soloist - Kudwig Ebert (Leipzig Conservatory, Germany) 

** 1903 - birth of Aram Il’yich Khachaturian (Tiflis, Georgia) d.1978

composer, conductor & cellist

** 1909 - birth of Willard Franklin Warch (Chicago, USA) d.2002

cellist, orchestra principal cello, professor & music theorist teacher

** 1911 - birth of Colin Hampton (London) d.1996

cellist / string quartet specialist

** 1968 - birth of Kenneth Woods

conductor, cellist & composer, international workshops for young conductors, writer of a blog “View from the Podium”

7 June - On this #cello day

** 1910 - first performance of Saint-Saens - La muse et le poète, Op.132 for solo violin, solo cello and orchestra

{in the premiere the composer plays a piano reduction of orchestra} (Queen’s Hall, London) 

** 1930 -William Henry Squire was cello soloist in Camille Saint‐Saëns - Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor / Gaspar Cassadó - Pastorale / David Popper - 3 Pieces, Op 11No. 3 Mazurka in G minor / and Martini - Plaisir d'amour (arr. WH Squire), with the Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir Hamilton Harty {‘Northern Proms’ Concert, Free Trade Hall, Manchester - this was the final concerto performance given by William Henry Squire}

** 1939 - birth of Yuli Turovsky (Moscow) d.2013

cellist, conductor and teacher {based Canada]

** 1954 - The fourth Prades Festival (France) ocentred around Casals activity was held from 7th to 23rd June, 1954. It was dedicated exclusively to Beethoven's chamber music and, apart from Casals himself, it had the participation of Joseph Fuchs, Trio Pasquier, Eugène Istomin, Szymon Goldberg, Mieczyslaw Horszowski and Rudolf Serkin

8 June - On this #cello day

** 1783 - birth of Joseph Linke [also written Lincke] (Trachenberg, now Żmigród in Poland) d.1837  

cellist, chamber musician & composer

** 1810 - birth of Robert Schumann (Zwickau, Germany) d.1856

composer, pianist, music critic…and adolescent cellist!

** 1844 - birth of Richard Bellmann (Freiburg, Germany) d. c1900

cellist, orchestra principal cello &chamber musician

** 1850 - first performance of Schumann - 5 Pieces in Folk Style, for cello and piano, Op.102       

Andreas Grabau/cello and Clara Wieck{Schumann}/piano (Schumann house concert, Germany)

** 1976 - first performance of Marcel Rubin - Concertino for 12 Celli

The 12 Cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic (Great Hall of Musikverein, Vienna)

** 1988 - birth of Jonah Kim (South Korea)

cellist

9 June - On this #cello day

** 1829 - birth of Gaetano Braga (Giulianova, Abruzzi, Italy) d.1907

cellist & opera composer

** 1915 - birth of Jane Cowan (England) d.1996

cellist, teacher

** 1948 - birth of Nathaniel Rosen (Altadena, California, USA)

cellist

** 1965 - birth of Timothy {‘Tim’} Hugh (England)

cellist, orchestral principal, chamber music

** 1984 - first performance of Morton Gould - “Cellos”, for eight cellos (double quartet)

cellists: ensemble at the 2nd American Cello Conference (Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA)

** 1993 - birth of Tessa Seymour (Berkeley, California, USA)

cellist

10 June - On this #cello day

** 1904 - birth of Henri Honegger (Switerland) d.1992

cellist

** 1976 - first performance of Valentin Silvestrov - Meditation for cello and chamber orchestra

(Kiev)

11 June - On this #cello day

** 1854 - birth of Bernhard Thieme (Altenburg, Germany) d.1890

cellist, orchestra principal cello

** 1942 - birth of Krzysztof Sperski (Krakow, Poland)  

cellist, chamber musician, professor, pedagogue, academic teacher 

12 June - On this #cello day

** 1932 - birth ofJohn Sant’Ambrogio (Glen Ridge, New Jersey, USA) {father of cellist Sara}

cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician & teacher

** 1987 - Release date (premiere screened in U.S.A.) of the film “The Witches of Eastwick” (español - ‘Las Brujas de Eastwick’)

directed by George Miller, starring Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer 
The Witches of Eastwick is a 1987 American dark fantasy-comedy film.  Three single women in a picturesque village sit around and fantasize about and describe their idea of the ideal male. They have their wishes granted, at a cost, when a mysterious and flamboyant man arrives in their lives. One by one, they are seduced - then strange things begin to happen. Susan Sarandon and Jack Nicholson rehearse a portion of the Dvorak Cello Concerto.  The scene concludes with the cello bursting into flames. Also with music by Gershwin, John Williams, Carel Struycken & Puccini

13 June - On this #cello day

** 1940 - When the German army entered Paris on 13th June, 1940, Pau Casals, together with Francesca (then a secret love!) and the Alavedra family, chose to leave France from Bordeaux, aboard the ship "Champlain" bound for North America. However, moments before boarding, the ship was bombarded by the German forces, for which reason they decided to return to Prades to settle in Villa Colette

** 1974 - birth of Ophelie Gaillard (Paris)

cellist

** 1991 - birth of Alexey Stadler (Saint Petersburg, Russia)

cellist

** 1994 - Mstislav Rostropovich returned to the US White House for a performance for the Emperor and Empress of Japan, an event that also celebrated his seventeen years as director of the National Symphony Orchestra

14 June - On this #cello day

** 1979 - birth of Johannes Moser (Munich, Germany)

cellist

15 June - On this #cello day

** 1763 - birth of Franz Ignaz Danzi (Schwetzingen, Germany) d.1826 {son of cellist Innocenz}

cellist, composer & conductor

** 1807 - Antonin Reicha completes the composition of a grand ‘trio for 3 cellos’

** 1855 - birth of Alwin Schroeder (Neuhaldensleben, Germany) d.1928

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

** 1860 - birth of Wladislaw Alois (Prague)

cellist, opera orchestra principal cello & teacher

** 1909 - first performance of Moor - Cello Quartet, Op.95        

Cello quartet soloists: Pau Casals, Diran Alexanian, Joseph Salmon & André Hekking (Salle Pleyel, Paris)

** 1919 - birth of Eleanor {Catherine} Warren (London) d.2005

cellist, teacher and radio producer

** 1953 - birth of Raphael Wallfisch (London)

cellist

** 1959 - birth of Robert Cohen (London)

cellist

** 1986 - birth of Stjepan Hauser (Pula, Croatia)

cellist

 16 June - On this #cello day

** 1843 - birth of David Popper (Prague, Bohemia) d.1913

cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician, teacher, composer & arranger

** 1911 - in one sole concert Beatrice Harrison performs the Haydn - Cello Concerto in D, Dvorak - Cello Concerto in B minor, and the Tchaikovsky - Rococo Variations!

** 1915 - birth of Rudolf Kirs (Brandýs nad Labem, Czech) d.1963

cellist, orchestra principal cello

** 1963 - birth of Angel Luis Quintana (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria,Spain)

cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician & social causes co-coordinator (Fundación Columbus)

17 June - On this #cello day

** 1968 - first performance of Britten - Solo Cello Suite No.2, Op.80       

soloist Mstislav Rostropovich (England - Aldeburgh Festival)

** 1977 - birth of Dominik Połoński (Krakow, Poland) d.2018

cellist (laterly right-hand cellist only)

** 1998 - first performance of Erik Bergman - Concerto for Cello and String Orchestra, Op.141 

(Naantali, Finland)

18 June - On this #cello day

** 1673 - birth of Antonio de Literes {Antoni Lliteres} (Artá, Mallorca) d.1747

violinist, cellist, bass violist & composer

** 1809 - birth of Joseph Szablinski (Warsaw)

cellist, orchestra and opera principal cello & chamber musician

** 1881 - birth of Horace Britt (Antwerp, Belgium) d.1971

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

** 1918 - birth of Eduardo Ortiz Lara (Guatemala City)
cellist, orchestra principal cello, professor (‘father of the Guatemala cello school’)

** 1954 - An interesting recital with a first performance given by Gaspar Cassadó with Alberto Ventura, piano
Programme: Frescobaldi - Toccata [now known to be by the cellist himself] // Mozart - Sonata in F, K. 458 [originally for piano 4-hands] // Beethoven - Sonata in G, Op. 5 No. 2 // Boccherini - Sonata in A // Granados - Intermezzo from Goyescas // E. Halffter - Habanera // Cassadó - Achares [premiere]

19 June - On this #cello day

** 1897 - Manuel de Falla writes ‘Melodía’ for cello and piano

** 1992 - first performance of Robert Simpson - Cello Concerto

soloist - Raphael Wallfisch with BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Vernon Handley (Malvern Festival, England)

** 1994 - first performance of Alfred Schnittke - Improvisation for cello

(Paris)

20 June - On this #cello day

** 1819 - birth of Jacques Offenbach (Cologne, Germany) d.1880

composer, cellist & impresario

** 1872 - birth of Louis Feuillard (Dijon, France) d.1941

cellist, chamber music specialist & professor

** 1935 - birth of Jennifer Ward Clarke (Yateley, England) d.2015

cellist, baroque cellist

 21 June - On this #cello day

** 1937 - birth of Raphael Sommer (Prague) d.2001

cellist & professor

** 1943 - first performance of Vermeulen - Cello Sonata No.2

Paul Tortelier/cello and Lia Palla/piano (Paris)

** 1991 - birth of Wassily Gerassimez (Essen, Germany)

cellist and composer

22 June - On this #cello day

** 1911 - birth of Harvey Shapiro (New York) d.2007

cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician & teacher

** 1931 - birth of Oleg Kotzarew (Pyatigorsk, Caucasus, Russia) d.2002

cellist, orchestral principal cello, composer and teacher {based Argentina}

** 1942 - birth of Alain Meunier (Paris)

cellist

** 1976 - first performance of Frederick Delius - Romance for cello and piano

(Helsinki)

** 1999 - first performance of Colin Matthews - Palinode, for eight cellos

cellists: Alexander Baillie and Bremen Cello Ensemble (St. John’s Smith Square, London)

23 June - On this #cello day

** 1711 - birth of Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (Bilegno, Piacenza, Italy) d. 1786

Italian luthier, few known cellos but of extraordinary quality

** 1960 - birth of Jan {Maślankiewic} Pogány (Kołobrzeg, Poland)  

composer , cellist & conductor {based Germany}

** 1981 - birth of Saerom Park (Saerom Emma Lou Park} (South Korea)

cellist {based Germany}

** 1987 - US President Ronald Reagan presented Rostropovich with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a White House ceremony

24 June - On this #cello day

** 1686 - birth of Domenico Montagnana  (Lendinara, Italy) d.1750

Italian luthier, particulalrly known for his cellos

** 1897 - birth of Hermann Busch (Siegen, Germany) d.1975

cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician

** 1906 - birth of Pierre Fournier (Paris, France) d.1986

cellist (‘The Aristocrat’)

** 1922 - After Pau Casals and Guilhermina Suggia had finished their relationship (in 1913) there was no reason why they had to communicate to each other about their concert activities, and it could occasionally lead to co-incidences! On this date the ‘Illustrated London News’ reported in an article titled ‘A Great ’Cellist Who Arranged to Play at the Queen’s Hall’:
“Mme. Suggia. the famous Portuguese ’cellist, arranged to give a recital on June 22 at the Queen’s Hall, where, on the 15th, Pablo Casals gave his only recital of the season here. London has thus had opportunity of comparing the two greatest living ’cellists with interval of one week between their performances.”

** 1992 - first performance of Andrzej Panufnik - Cello Concerto 

(London)

25 June - On this #cello day

** 1750 - birth of J.J. Kriegck (Bibra, Merseberb,Germany)

cellist and composer  

** 1837 - birth of Joseph Werner (Würzburg, Germany) d.1922

cellist, teacher and composer  

** 1870 - birth of Herbert Walenn (London) d.1953

cellist and pedagogue

** 1887 - birth of Arnold Trowell (Wellington, New Zealand) d.1966

cellist, composer and pedagogue

** 1911 - birth of Dudley Powers (Moorhead, Minnesota, USA) d.2004

cellist, orchestra principal cello, conductor & teacher

26 June - On this #cello day

** 1855 - Offenbach wished to change directions and become an opera/theatre composer. He therefore approached the empresario Hervé, who agreed to present a new one-act operetta with words by Jules Moinaux and music by Offenbach, called Oyayaye ou La reine des îles.  It was presented on 26 June 1855 and was well received. Offenbach's biographer Peter Gammond describes it as "a charming piece of nonsense". The piece depicts a double-bass player, played by Hervé, shipwrecked on a cannibal island, who after several perilous encounters with the female chief of the cannibals makes his escape using his double-bass as a boat. Buoyed by success Offenbach immediately pressed ahead with plans to present his works, leaving to one side his cello performing career.

** 1865 - the finishing date of composition of the Twelve Caprices for solo cello by Alfredo Piatti was given as 26th June, 1865. Although the work was finished in 1865 it was first published in 1874, edited jointly by both Piatti and his former student, William E. Whitehouse

** 1961 - birth of Maria Pomianowska (Warsaw)

multi-instrumentalist, including vocalist, cello and Indian musical instruments, composer & teacher

** 1999 - first performance of Colin Matthews - Palinode for nine cellos

(London)

27 June - On this #cello day

** 1885 - birth of Guilherminia Augusta Suggia d.1950

cellist

 ** 1945 - on today’s date, with World War II having recently ended, Pau Casals gives a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult. At the end of the concert, Pau Casals sends a message to Catalonia from the BBC studios. However, after a week of concerts in England, Casals decides not to play again in this country in protest against the Allied countries' immobility with respect to General Franco's regime. He turns down Doctorates Honoris Causa both from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge

** 1965 - first performance of Britten - Solo Cello Suite No.1, Op.72       

soloist Mstislav Rostropovich (England - Aldeburgh Festival)

28 June - On this #cello day

** 1868 - birth of Johan Snoer (Amsterdam)   

cellist, orchestra principal cello, harpist 

** 1988 - birth of Kanon Wakeshima (Japan) 

cellist (Japanese music) & singer

** 1916 - first performance of Hindemith - Cello Concerto, Op.3

conducted by composer, making his conducting debut! (Hoch Conservatory, Frankfurt, Germany)

** 1935 - first performance of Milhaud - Cello Concerto No.1

(Paris)

** 1977 - first performance of Xenakis ‘Kottos’ for solo cello
soloist - Varied competitors!  {La Rochelle Music Festival for Contemporary Music, Competition piece of the Mstislav Rostropovitch International Competition, France}

** 1985 - first performance of Udo Zimmermann - Canticum Marianum, for 12 Cellos

The 12 Cellos of the Berlin Philharmonic (Kulturpalast, Dresden, Germany)

** 1988 - birth of Kanon Wakeshima (Japan) 

cellist (Japanese music) & singer

 29 June - On this #cello day

** 1879 - first performance of Antonín Dvořák - Piano Trio op.26 & the Polonaise for cello and piano

Alois Neruda/cello and composer at piano (Turnov, Czech Rep)

** 1958 - birth of Rodolfo Zanni (Santiago del Estero, Argentina)

cellist, professor, bandoneonist & tango expert

** 1987 - Release date (premiere screened in London) of the film “The Living Daylights” {Spanish - “Alta Tensión”} directed by John Glen, starring Timothy Dalton, Maryam d'Abo and Jeroen Krabbé.

James Bond is assigned to aid the defection of a KGB officer, General Georgi Koskov, covering his escape from a concert hall in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia during an intermission. Bond notices that the KGB sniper assigned to prevent Koskov's escape is a female cellist from the orchestra. Bond begins suspecting that Koskov's defection and recapture were staged. He returns to Bratislava, posing to Kara Milovy as General Koskov's friend and discovers that Kara is in fact Koskov's girlfriend, who is observed by the KGB. The pair flee to Vienna, Austria, in the weaponized Aston Martin, pursued by KGB and Czechoslovak Police (Veřejná bezpečnost or VB — Public Security). Bond, however, is forced to destroy the car, whereupon he and Milovy sled down a snow-covered hill in Kara's cello case!

30 June - On this #cello day

** 1865 - completion of Dvorak - Cello Concerto No.1 in A Major (cello & piano score)  

** 1874 - birth of Johannes Hegar (Zurich, Switzerland) d. 1929

cellist, chamber musician & professor

** 1886 - Arturo Toscanini, a young 19 year old professional cellist, makes his conducting debut in Rio de Janeiro as an emergency replacement at a performance of Verdi’s Aida

** 1912 - birth of Tibor de Machula (Cluj-Napoca, Rumania) d.1982 

cellist, orchestra principal cello 

** 1937 - birth of Michael von Biel (Hamburg, Germany)

composer, cellist & graphic artist

124 entries for month of June - 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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