MARCH - ON THIS #CELLO DAY

1 March - On this #cello day

** 1832 - birth of Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Grützmacher (Dessau, Anhalt, Germany) d.1903

cellist, composer, arranger & teacher  

** 1875 - first performance of Monasterio - Romanza for cello and piano

Victor Mirecki Larramat/cello

** 1899 - birth of Marion Cumbo (New York) d.1990

cellist, chamber musician & teacher

** 1950 - first performance of Prokofiev - Cello Sonata in C Major, Op.119     

Mstislav Rostropovich/cello and S. Richter/piano (Moscow, Small Hall of Moscow Conservatory)

** 1999 - first performances of Johnstone - Pilgrim’s Rest; Johnstone - Danxas de Galicia; Johnstone - Lament; and Johnstone - The Prisonner - all these for solo cello

soloist - David Johnstone (“O Camiño de Santiago; A Música do milenio”, Aula de Cultura de Caixa Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain)

2 March - On this #cello day

** 1861 - birth of Anton Hegner (Denmark) d.1915

cellist & composer  {based Denmark-USA}

** 1899 - birth of Harald Søltoft Agersnap (Denmark) d.1982

composer, conductor, cellist, and pianist

3 March - On this #cello day

** 1898 - birth of Kazimierz Blaschke (Stryj,Poland)

cellist, conductor of chamber orchestras and choirs, educator

** 1926 - first performance of Vierne - Cello Sonata, Op.27

Fernand Pollain/cello and Maguerite Long/piano (rue Rochechouart, Paris)

** 1927 - birth of Martin Lovett (London)

cellist & chamber musician

** 1934 - birth of Jimmy Garrison (Miami, FL, USA) d.1976

jazz bassist & cellist

** 1941 - birth of David Darling ( Elkhart, Indiana, USA)

cellist, pop, new-age, multi-string cellos

** 1951 - first performance of Murrill - Cello Concerto No.2    

soloist - Vera Canning with BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Basil Cameron (Henry Wood Birthday Promenade Concert)

** 1967 - Homage to Henry Purcell / Inaugural concert to mark the opening of the Purcell Room, presented by the Greater London Council by arrangement with the Apollo Society and given by April Cantelo and Robert Tear (vocals), Raymond Leppard (harpsichord) and Bernard Richards (cello)

** 1976 - birth of Karolina Jaroszewska {Jaroszewska-Rajewska} (Poznań, Poland)

cellist

4 March - On this #cello day

** 1775 - birth of Robert Lindley  (Rotherham, England) d.1855

cellist / orchestral principal cello, professor

** 1841 - birth of Friedrich Hilpert (Nuremburg, Germany) d.1896

cellist, court ‘chamber virtuoso’ & music arranger

** 1886 - birth of Paul Bazelaire (Sedan, France) d.1958

cellist, arranger and pedagogue

** 1936 - first performance of Enescu - Cello Sonata No.2 in G minor  

Diran Alexanian/cello with composer at piano

** 1946 - birth of Ralph Kirshbaum (Denton, Texas, USA)

cellist

** 1997 - first performance of Erkki-Sven Tüür - Cello Concerto 

(Lausanne, Switzerland)

5 March - On this #cello day

** 1765 - birth of Joseph Muntzberger {Muntz-Berger} (Brussels) d.1844

cellist (opera) & professor {based Paris}

** 1809 - first performance of Beethoven - Cello Sonata No.3 in A Major, Op.69

(Vienna)

** 1887 - birth of Heitor Villa-Lobos (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) d.1959

composer, conductor & cellist

** 1912 - birth of Frank Miller (Baltimore, Maryland, USA) d.1986

cellist, orchestral principal cello & conductor

** 1933 - first {public} performance of Barber - Cello Sonata, Op.6

Orlando Cole/cello and composer at piano (League of Composers concert, New York)

** 1934 - first performance of Arnold Bax - Cello Concerto        

soloist - Gaspar Cassadó with London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hamilton Harty (London - Queen’s Hall)

** 1967 - first performance of Lukas Foss - Cello Concerto

(Carnegie Hall, New York, USA)

** 1977 - first performance of Ross Lee Finney - the first movement of the Narrative in Two Movements, for cello and 14 instruments

(Urbana, Illinois, USA)

** 1987 - birth of Marie-Elisabeth Hecker (Zwickau, Germany)

cellist

** 1999 - Release date (premiere screened in U.S.A.) of the film “Cruel Intentions”
directed by Roger Cumble, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon 

Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her half-brother Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe), two vicious step-siblings of an elite Manhattan prep school make a wager. It is about Sebastian, an accomplished Don Juan, sleeping with Annette (Reese Witherspoon), a young woman who wants to remain a virgin until her marriage. If Sebastian loses, Kathryn will keep his Jaguar, but if he wins ... he will have her. Sebastian starts working on Annette with his strategies, even with the help of his half-sister. The latter, meanwhile, as a first step encourages Cecile to establish a relationship with Ronald, her cello teacher, but the latter is too embarrassed to even be able to give her a kiss. 

6 March - On this #cello day

** 1660 - birth of Francesco II d'Este {Duke of Modena and Reggio} (Modena, Italy) d.1694

Aristocracy - supporter of ‘the cello’

** 1885 - birth of {Joseph Charles} Rosario Bourdon (Longueuil, Canada) d.1961

cellist, violinist, conductor, arranger & composer

** 1902 - birth of Joyce Sands, born Feldtmann (Clairmont, Western Australia) d.1984

cellist, chamber musician

** 1908 - first performance of Bridge - Two Pieces for cello and piano (Elégie & Scherzo)

(Kensington Town Hall, London)

** 1924 - first performance of Koechlin - Cello Sonata, Op.66 (1917)

M.L.Laggé/cello and Marius-François Gaillard/piano (Concert SMI, Salle des Agriculteurs, Paris)

** 1925 - birth of Eleonore Schoenfeld (Maribor, Slovenia) d.2007

cellist

** 1969 - first performance of John Gardner - Partita for Solo Cello, Op.98 

(Cardiff, Wales)

7 March - On this #cello day

** 1919 - birth of George Neikrug (New York)

cellist & professor

** 1921 - birth of Mirko Dorner (Budapest) d.2004

cellist, orchestra principal cello,composer and painter {based Germany}

** 1946 - birth of {Sir} Clive Gillinson (Bangalore, India)

cellist,finance director & board of directors of symphony orchestras, executive and artistic director of major concert halls {based Great Britain}

** 1986 - birth of Jan Stokłosa (Krakow, Poland)

composer, arranger, cellist, keyboardist & conductor

8 March - On this #cello day

** 1923 - first performance of Bax - Sonatina in D minor for cello and piano

Thelma Reiss/cello and Harriet Cohen/piano (Wigmore Hall, London)

** 1932 - birth of Erling Blöndal Bengtsson (Copenhagen) d.2013

cellist, recording artist & professor

** 1945 - birth of Christine Walevska (Los Angeles, USA)

cellist and teacher

** 1972 - first performance of Krzysztof Penderecki - Cello Concerto No.1

(Baltimore, USA)

** 1997 - first performance of Michael Nyman - Double Concerto for Saxophone, Cello and Orchestra

(London)

9 March - On this #cello day

** 1742 - birth of Jean-Baptiste Janson (Valenciennes, France) d.1803 {brother of cellist Louis-Auguste-Joseph)

cellist & composer

** 1742 - birth of Carl Monhaupt (Hamburg, Germany)

cellist, orchestra principal cello

** 1886 - first performance of Saint-Saens - Carnival of the Animals {including for cello ‘The Swan’} (Paris)

** 1891 - first performance of David Popper - Cello Concerto No.3 in G Major, Op.59

soloist - David Popper with Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Karl Goldmark (Budapest)

** 1894 - first performance of Herbert - Cello Concerto No.2, Op.30

soloist - the composer (New York)

** 1904 - Pablo Casals official New York debut concerto

Strauss - Don Quixote (Carnegie Hall, New York)

** 1939 - birth of Rohan de Saram (Sheffield, England)

cellist

** 1993 - first performance of Ennio Morricone - Second Concerto for flute, cello and orchestra 

(Turin, Italy)

10 March - On this #cello day

** 1794 - birth of Olive-Charlier Vaslin (Montreuil-Bellay, France) d.1889

cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician & professor

** 1951 - birth of Lluis Claret (Andorra la Vella, Andorra)

cellist

** 1971 - birth of Igor Zubkovsky (born Russia)

cellist {based U.S.A.}

11 March - On this #cello day

** 1753 - birth of Pierre-François Levasseur {‘the older’} (Abbeville, France) d. c1815-1820 {not related to Jean-Henri Levasseur }

cellist, theatre/opera orchestra

** 1881 - birth of Ladislav Zelenka (Modřany, Czech) d.1957

cellist, chamber musician & teacher

** 1929 - birth of Kermit Moore (Akron. Phio, USA) d.2013

cellist, conductor, composer, teacher, and mentor

** 1967 - birth of Jean-Guihen Queyras (Montreal, Quebec)

cellist

** 1979 - first performance of Malcolm Forsyth - Eight Duets for Young Cellists (1974)

cellists: Amanda Forsyth and Shauna Rolston (University of Alberta, Canada)

** 1988 - first performance of William Bolcom - Capriccio for cello and piano

(Library of Congress, Washington)

12 March - On this #cello day

** 1849 - birth of Nicasio Jiménez (Trinidad, Cuba) d.1891

cellist & violinist

** 1892 - first performance of Saint-Saens - Chant Saphique, Op.91 for cello and piano 

?/cello (Paris)

** 1900 - first performance of Jean Sibelius - Malinconia op.20 for cello and piano

(Helsinki)

** 1917 - first performance of Hindemith - 3 Pieces for Cello and Piano, Op.8

(Kleiner Saalbau, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany)

** 1964 - first performance of Britten - Symphony for Cello and Orchestra  

soloist - Mstislav Rostropovich, with Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the composer (Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire - recorded by Soviet radio )

13 March - On this #cello day

** 1930 - first performance of Vaughan Williams - Fantasia on Sussex Folk Tunes   

soloist Pablo Casals with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Barbirolli (London)

** 1947 - birth of Beat Richner (Zürich, Switzerland)

Swiss physician (founder of children's hospitals in Cambodia) and cellist

** 1988 - first performance of Vivian Fine - Sonata for Violoncello and Piano 

(New York)

** 1995 - first performance of Tan Dun - Yi1: Intercourse of Fire and Water, for Cello and Orchestra  

soloist Anssi Kartunen, with Finnish Radio Orchestra, conducted by Jukka-Pekka Saraste (Helsinki)

** 1884 - first performance of slow movement to Stanford - Cello Concerto

soloist - Robert Hausmann (CUMS concert, UK)

14 March - On this #cello day

** 1907 - first performance of Widor - Cello Sonata in A Major, Op.80  

(Jules Loeb/cello and composer at piano, Paris)  

** 1909 - first performance of Enescu - Sinfonia Concertante, Op.8 (1901)  

soloist - Joseph Salmon, Concerts Lamourreux Orchestra, conducted by composer (Paris)   

15 March - On this #cello day

** 1838 - birth of Carl Davidov (Goldingen, Latvia) d.1889

cellist and composer

** 1918 - Edward Elgar undergoes a tonsillectomy in London - the operation is a success but recovery was to be slow - while hospitalized, Elgar was to write down the opening theme of his Cello Concerto!

** 1957 - first performance of Crumb - Solo Cello Sonata       

soloist Camilla Doppman (USA - Ann Arbor, Michigan)

** 1978 - cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich and his wife, soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, have their Soviet citizenship revoked

16 March - On this #cello day

** 1852 - first performance of William Sterndale Bennett - Sonata Duo for cello and piano, Op.32

(London)

** 1885 - first performance of Franz Liszt - Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth, for piano and violin or cello

(Budapest)

** 1891 - birth of Dezyderiusz Danczowski (Battonya, Poland) d.1950

cellist, orchestra principal cello and music educator

** 1982 - first performance of William Walton - Passacaglia for solo cello

(London)

17 March - On this #cello day

** 1817 - birth of Julius Stahlknecht  (Posen, Germany)  

cellist, chamber musician & composer

** 1817 - birth of Ferdinand Buchler (Darmstadt, Germany) d.1842

cellist, orchestra principal cello & chamber musician

** 1874 - first joint performance of cellist David Popper and {first wife} Sophie Menter - piano

(Bösendorfersaal, Vienna)

** 1883 - first performance of David Popper - Cello Concerto No.2 in E minor, Op.24

soloist - David Popper, conducted by Anton Rubinstein (St. Petersburg, Russia)

** 1941 - first performance of Norman Dello Joio - Sonata for cello and piano

?/cellist with composer at piano (the MacDowell Club, New York)

** 1945 - first performance of Myaskovsky - Cello Concerto No.1

soloist Knushevitsky (in Moscow)

** 1981 - first performance of Rodrigo ‘Como una fantasia’ for solo cello

soloist - Carlos Prieto (Mexico City)

18 March - On this #cello day

** 1832 - birth of Jules-Joseph} Ernest Vieuxtemps (Brussels) d.1896

cellist, orchestra & opera principal cello {based England}

** 1834 - birth of Otto Kitzler (Germany) d.1915

cellist, conductor and orchestration teacher (of Bruckner!) {based in Austria}

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

(New York)

** 1981 - birth of Alberto Martos Lozano (Granada, Spain)

cellist and composer

19 March - On this #cello day

** 1740 - birth of Joseph F. Weigl (Bavaria) d.1820

cellist

** 1761 - Luigi Boccherini, eighteen years old, gives a concert entirely programming music by himself

(Florence, Italy)

** 1847 - birth of Constantin Dimitrescu (Blejoi, Rumania) d.1928

composer, teacher & cellist

** 1868 - birth of Luigi Stefano Giarda (Viña del Mar, Chile) d.1952

cellist, conductor, composer & teacher

** 1894 - birth of Jasper Joseph Inman Kane (San Diego, USA) d.1975

cellist, film director, film producer, film editor and screenwriter, director of Western films

** 1896 - first performance of Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor

soloist Leo Stern (London)

** 1942 - first performance of Bohuslav Martinu - Cello Sonata no.2 

(New York)

** 1944 - birth of Myung-Wha Chung (Seoul, South Korea)
cellist

** 1991 - birth of Pablo Ferrandez (Madrid)

cellist

20 March - On this #cello day

** 1768 - Luigi Boccherini makes his official Parisian debut

(Salle des Suisses in the Palais des Tuileries)

** 1959 - Martinu finishes (in the space of one week) his ‘Variations on a Slovak folk melody’, for cello and piano

21 March - On this #cello day

** 1881 - birth of {Peter} Herman Sandby (Holbaek, Denmark) d.1965

cellist, orchestral principal cello

** 1914 - birth of Paul Tortelier (Paris) d.1990

cellist, orchestral principal cello, professor & composer

22 March - On this #cello day

** 1972 - first performance of Wolfgang Rihm - Grat for cello

(Darmstadt, Germany)

** 1995 - first performance of Gavin Bryars - The South Downs for cello and piano

(Bath, England)

23 March - On this #cello day

** 1982 - first performance of Barja Iglesias - 5 Melodies (1961-66)

Carlos Baena/cello and Ramona Sanuy/piano (Casa de la Radio, RNE, Madrid)

24 March - On this #cello day

** 1773 - birth of Pierre-Louis Hus-Desforges (Toulon, France) d.1838

cellist, conductor & composer  

** 1950 - first performance of Virgil Thomson - Concerto for cello and orchestra 

(Philadelphia, USA)

** 1954 - birth of Hank Roberts (Terre Haute, Indiana, USA)

cellist (jazz/electric) & vocalist

25 March - On this #cello day

** 1867 - birth of Arturo Toscanini (Parma, Italy)  d.1957
conductor & cellist

** 1927 - first performance of Florence Schmitt - Final, for cello and orchestra

(Salle Erard, Paris)

** 1939 - first performance of Villa-Lobos - the aria from Bachianas Brasileiras no.5 for soprano and eight cellos

(Rio de Janeiro)

** 1960 - first performance of Henry Cowell - Four Declamations with Return, for cello and piano 

(New York)

*** 1960 - first performance of Morton Feldman - Durations 2, for cello and piano  

(New York)

** 1966 - first performance of Simon Laks - Dialogue for Two Cellos (1964)

cellists: Jean & Mireille Réculard (Châtea, Saint Ouen, France)

* 1966 - birth of Melora Creager (Kansus City, Misuri, USA)

cellist, songwriter, and modern chamber (founder of Rasputina)

** 1977 - birth of Natalie Clein (Poole, Dorest, England)

cellist

** 1997 - first performance of David L. Young - Lexicon for 3 Violoncelli (one of a series of works titled “Val Camonica Pieces”)

cellists:  Clare Brassil, Fiona Furphy and Jane Tallon (La Mama Theatre, Melbourne, Australia)

26 March - On this #cello day

** 1879 - first performance of Stanford - Cello Sonata, Op.9

Robert Hausmann/cello and the composer at piano

** 1925 - birth of Eleonore Schoenfeld (Marinor, Slovenia) d.2007

cellist, recording artist & pedagogue

27 March - On this #cello day

** 1710 - birth of Joseph Abaco {full name Joseph Marie Clément Ferdinand dall'Abaco} (Brussels) d.1805

cellist, court chamber orchestra & composer

** 1753 - birth of Franz Mensi (Bistra, Croatia)

catholic priest, composer & cellist

** 1902 - birth of Paul Hermann (Budapest) d.1944

cellist, chamber musician & composer

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

cellist, chamber musician & conductor. Champion of new cello repertoire.

** 1942 - first performance of Martinu - Cello Sonata No.2         

Lucien Laporte/cello and Elly Bontempo/piano

** 1943 - Frieda Belinfante - cellist, conductor, human rights and active anti-Nazi resistance member - was part of the CKC resistance group that organised and executed the bombing of the population registry in Amsterdam on March - On this #cello day 27th, 1943, which destroyed thousands of files and hindered Nazi attempts to compare forged documents with documents in the registry

** 1959 - birth of Michaela Fukačová (Brno, Czech Republic)

cellist {based Denmark}

** 1979 - first performance of Sofia Gubaidulina - In croce for cello and organ

(Kazan, Russia)

28 March - On this #cello day

** 1801 - premiere of Beethoven - Ballet ‘The Creatures of Prometheus’ or ‘Prometheus’ (German: Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus), Op. 43 (the overture features an important orchestral principal cello solo line}

(Burgtheater, Vienna)

** 1865 - birth of Leo Schulz (Posen, ex-Germany) d.1944

cellist, principal cello cello, composer & professor

** 1869 - birth of Christian Sibelius (Hämeenlinna, Finland) d.1922 {brother of Jean Sibelius}

Finnish doctor and professor of psychiatry - but also a gifted chamber musician (a cellist)

** 1972 - first performance of Bernstein - Three Meditations from Mass for cello and piano

Stephen Kates/cello with composer at piano

29 March - On this #cello day

** 1773 - birth of Charles-Nicolas Baudiot (Nancy, France) d.1849

cellist, first cello king’s chapel, teacher & composer

** 1859 - birth of Hermann Heberlein (Markneukirchen, Germany)

cellist, composer & music educator

** 1859 - birth of Eduard Rosa {Rosemblum} (Jassy, Romania) d.1943

cellist {Nazi holocaust victim}   

** 1860 - concert ‘debut’ of David Popper (performing Servais - Souvenir de St. Petersburg, Op.15)

Orchestra of the Prague Conservatoire, conducted by Hans von Bülow (Ständisches Theater, Prague)

** 1903 - birth of Nerón (Antonio) Ferrazzano (Buenos Aires) d.1977

cellist, double bassist, composer, tango specialist  

** 1928 - birth of Derek Simpson (Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England) d.2007

cellist, orchestra principal cello, chamber musician & professor

** 1947 - birth of Aage Kvalbein (Oslo, Norway)

cellist,chamber musician & pedagogue

** 1989 - first radio broadcast performance of Peter Racine Fricker - ‘Aspects of Evening’ for cello and piano, Op.90

Alexander Baillie/cello and Piers Lane/piano (BBC radio) 

** 1991 - first performance of John Corigliano - ‘Of Rage and Remembrance’, for mezzo-soprano, boy soprano, chorus, percussion, eight cellos, and four double basses

(Seattle, USA)

30 March - On this #cello day

** 1830 - birth of Auguste Tolbecque (Paris) d- 1919

cellist & professor

** 1885 - first performance of Piatti - Bergamasca 

soloist - Alfredo Piatti (last popular concert of season, Bergamo, Italy)

** 1913 - the Academy of Music of Budapest announces that David Popper’s cello classes were cancelled until further notice due to an accident in which Popper had fractured his arm!

** 1916 - first performance of Sibelius - Cantique and Devotion, Op.77 for cello and orchestra

soloist - Ossian Fohstöm with Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the composer

31 March - On this #cello day

** 1691 - birth of Francesco Alborea (Naples, Italy) d.1739 

cellist, Imperial chamber musician & professor {based Austria}

** 1890 - Richard Strauss accompanied cellist Alvin Schröder, in a performance of his Cello Sonata in F Major, Op.6

(Leipzig, Germany)

** 1919 - birth of Fritz Lustig (Germany) d.2017

cellist and financial career (accountancy & credit control)  {a German-Jewish emigrant to England during the Nazi era}

** 1965 - first performance of Robert Linn - Dithyramb, for eight cellos 

cellists: Ensemble from the American String Teachers Association, conducted by the composer /Dallas, Texas, USA)

** 1968 - first performance of Roger Sessions - 6 Pieces for cello

(New York)

** 1994 - birth of Thomas Batuello (The Bronx, New York, USA)

actor & cellist

155 entries for month of March - On this #cello day

{as at March 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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