** 1691 – birth of Martin Berteau (Valenciennes, France) d.1771
cellist, teacher & composer (‘founder of the French cello school’)
** 1761 – the Italian cellist Carlo Graziani (1st half of the 18th century-1787) gave his debut performance in Paris, a concert which was favourably reviewed in the ‘Mercure de France’
** 1768 – cellist Jean Louis Duport (‘the younger’) makes his debut at the “Concert Spirituel” (Paris), which the musical critic of the “Mercure de France” wrote:
“M. Duport, the Younger, a pupil of his brother, played a sonata, which ‘the latter accompanied, His execution is brilliant and amazing, certainty characterise his playing, and predict the greatest talent.”
** 1792 – English cellist Robert Lindley performed a concerto as cello soloist in the ‘Professional Concerts’ series in London – it is not known which work was performed but it was under the direction of Pleyel.
** 1845 – birth of Emil Boerngen (Verden, Germany)
cellist, theatre & orchestra principal cello, chamber musician & teacher
** 1874 – at the London ‘Popular Concerts’ Alfredo Piatti performed his own version of Francesco Maria Veracini – ‘Aria Schiavona’ for cello with piano accompaniment
** 1884 – birth of Adèle Clement (Saint-Gengoux-le-National, France)
cellist, a woman cellist with the chance to play in orchestral concerts with the Chevillard Orchestra in Paris, and the Blüthner Orchestra in Berlin; member of a touring piano trio
** 1894 – first performance of Charles Martin Loeffler – ‘Fantastic’ Concerto for cello and orchestra
Soloist – Alwin Schroeder, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Emil Paur. He then performed it in Washington DC, Cambridge, Worcester (1894), and New York (1895). Schroeder and the BSO reprised the concerto in 1898 (Boston, Baltimore, Brooklyn), and in 1907 Schroeder chose it for his solo debut with the Museum Orchestra of Frankfurt, Germany. In fact, between 1894 and 1908, Schroeder performed the work nearly a dozen times! It appears that Alwin Schroeder was the only cellist ever to perform the work, and the current whereabouts of the score and orchestral parts are unknown. The only other concerto that Schroeder played with similar frequency was the Saint-Saens No. 1.
Loeffler was the assistant concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for 21 seasons, from 1882 to 1903. He was a popular soloist with the orchestra who introduced works such as Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole to US audiences. Loeffler’s orchestral works of the 1890s helped establish his reputation as a leading composer.
** 1894 – a solo performance was given by French cellist Marguerite (Anastasie) Baude in the Salle Erard in Paris
** 1896 – the solo debut of English cellist May Campbell Taylor happened on today’s date; a review reported in the ‘Musical Standard’ said:
“Miss May Taylor, a daughter of the organist of New College, made a very successful début here as a violoncellist in Popper’s E minor Concerto and some smaller pieces”
** 1900 – in her diary on 2nd February, 1900, Alma Mahler reports on a chamber music evening with Adele Radnitzky-Mandlick, at which the young composer performed Robert Schumann’s piano quartet in E flat major op.47 with Anton Steeber, Franz Radnitzky and the Austrian cellist Josefine Donat.
** 1926 – having debuted in America in 1921, Hungarian cellist Rozsi Varady was invited to perform at a State Dinner at the White House before President and Mrs. Harding on this day in 1922.
** 1934 – Portuguese cellist Madalena Sá e Costa made her debut as a soloist in the Concerto in A minor for cello and orchestra Op. 33 by Camille Saint-Saëns, under the baton of Pedro Blanch and alongside the ‘Orchestra of the Academy of Amateurs of Music’, at the São Carlos National Theatre (the national opera house of Portugal) Indeed, she returned every decade until the 1960s.
** 1941 – cellist Emanuel Feuermann performed a recital at New York Town Hall with Albert Hirsch, piano. The programme included Beethoven – Cello Sonata No.5 in D Major, Op.102/2.
** 1970 – a highly appreciative mention of cellist-composer Marie Dare was made by critic Malcolm Rayment, of the Glasgow Herald on today’s date:
“Marie Dare’s quartet {edit – the Phantasy Quartet?} dates from 1933, and has much in common with those contemporary works that represent the final flowering of the romantic movement in Britain, although in idiom it is more conservative than the majority of such pieces. If to some extent it recalls John Ireland, the listener is also forcibly reminded of Schubert. […] Marie Dare was a cellist before she switched to the double bass. It is not surprising, therefore, that her string writing is exemplary. It is also varied, making good use of contrasted textural colouring”.
** 1972 – birth of Zoë Keating (Guelph, Ontario, Canada)
‘modern’ cellist & composer
** 1989 – cellist Natalia Gutman performed as soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, in Schnittke – Cello Concerto No.1. Two concerts, in Amsterdam (2nd and 3rd February), conducted by Claus Peter Flor
** 1993 – Mstislav Rostropvich receives the “Medal Defender of a Free Russia” on 2nd February 1993, for courage and dedication shown during the defence of democracy and constitutional order of 19–21 August 1991
