** 1748 – birth of James Cervetto (London) d.1837
cellist, theatre and orchestra principal cello
** 1761 – birth of Ernst Häusler {Häußler} (Böblingen, Germany) d.1837
A German singer, cellist, music teacher and composer.
He wrote a cello concerto and two cello concertinos.
** 1808 – birth of Joseph Adam Liebrock (Brunswick, Germany) d.1886
cellist, conductor of theatre at Ratisbon, composer and teacher {possessed an excellent music library}
** 1822 – birth of (Carlo) Alfredo Piatti (Bergamo, Italy) d.1901
cellist, composer & teacher
** 1850 – birth of Alexander Wierzbilowicz (St. Petersburg) d.1911
cellist, orchestra principal cello & professor
** 1852 – birth of Maurice Kufferath (Saint-Josse-ten-Noode,Belgium) d.1919
A Belgian music critic, librettist, cellist and conductor. Conductor at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels 1900 – 1919. His articles on Wagner are considered authoritative.
** 1885 – birth of Boris Hambourg (Voronez, Russia) d.1954
cellist, chamber musician & professor
** 1877 – In the “Popular Concerts for 1877,” the Musical World (London) reported that Krebs and Alfredo Piatti performed the Beethoven F Major cello sonata and Mendelssohn’s Variations Concertantes Op.17 at Monday’s Popular Concert on January 8th, 1877.
** 1887 – first US performance of Victor Herbert – Suite for Cello and Orchestra, Op.3 at the Metropolitan Opera House (New York) on this day. The composer was the soloist and the New York Tribune noted that “The ‘andante, serenade and tantelle’ from a suite of his own show not a little invention and are distinguished by good writing.” Herbert’s playing was also praised as being “infinitely more easy and graceful than that of most ‘cello players.”
** 1890 – in the Concerthaus-Conventgarten, Hamburg (Germany), an orchestral subscription concert conducted by Hans von Bülow featured the soloists Pauline Metzler (vocal) and Hugo Becker (cello).
** 1892 – first performance of Dvorak’s own arrangement of his Slavonic Dance No.8 (Op.46) for cello and piano
Hans Wihan/cello with the composer at the piano (Chrudim, Eastern Bohemia, now Czech Republic)
** 1892 – birth of Hans Kindler (Rotterdam, Holland) d.1949
cellist, orchestra principal cello & conductor {based USA}
** 1894 – cellist Anton Hekking performed as soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, in Bruch – Kol Nidrei, Lalo – Cello Concerto, Popper – Papillon and Schumann – Träumeri. Three concerts, in Arnhem (8th January), Den Haag (10th January) and Amsterdam (11th January) conducted by Bernard Haitink
** 1900 – at a Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra concert titled as ‘Concert Nellie Melba’, Stephan Perényi was cello soloist in Goltermann – Cello Concerto No.1 (in one movement). Orchestral works of Mozart, Donizetti, Verdi, Volkmann and Bemberg were also heard.
Conductor: Hermann Graedener / Musikverein, Golden Hall, Vienna
** 1902 – in January 1902 Belgian-born sisters Fernande and (cellist) Jeanne Kufferath went on a concert tour through the Netherlands – on today’s date they performed in The Hague.
The programme included solo compositions for the violoncello by J.S. Bach, Svendsen and Popper; the sisters played works by Marcello, Handel and Boccherini together.
** 1903 – cellist Jeanne Kufferath received a warm review for a concert in the Netherlands:
“a spirited cellist for whom complicated fingerings and demanding passages are no problem. The tone she pulls out of her knee violin is not big, but softly shiny and beautiful, and the bowing always remains graceful and elegant” – Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad, January 8, 1903.
** 1912 – birth of Rudolf Escher (De Koog, Holland) d.1980
composer & cellist
** 1914 – Beatrice Harrison performed J.S. Bach (G Major Suite Prelude, Allemande, Sarabande, Gigue) in New York – the New York Times commented on the monotony created by her undifferentiated tempos:
“The prelude was obviously an allegro movement, in Bach’s conception, and the gigue inevitably a vivace; but neither emerged from the pace of an andante in Miss Harrison’s performance.”
** 1923 – cellist Gerard Hekking performed as soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, in Dvorak – Cello Concerto, Op.104. Concert in Amsterdam, conducted by Willem Mengelberg
** 1936 – birth of Eldee Young (Chicago, IL, USA) d.2007
jazz bassist, cellist, composer & bandleader
** 1942 – birth of Toby Saks (New York City) d.2013
cellist, orchestra cellist (a member of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra). Founder of the Seattle Chamber Music Society
** 1948 – William Pleeth performed as cello soloist with the Wessex Philharmonic Orchestra (England)
** 1953 – first performance of Martinu – Cello Sonata No.3
George Ricci/cello and Earl Wild/piano (Washhington DC, USA)
** 1961 – Daniil Shafran records TWO Cello Concertos on this day: Concerto for Cello no 2 in D major, Op. 101/H 7b no 2 by Franz Joseph Haydn and Concerto for Cello in C minor by Henri Casadesus (formerly attr. J.C. Bach)
with the USSR State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky
** 1972 – premiere of Shostakovich – Symphony No.15, Op.141 {the second movement features an important orchestral principal cello line}
All-Union Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer’s son Maxim Shostakovich (Moscow)
** 1973 – on this day cellist Paul Tortelier finished recording both Shostakovich – Cello Concerto No.1 and Walton – Cello Concerto, in the Guildhall, Southampton (England), with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paavo Berglund (the other recording day was the previous day)
** 1981 – on the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 13th of this month, Lorne Munroe performed as invited soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Leinsdorf), in the Avery Fisher Hall (New York)
** 1993 – on the 7th, 8th, 9th and 12th of this month, cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed as invited soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Masur), in the Avery Fisher Hall (New York)
** 1993 – release of the recording ‘The London Cello Sound’ – an orchestra of cellos conducted by Geoffrey Simon, including pieces by Camille Saint-Saëns, Balcombe, Leonard Bernstein, Pablo Casals. The list of performers almost read like a ‘Who’s Who of important London cellists’ of the 1990s:
Susan Monks (Cello), Jocelyn Gale (Cello), Francis Bucknall (Cello), Peter Vel (Cello), Robert Truman (Cello), Andrew Fuller (Cello), Peter Freyhan (Cello), Emma Pritchard (Cello), Michael Hurwitz (Cello), Clare Hinton (Cello), Caroline Dearnley (Cello), Tamsy Kaner (Cello), William Heggart (Cello), Catherine Wilmers (Cello), Ernest Greaves (Cello),John Lowdell (Cello), François Rive (Cello), Katharine Thulborn (Cello), David K. Jones (Cello), Matthias Feile (Cello), Rhydian Shaxson (Cello), Helen Verney (Cello), Anne Baker (Cello), Ruth Zagni (Cello), Bridget Evans (Cello), Janice Brodie (Cello), Mats Lidstrom (Cello), Sarah Hedley Miller (Cello), Graham Bradshaw (Cello), Charles Martin (Cello), Roger Lunn (Cello), Ronald Calder (Cello), Eldon Fox (Cello), Laurence Cromwell (Cello), Nigel Pinkett (Cello), Philip Taylor (Cello), Paul Watkins (Cello), Christopher Irby (Cello), Avis Perthen (Cello), Susan Sutherley (Cello)
** 1996 – first performance of Hallgrimsson – Cello Concerto
soloist – William Conway with Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Ivor Bolton (BBC Lunchtime concert, London)
