On this cello day

** 1707 - birth of Michel Corrette (Rouen, Normandy, France) d.1795
composer, organist, violinist, cellist & musical textbook author

** 1808 - birth of Auguste Joseph Franchomme (Lille, France) d.1884
cellist, composer and pedagogue
Auguste Joseph Franchomme was a renowned French cellist and composer who was a central figure in 19th-century Parisian music. He was a close friend and frequent performing partner of Frédéric Chopin, who dedicated his final composition, the Sonata for Piano and Cello, to him. As a performer, he advanced the "French" bowing technique, and as a composer, he wrote many cello works, including the well-known Twelve Caprices, Op. 7. 

** 1845 - in a letter from St. Petersburg to Moscow of April 10, 1845, Matwey Wialgohorsky recommended Alfredo Piatti to Alexander Verstovsky (a successful opera and vaudeville composer) and wrote about the purity and tenderness of the cellist's enchanting playing. Piatti dedicated his Fantasia on an Original Theme to Matwey Wialgohorsky, as did other cellist-composers other pieces, including Romberg and Servais!

** 1864 – birth of Clara Lachmann (Copenhagen, Denmark) d.1920
a Danish-Swedish art patron and benefactor. She married Jacob Lachmann, who owned a sugar refinery in Ystad, Sweden. Clara Lachmann was interested in art and music, could play the cello herself, and helped make Ystad a music centre.

** 1890 - Belgium cellist Cornélis Liégeois was the cellist in the premiere on this day of the quartet of Cesar Franck

** 1910 – birth of Maurice Bialkin d.2004
Maurice Bialkin studied at Juilliard from 1933-36. Later studies were with Percy Such. He made his NY debut in Town Hall, 1938 as the winner of the 1937 Naumburg Cello Competition. He was the first cellist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and also played in the Galimir Quartet, Phoenix Quartet and Tameo Quartet. In addition, he performed in Broadway shows, including "Pippin," "Two by Two" and "They're Playing Our Song," among many others. Mr. Bialkin was also cellist on the "Show of Shows," and the Ed Sullivan, Jack Parr and Johnny Carson shows.

** 1940 - on this day cellist Ennio Bolognini became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America. . When America entered the Second World War the following year, he wanted to serve his adopted country as a fighter pilot, but at 48, he was too old. Undeterred, he performed and conducted for the United Services Organizations (USO) – and even wrote a few patriotic compositions. However, he also remained proud of his South American identity – it was said that he carried a small Argentinian flag in his pocket for the rest of his life!

** 1947 - birth of Jaap ter Linden Rotterdam, Holland)
cellist, viol player and conductor (specializes in performance of baroque and classical music on authentic instruments

** 1953 - cellist Tibor de Machula performed as soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, in Strauss – Don Quixote, Op.35. Three concerts, in Amsterdam (15th March), Iserlohn (9th April) and  Krefeld (10th April), conducted by Eduard van Beinum

** 1960 - on this day, cellist Janos Starker made a live recording of Schumann - Cello Concerto in A minor, in Cologne, with the Rundfunk.Sinfonie-Irchester conducted by Rafael Kubelik

** 1964 - on the 10th April, 1964, Pau {Pablo} Casals conducted his own oratorio 'El Pessebre' in Budapest, where he is reunited with his friend and composer Zoltán Kodály. At about this time he was appointed an honorary member of the Vienna Academy of Music.

** 1975 – cellist Zara Nelsova performed as soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, in Schumann - Cello Concerto, Op.129. Three concerts, in Amsterdam (10th and 12th February), and Den Haag (11th April), conducted by Bernard Haitink

** 1992 - Iannis Xenakis completes the work for cello and piano ‘Paille in the Wind’ on this day, first performed eight months later in Milan {see entries for 14 December}

** 1993 – birth of Stéphanie Tétreault (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
cellist. Chosen as the first ever Soloist-in-Residence of the Orchestre Métropolitai.

** 1999 - The English Northern Sinfonia performed at the Leeds Town Hall (England) with soloists Raphael Wallfisch (cello) and Howard Breakspear (viola) in Strauss - Don Quixote, conducted by Dietfried Bernet