On this cello day

** 1830 - birth of Auguste Tolbecque (Paris) d.1919
cellist {started first with violin} & professor

** 1852 - On this day Servais’s cello and piano arrangement was first published of Joseph (Jacques) Gregoir - ‘Les Regrets: Pensée musicale’. This was a piece in A Major set in Rondo form. 200 copies were produced in the first batch, although periodic reprinting was undertaken until the earlier twentieth century. Its musical interest is proven by additional arrangements for violin by Hubert Léonard, and for clarinet by Joseph Blaes. The original composer wrote a piano concerto and concert pieces in addition to fantasies based on opera themes.

** 1871 - birth of Rosa Brackenhammer (Nürtingen, Germany) d.1946
important woman cellist in Germany

** 1885 - first performance of Piatti - Bergamasca
soloist - Alfredo Piatti (last popular concert of season, Bergamo, Italy)

** 1890 - an early appearance of woman cellist Josefine Donat (b.1867 Vienna) is documented in the “Österreichische Musik- und Theaterzeitung” for 13th March, 1890 in an event organized by the ‘Music Pedagogical Association of Music Teachers’, who reported:
“Miss. Donat played the first movement of Mendelssohn's Sonata with Clavier on the cello quite sensibly […]  then an elegy from “Dom Sebastian” by A. Balta,  which  should have made a more impression if the tempo had been slower”

** 1895 - English cellist Maud Fletcher performed in Bournemouth (England) on this day together with the Clara Schumann student Nathalie Janotha.

** 1904 – Joachim (violinist) wrote to Robert Hausmann (cellist):
“Dear Hausmann, valued friend and colleague,
It has been 25 years that we have faithfully and joyfully worked together as quartet comrades. It is impossible for me to let the day go by without thanking you from my whole heart for what you have been for our association, through your masterful ability, through your pure warmth of feeling, through your personality. …May the (bust by the sculptor Adolf Hildebrand) remind you of everything beautiful and good, that we three have been able to practice with each other to each other’s pleasure, and of he who will always be thankful in heartfelt faithfulness to you, your friend Joseph Joachim”.

** 1910 – birth of Mila (Mildred) Wellerson (New York) d.1972+
She was a child prodigy who had begun making public appearances by the age of four. Casals heard her play at age 13 and stated,
"The violoncellist, Mila Wellerson, possesses the genius of her instrument. She was ready to play in public at ten years of age. Today she has been recognized as a great artist in the music centres of Europe."
In 1930, she was named a winner of the Naumburg Prize. In 1935, she performed a benefit performance for Polish Jews at Town Hall and in 1937, a Carnegie Chamber Music Hall recital with composer Boris Levenson, as well as appearances at Radio City Music Hall in 1934, and with WPA Groups in 1939.
Wellerson moved to Holland in 1952 and settled in the Hague. It is unclear when she died, however, she was still living in Holland in 1972 and it is unknown what became of her after 1972.

** 1911 - the Brahms - Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra was performed on today’s date in Berlin by soloists Karl Klingler & Arthur Williams with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

** 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

** 1928 – premiere of Frederick Stock Cello Concerto in D minor, performed by cello soloist Alfred Wallenstein, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Frederick Stock

** 1953 – birth of James Kreger (Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.)
Cellist and professor.
Simultaneously with a soloist career, he taught at the Juilliard School for nearly three decades. In addition, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas invited him to be guest cello teacher and coach with the New World Symphony in Miami, a specialist training orchestral academy. Indeed, every year, he devotes a significant amount of time to teaching and coaching the young cellists of the next generation.

** 1972 - on March 30th, 1972, Pau {Pablo} Casals conducted his own composition Sardana per a orquestra de violoncels and the Himne a les Nacions Unides during a concert at Arizona State University.

** 1988 - Shirley Trepel (Cello), Brian Connelly (Piano) and Janna Lower (Violin) gave a recital at the Rice University School of Music. The programme included the Rachmaninov Cello Sonata in G minor, Op.19, and a Dvorak trio.