Historical Events of March 6
6 March
** 1660 - birth of Francesco II d'Este {Duke of Modena and Reggio} (Modena, Italy) d.1694
Aristocracy - supporter of ‘the cello’
** 1870 – an easier solo date for David Popper on today’s date! At a Vienna Philharmonic concert he played the cello solo line in a Handel Concerto grosso
** 1880 - the Cello Concerto in A minor of Robert Schumann was heard for only the second time in Britain, when it was performed by the soloist Robert Hausmann {Crystal Palace, London}
** 1880 - birth of Herbert Withers (London) d.1961
cellist, activities as soloist (especially recital)
** 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
** 1906 - the Brahms - Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra was performed on today’s date in Cologne by soloists Bram Eldering & Pablo Casals
** 1908 - first performance of Bridge - Two Pieces for cello and piano (Elégie & Scherzo)
(Kensington Town Hall, London)
** 1917 – on this date Paul Hindemith finished his ‘Drei Stücke für Violoncello und Klavier’ (Three Cello and Piano pieces), Op.8. They were premiered the same year, and also published.
** 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 (Marinor, Slovenia) d.2007
cellist, recording artist & pedagogue
** 1949 - a fateful day for Gaspar Cassadó….the Casals disciple Diran Alexanian wrote a letter to the New York Times, published on 6th March, 1949, protesting against Cassadó's positive concert reviews reception in the press. Upon learning of Cassadó's appearance in New York, Alexanian had written a letter to Casals. Alexanian included Casals' reply in his letter to the newspaper, and shadows of doubt were placed on Cassadó’s loyalties during World War II when the artist was permanently living in Italy. Much damage was done to his North American career and recording contracts cancelled. Casals did not come to his aid, as did several other important musicians during the 1950s.
** 1956 - Miloš Sádlo first played the third version of Martinu’s first cello concerto on 6th March 1956 in Helsinki, accompanied by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra with Paavo Berglund conducting. He much later gave Martinů an account of this performance - in a letter dated 10th September 1956:
“As I have written to you, in March I played your concerto, the new version, in Helsinki. Unfortunately, the concert was given no publicity since there was a nationwide general strike! I think that the audience liked the concerto though, albeit performing your piece was rather a tough nut to crack for an orchestra who are not used to similar rhythmic problems. As you know, their national bard Sibelius doesn’t present such problems to them.”
Miloš Sádlo would subsequently perform Martinů’s first cello concerto many more times!
** 1958 - cellist Tibor de Machula performed as soloist with the Concertgebouw Orchestra, in Bloch – Schelomo. Three concerts, in Amsterdam (5th and 6th March) and Rotterdam (18th March), conducted by Bernard Haitink
** 1969 - first performance of John Gardner - Partita for Solo Cello, Op.98
(Cardiff, Wales)
** 1999 - Miren Zubeldia/cello and Pablo López Callejo/piano gave the premiere performance of Francisco García Álvarez - ‘Introduction and Divertimento’ (1998), and also performed Emilio Otero Palacio - Sonata for cello and piano, in a concert recorded live by Spanish National Radio
Auditorio de la Escuela Superior de la Marina Civil, Santander, Cantabria, Spain
