BECKER, Hugo – Tema con Variazioni (Theme with Variations), Op.5 – CELLO and PIANO

Other Identification:
Composed in about 1894
In A Minor
….
Brief notes on Hugo BECKER
Born: 1864, 13th February (Strasbourg, Alsace)
Died: 1941, 30th July (Geiselgasteig, nr. Munich)
At the turn of the twentieth century Germany had consolidated itself as the foremost cello school of the world. This was especially due to the historic line of the ‘Dresden’ cello school – founded by Dotzauer, then taken over by Kummer, and through to Grutzmacher – all in Dresden. Grutzmacher died in 1905, leaving the mantle, as it were, to two younger eminent German cellists: Julius Klengel (born 1859 in Leipzig) and Hugo Becker (born 1864 in Alsace).
However, in historical evaluation it is Hugo Becker who is more interesting, as being more aware of the changing concepts making a decisive progress towards the modern age of cello playing that we know today. In later life Becker was immersing himself in the scientifically objective motivations of the process of cello playing. Questions of anatomy and physiology in playing were very important to him. Although this should in theory lead to a rational approach, Becker’s playing was, in fact, more emotional than Klengel’s, probably because of his secondary ties with the French and Belgian schools.