Immortality is capricious.
Dozens of musicians would have passed into oblivion had not their
names hitchhiked on the backs of famous composers. Besides wondering
about the lives attached to those names, when I’m offered advice,
even only for fingerings or bowings, I like to know the qualifications
of the source.
Their names stay current
through their editions, but most of these editors were born in the
19th century. Then, as today, musicians struggled to create and
maintain careers, moving from one job to another. Some emigrated
from Europe to America and played important roles in our musical
life. Others found a niche and remained in one place for many years.
Priorities of music
lexicographers change over time, and certain names on my "want list"
remain elusive. Some of these musicians had local careers, apparently
becoming editors only by being at the right place at the right time
or by knowing the right person. Those deemed just important enough
to warrant a small entry in old biographical dictionaries often
drop out of more recent ones, leaving my data incomplete.
Although to many students,
cellists as recent as Leonard Rose have become just names the same
as, say, Hugo Becker, I have not included world-famous artist-editors
such as Piatigorsky, Casals, Starker, Fournier, Gendron, Navarra,
and Nelsova, whose many recordings are readily available. However,
even with such exclusions, the length of this list is such that
only half of it is running in this issue. Look for Part II in July.
THE EDITORS
Polish cellist Joseph
Adamowski (1862–1930) earned a Silver Medal at the Moscow Conservatory,
studying with Fitzenhagen and Tchaikovsky, before emigrating to
America in 1889 to join his brother in the Boston Symphony. They
formed the Adamowski Quartet and then, with Joseph’s wife, the Adamowski
Trio. Appointed New England Conservatory’s cello professor in 1903,
he was also a popular private teacher.
Born in Constantinople,
Grützmacher’s student Diran Alexanian (1881–1954) performed,
composed, and was a noted cello theoretician. Casals endorsed his
cello method and many important players worked with him, including
Feuermann.
Director of the Berlin
National Library’s music division from 1915, Wilhelm Altmann
(1862–1951) compiled his exhaustive catalog, Chamber Music
Literature, in 1910, last updating it in 1945. Altmann’s 1935
Eulenberg score of the Haydn D-Major Concerto was the first correct
text since 1805.
Mily Balakirev (1837–1910),
one of Russia’s "Mighty Five" nationalist composers, had a lifelong
love for Chopin, reorchestrated the E-minor Piano Concerto, and
edited the Trio and the Cello Sonata (Grützmacher edited the
cello part).
Paul Bazelaire
(1886–1958) entered the Paris Conservatoire at age ten as a student
of Delsart, winning first prize at 11! Conductor Sir Henry Wood
remembered him from 1899: "He had come to us from a tour in France
and Germany and had twice played in Berlin at the command of the
emperor. He must have created an impression because the court sculptor
Degas executed a bust of him, which still adorns the Tiergarten.
He was only 12 and had already composed some 50 pieces." Bazelaire
taught at the Conservatoire for many years: Pierre Fournier was
his student.
At 20, Hugo Becker
(1864–1941) became a Frankfurt Conservatory professor and the Opera’s
solocellist (as European orchestras called their one or two principal
cellists). He toured extensively as a soloist, including the U.S.
and Russia, but later concentrated on chamber music. A rigid and
dogmatic teacher, Becker succeeded Hausmann (cellist of the Joachim
Quartet) at the Berlin Hochschule, where Grümmer, Schuster,
and Piatigorsky (briefly) studied with him. In the introduction
to his Bach Suites, Becker addresses a current hot-button issue:
"The editor has not included the notorious errors contained in the
so-called ‘original’ written by Bach’s wife."
In arranging Loeillet’s
works for modern instruments, Alexandre Beón (d. 1912)
created confusion: the Piano Trio in B minor, now reprinted by International
as by Jean Baptiste "Loeillet de Gant" (1688–c. 1720), was actually
composed by his cousin, Jean Baptiste "John of London" Loeillet
(1680–1730) in C minor for recorder, oboe, and basso continuo.
During his early twenties,
Ernest Cahnbley (1875–1936) was solocellist with the orchestras
of Hanover, Riga, and St. Petersburg. Later, in Dortmund, he became
solocellist and a conservatory professor. In 1928, he was performing
with the Adolf Schiering Quartet in Würzburg.
Gaspar
Cassadó studied with Casals.
A student of Casals
in Paris at 12, Gaspar Cassadó (1897–1966) worked
with de Falla and Ravel. During the 1920s, he appeared with the
world’s important orchestras, made numerous recordings, and wrote
most of his compositions. He premiered his trio with pianist Guilietta
von Mendelssohn, probably his mistress, and the trio’s intended
violinist was rumored to be Albert Einstein! In 1970, University
of Colorado professor Walter Schenkman debunked Cassadó’s
transcription of the Frescobaldi Toccata as being a forgery
á là Fritz Kreisler—Cassadó composed it. He
was so famous for altering works he played that when conductor Jonathan
Sternberg bumped into Maurice Gendron in Paris and mentioned having
seen Cassadó, Gendron asked, "What has he changed lately?"
Italian cellists
Gilberto Crepax (1890–1970) and Luigi Forino (1868–1936)
each edited Boccherini sonatas. Crepax taught at the Milan Conservatory
(Antonio Janigro was his student), was solocellist of the Orchestra
Toscanini, and performed chamber music. Also a chamber musician,
Forino composed and wrote a history of the cello, cellists, and
the cello literature. He became professor of harmony and counterpoint
at the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires, returning to Italy
as professor at Rome’s Academia Santa Cecilia.
Ferdinand David
At 26, Spohr’s student
Ferdinand David (1810–73) became concertmaster of Leipzig’s
Gewandhaus orchestra (under Mendelssohn) and Conservatory professor.
A serious composer of five violin concertos, David premiered Mendelssohn’s
Concerto, whereupon Schumann zinged him: "You see, this is the concerto
you always wanted to write!"
Carl Davidoff
(1838–89) succeeded Grützmacher as professor at the Leipzig
Conservatory at 22. Hailed as the greatest cellist in the world,
he toured throughout Europe and England, played with Auer’s St.
Petersburg Quartet, and was solocellist for the Italian Opera. Alexander
II appointed him Soloist to His Majesty. Davidoff became director
of the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1876, beating out Tchaikovsky
(who dubbed him "Czar of Cellists"), but was fired over an affair
with a piano student. A thoughtful player and influential teacher,
Davidoff was largely responsible for the creation of modern cello
playing.
Solocellist for the
Berlin Hofkapelle (Royal Court Orchestra), Hugo Dechert (1860–1923)
played with the Halir Quartet and, after Karl Halir joined the Joachim
Quartet, performed quintets and sextets with that group. Musicians
of my generation grew up with Moser and Dechert’s edition of the
Haydn quartets and, even compared with urtext editions, it has much
to offer. The editorial suggestions are musical and intelligent
and can be great time savers, especially for inexperienced players.
Franchomme’s student
at the Conservatoire Jules Delsart (1844–1900) succeeded
him upon his death. Delsart’s interest in the viola da gamba and
its music led him to found the Societé des Instruments Anciens,
which performed all over Europe. In 1891 in London, Delsart, Popper,
and Edward Howell premiered Popper’s Requiem for three cellos
and orchestra, written in memory of Popper’s friend and publisher
Daniel Rahter.
Louis Feuillard
(1872–1941) formed a quartet that toured in England, but later he
hardly performed—perhaps with good reason. Alfredo Casella recalled
premiering Ravel’s trio with Feuillard in 1914: "I played the trio
with two mediocre performers. Although we had about 20 rehearsals,
they managed to achieve several blunders." However, Feuillard was
a dedicated professor at the Conservatoire; his student Paul Tortelier
observed that he had an extrordinary pedagogical sense.
Solocellist of Amsterdam’s
Concertgebouw orchestra from 1905–20, Frits Gaillard (b.
1875) joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1923, retiring after
the 1938–39 season. His 1926 performance of D’Albert’s Concerto
was L.A.’s, and perhaps America’s, first.
Belgian musicologist
and composer François-Auguste Gevaert (1828–1908)
headed the Brussels Conservatory from 1870 to 1907. Gevaert edited
ancient and early medieval music, wrote an organ method and a treatise
on instrumentation, and composed the national anthem for the Belgian
Congo! His 1890 revision of the Haydn D-Major in "modern" 19th-century
style was once the only version played.
Italian cellist and
composer Georgio Frederico Ghedini (b. 1892) was assistant
conductor at Turin’s Teatro Reggio, professor of harmony and counterpoint
the Turin Conservatory, and, later, professor of composition at
the Parma and Milan Conservatories.
After briefly touring
Europe, cellist-composer Georg Goltermann (1824–98) became
the Frankfurt Stadttheater’s assistant director, then director.
His first three concertos, virtuoso vehicles, were popular in the
mid-19th century, and Grieg recommended Goltermann’s arrangement
of his Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. (In his book David
Popper, Steven De’ak confuses Popper’s teacher Julius Goltermann
[1825–76] with Georg.)
Russian Nicolai Graudan
(1896–1964) followed Piatigorsky as solocellist of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Germany under the Nazis became untenable, so Graudan went to London
and on to the U.S., playing principal with the Minneapolis Symphony
before relocating to Los Angeles. Graudan taught at the Aspen Festival
and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and joined Primrose’s
Festival Quartet. (And his wife, Joanna, taught many of my pianist
friends.)
Vienna Opera’s solocellist
and long-time member of the Busch Quartet, Paul Grümmer
(1879–1965) taught in Vienna, Germany, and, after 1946, in Switzerland.
Grümmer helped revive the viola da gamba, writing a gamba method,
playing in early music groups, and performing with harpsichordist
Wanda Landowska. His Beethoven trios (with Carl Herrmann) are generally
musical, but have assorted articulation alterations.
Friedrich
Grützmacher had no small ego.
At 18, Ferdinand David’s
protegé, Friedrich Grützmacher (1832–1903), became
a Gewandhaus solocellist and Conservatory professor. He toured extensively,
finally settling in Dresden as Hofkapelle solocellist, professor,
and "chamber virtuoso." Revealing no shortage of ego, Grützmacher
wrote about his editions, "My main purpose has been to reflect and
determine what these masters might have been thinking, and to set
down all that they, themselves, could have indicated down to
the smallest detail. . . . Relying on my long musical experience,
I feel I have more right than all the others to do this work."
His Schumann editions have historical interest, as he premiered
the Five Pieces in Folk Style with Clara. Grützmacher’s
1895 Boccherini B<b> Concerto, often derided in today’s climate
of authenticity, remains an effective work with wonderful cadenzas.
Overshadowed by his
brother, Leopold Grützmacher (1835–1900) joined Leipzig’s
Stadttheater and Gewandhaus orchestras, played solocello for the
Schwerin Hofkapelle and the Landestheater in Prague (about the time
Dvorák was first violist), and was "chamber virtuoso"
in Weimar and solocellist in Bayreuth.
In 1893, Walter Damrosch
invited Anton Hegner (1861–1915) to be first cellist of his
New York Symphony, precipiting America’s first orchestral strike.
The largely German Musical Mutual Protective Union refused Hegner,
a Dane, honorary membership (one member crying out, "We don’t give
a damn for art, all we are after is dollars and cents!"), voting
to impose fines and expel anyone playing with a non-union musician.
At the next concert, Damrosch gave his downbeat but the orchestra
remained silent. Damrosch resigned, the Symphony Society cancelled
the season; ultimately, all was resolved and Hegner was seated after
a six months’ residency.
David and Mendelssohn’s
student at the Leipzig Conservatory, Friedrich Hermann (1828–1907)
became a noted teacher there. Principal violist with the Gewandhaus
for 30 years, Hermann arranged and edited innumerable pieces,
including such oddities as a piano-trio version of Schubert’s Two-Cello
Quintet. (Remember, before recordings, all music was live: you played
it yourself or listened to someone else. Hausmusik was a
popular recreation, especially in Germany—hence the many arrangements
like this.) Hermann’s Mozart Divertimento, K. 563, is on
my worst-editions list, and the Beethoven clarinet-bassoon duos
he transcribed for violin-cello have been declared spurious.
A violin student of
Hugo Becker’s brother Hans, Carl Herrmann (b. 1876) played
in the Gewandhaus orchestra and was violist of the Gewandhaus Quartet.
In last-name-only listings, his many chamber and solo editions can
be confused with those of violinist Edward Herrmann or misspelled
with a single r.
