- ROEDDER, Alexandra - The Violoncello and the Romantic Era. 1820-1920

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Part I: Remembered and Influential Cellists

Interlude: A Recital of Early Nineteenth Century Cello Music

Part II: A Survey of Current Cello Teachers on RomanticRepertoire and Aesthetics

Supplement: Portamento in Violoncello Technique:

A Study of Early Recordings

Part III: The Composer-Performer Relationship

University of California, BerkeleyMay 2004

The Violoncello and the RomanticEra: 1820-1920

First Investigations

byAlexandra Roedder


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Foreword

This project sprang from a mild annoyance: I was almost finished with my sophomore year

at Berkeley, and couldnt find a clean fingering for the last movement of the Brahms F major cello

sonata. No matter what I tried, there was always an audible slide somewhere. I remember a vague

moment wondering, How did theydo it, the famous cellists back then?

I knew next to nothing about performance practice - to me, a harpsichord was that annoying

tinkly thing in the background on the radio. I was simply frustrated that I, a decent cellist, living in

the 21st century, with the latest cello equipment and technique, could not manage to clean up a few

shifts.

But the wondering of how theymanaged stayed, and I thought that, since I had two more

years left at Berkeley, I would start a big project that would ensure me an interesting honors thesis

and a thick portfolio for my graduate school applications. My idea was to write a paper about

performance practice on the cello from the late 17th century until Yo-Yo Mas rise to popularity. I

hear you laughing. Far too ambitious, I realize now.

Luckily, I discovered in the library that someone had already done the first hundred years

for me: Valerie Walden, in her One Hundred Years of Violoncello, covers technical and aesthetic

aspects of cello playing between 1740 and 1840. My first thought was that I would call my book

The Next Hundred Years of Violoncello.I really didnt know where to start, so, armed with recommendations from my professors, I

began looking at both performers and at the instrument. Reading about performers led to Part I,

while looking at the instruments made me realize that it was within my grasp, thanks to a number of

grants. I managed to receive two grants for the cello bow, and promptly gave a recital of Beethoven

and Romberg, with gut-strung cello and fortepiano.

I was awarded a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship for the summer of 2003, and,

with that money, sent out a massive number of surveys to teachers across the United States. I asked

various questions about how they taught vibrato, what music they taught, how they used history in

their teaching, and so forth. Then results comprise Part II and its appendix.

Then came the point of no return. I had a trust fund from my grandfather that was

earmarked for purchasing a cello, and my parents and I had always thought that I would sell my old

cello and buy an older one once Id finished college. But since beginning my investigations into


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performance practice, I had stumbled upon an entire world that I never knew was there, and was

hooked! I had gone to concerts, talked with performers, and taken a semester of Baroque

Performance Practice to learn more about phrasing, rhythm, and improvisation in the eighteenth

century. The real clincher was thinking how much easier the Bach Suites might be with a baroque

setup.

I went for it, and used my small inheritance to commission my very own baroque cello from

a new maker in Spain. It arrived on my 22nd birthday, and I fell in love.

The final part of the paper, on composer-performer relationships, is quite different from

what I had initially envisioned. I found that the type of analysis I wanted to do on all the anecdotes

Id gathered and the details jiggling in my head that were hinting at something deeper was not

harmonic analysis - it was social analysis. So Part III of this project has no musical examples,

although it references a number of works. Instead, it focuses on how composers and performers

viewed each other, and on what physical evidence (works) can show us of this relationship.

I would like to thank Richard Taruskin for pushing me through this, by being completely

unwavering in his expectations that I would produce something good; Davitt Moroney, for all the

last-minute letters of recommendation and the hours of good advice received over email and in

person; the music department, for encouraging me through numerous grants and awards; Elisabeth

Le Guin, the baroque cellist-musicologist, who, ever since I saw her perform the D major Bach

Suite on a five-string cello, became my first ever role model. I would like to also thank my parents,who did not squawk even the slightest when they realized I was dropping my sensible science major

to do music but kept on encouraging me as though I were being completely practical; and last but

not least David, for being my David.

Alexandra Roedder

May 3, 2004


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Alexandra RoedderMusic 199 (Independent Study Project)

Richard TaruskinUC Berkeley - Fall 2002

The Violoncello and the Romantic Era: 1820-1920

Part I - Remembered and Influential Cellists

In the midst of the political upheavals and aesthetic struggles of the nineteenth century, musicians

were still needed and wanted throughout Europe and America. Several music schools had recently been

formed in Europes major cities, following the foundation of the Paris Conservatoire in 1795: Prague,

1811, Vienna, 1817; London, 1822; Brussels, 1831; Leipzig, 1843.1 Many of the cellists making their way

in the world during the latter half of the nineteenth century were the first products of these schools. They

knew each other from classes and student orchestras, performed together at end-of-year recitals, and

exchanged information more easily than previous generations had. As such, the technical experimentation

that characterized the previous century disappeared, to be replaced in many countries with a more

homogenized method of playing.

Several cellists marked significant developments during these years. Some were primarily popular

touring artists, some teachers, others wanted to raise the standards by which cello playing was judged.

GrovesA Dictionary of Music and Musicians, first edition (1880), provides an insight into the period in

the article, violoncello-playing. Among its highlights are the mention of Duport as working out the truemethod of violoncello-playing; that Servais, mentioned as the greatest master of all the effects

producible, was an innovator in every sense of the word: never, before him, had the Violoncello yielded

such effects.

Also:

The English players who have left the greatest name are Crosdill and Lindley. Among living

players the name of Signor Piatti should be mentioned as a master in all styles, equally admirable

in the severest classical music and in the brilliant technical effects which are embodied in some of

his own compositions. Grtzmacher, Davidoff, the Hausmanns, and our own Edward Howell,

must also be named...Perhaps the best known among special writers for the instrument isGoltermann, who wrote many sonatas, and concertos...many of his works possess considerable

musical as well as technical interest. Besides Goltermann, there may be mentioned Popper, a

living violoncellist of good repute, Dunkler, and Signor Piatti, who, besides being the author of

several original compositions, has rendered good service to the musical world by his admirable

editions, with pianoforte accompaniments, of the Sonatas of Marcello and Boccherini.2

1New Harvard Dictionary of Music, ed D. Randel. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1986.2Parrett, W. Violoncello-Playing,A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. ed G. Grove. Oxford, 1880. (vol. 4, pp 299-

301)

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This article gives a view into the state of musical life in 1880, and in particular tells us which players were

the most famous of the times. Many of the names mentioned, such as Crosdill, Howell, and Dunkler, are

unfamiliar today.

The cello was not a popular instrument in the early nineteenth century. There were very few

amateur cellists at that time, and they neither played nor wrote concertos. Most cellists were passionate

professionals, converted from the violin either by chance (for example, the only scholarships available at the

Conservatoire were for cello) or from hearing another cellist play (as Adrien Servais did, upon hearing

Nicholas Platel (1777-1835), one of the cello professors at the Brussels Conservatoire).

Sebastian Lee(1805-1887) was born in Germany, and trained in Germany under Johann Nicolaus

Prell, a pupil of Bernhard Romberg (1767-1841). However, he worked mostly in Paris as solo cellist with

the Grand Opera Orchestra. Appointed in 1837, he held the post for over 30 years. In 1845 he published

Ecole de Violoncelliste, which was dedicated to the cello professor at the Conservatoire, Pierre Norblin, and

was accepted at the Conservatoire as a manual. Ecoleconsists of over a dozen duets. Rather than one

difficult and one simple part, which allows either for teacher observation of the student or for a less

advanced pupil to accompany and thus experience playing together, they contain two independently

complicated parts, in different ranges. Musically, they seem trite, using clichd rhythms and stock melodic

gestures.

Lee is remembered today because of these etudes, which are still used by a significant fraction of

teachers.

Adrien Franois Servais(1807-1866) originally studied violin, but after hearing Nicolas Platel

play, he abandoned it for the cello. Although his playing did not attract much attention in his home of

Belgium, in 1834 and 1835 he caused sensations in Paris and London. Servais succeeded Platel at the

Brussels Conservatoire following the elders death in 1848. While he continued to travel during his time

teaching, his tours were less frequent.

His playing was widely acclaimed as being equal to that of Paganini. Servais, like other cellists whohad begun on the violin, placed his left hand on the fingerboard in a manner similar to violinists. Servais

compositions, while used only teaching purposes today, are historically important. As already mentioned

by Grove above, his compositions were considered innovative and brought out an incredibly variety of

effects possible on the instrument.

One of his most widely performed pieces was his Souvenir de Spaop. 2, a rather extensive virtuosic

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work. It opens with a fanfare-like rhythm, then progresses into a melodious, recitative-like section. The

melodic gesture eventually concludes with a cadenza leading into the first variation. Each of the variations

is uniquely virtuosic, but not particularly inventive by todays standards. The piece is overly long, and

assuredly more fun to play than to listen to. Numerous biographies give this work an aura of extreme

difficulty and top of the heap, such as that which surrounds the Dvork Concerto today. It is listed as

being played at the debut recital of many young cellists of the day. It is also still in publication.

Servais was criticized towards the end of his life (c. 1865) for his over-romantic playing and

unending sugary vibrato, a result perhaps of the singing tone he so carefully cultivated. However, in any

discussion of aesthetics, one is faced with the problem that times have changed: too much vibrato could

be relative to a standard of no or very little vibrato.

Servais played on a 1701 Stradivari large-pattern cello; it is one of the few Strads that has not

undergone reduction and is today in its original size. He is also credited apocryphally with the invention of

the endpin; legend has it that in his old age Servais grew very fat and could not hold the cello properly.

Pierre Alexandre Chevillard(1811-1877), although born in Belgium, studied at the Paris

Conservatoire with {??} Norblin (dates) beginning in 1820. Besides being an excellent player, Chevillard

tried to interest Paris in Beethovens late string quartets. Most of his colleagues were not interested;

however, in the 1850s he eventually formed a string quartet with three musicians who shared his desires:

Pierre Maurin, Sabbatier, and Mas (first names unknown). Their successful private concerts led to an

invitation to play at the Salle Pleyel, and soon to a German tour, presumably playing the Beethoven

quartets.

Chevillard succeeded {??} Vaslin (dates) as professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1859. Groves

dictionary (1880) mentions his name in the article about the Conservatoire: Among the professors who

have charge of such classes just enumerated, we find such names as Masse, Franchomme, Chevillard, Rene

Baillot.... and many of the most celebrated artists.3

Alexander Batta(1816-1902), like Servais, started on the violin but switched to cello after hearingPlatel perform. He attained his first prize from the Brussels Conservatoire in 1834. While in Paris, Batta

heard the famous tenor {??} Rubini (dates), who, like many of his day, used overt slides and lots of rubato.

Van der Straeten writes, Batta copied his [Rubinis] faults as well as his admirable qualities, adding an

affected and coquettish mannerism which pleased the Parisians, and particularly the society ladies, making

3Chouquet, G. Conservatoire de Musique, A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 1880 (vol. 1, p. 382)

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him the lion of the day.4

Battas own biographical sketches in both van der Straeten and Campbell (although Campbells is

nothing more than a reduction of van der Straetens) mention nothing about his collaboration with Liszt:

Liszts Lettres dun bachelier-s-musique of February 12 [1842] called Paris a living chaos in

which brutal passions, hypocritical vices, and shameless ambitions clash and struggle, wild to

destroy each other. This perhaps meant that Thalberg was back in the city and Liszt wild todestroy him. ...an article in the Gazette Musicalewhich he instigated and partly wrote was a

savage attack on Thalberg. His compositions were pretentious, vain, boring...Next, he scheduled a

set of concerts that far surpassed in seriousness, novelty and splendor anything Thalberg could have

mustered and announced them aggressively as follows: M. Liszt will give in the salons M. Erard

his first evening of instrumental music. The object of these sessions is to make known the works

of the grande coleof the piano, too often disfigured by incompetent executants.

The concerts (January 28 and February 4, 11 and 18) were unique in their time. His friends Urhan

and Batta took respectively the violin and cello parts and the programs included five Beethoven

trios never, it appears, heard before in Paris, sonatas for piano and violin, Chopin etudes, Schubert

lieder... The critics were stunned. An unheard-of thing, wrote Legouv,5a trio, a simple trio

that lasts forty-five minutes, was listened to ... with no other interruption that the murmurs of

enthusiasm repressed for fear of losing a single note....The battle is won...the lesson has beenlearned! and if we use the word lesson, it is because it is the only one that can give the particular

character of these performances.6

Batta also collaborated with a minor composer of the nineteenth century, Edward Wolff (1816-

1880), to write three duos for cello and piano. However, Batta is remembered mostly because of the

Stradivari cello that now bears his name a Golden Age (1700-c.1720) instrument dated 1714.

Campbell considers Alfredo Piatti(1822-1901) to be By far the most important of the

nineteenth-century Italian cellists. Grove (1880) goes further, and devotes a complete column to his

biography:

...it is not too much to say that he has a reputation surpassed by that of no other musical artist.

With an absolute command of over all the technical difficulties of his instrument Piatti combines a

faultless intonation and a rare purity of tone which, without any apparent exertion, never fails to

sufficiently assert itself in the most delicate passages, while the exquisite taste with which he

phrases invests the simplest melody with infinite charm.7

Eduard Hanslick, a contemporary music critic, is quoted in van der Straeten as saying, The method

of the virtuoso, pure and simple, is never allowed by Piatti to stand in the way when it is necessary to

perform a simple cantilena; .. there is a complete absence of that horrible sentimentality which is so often

found among violoncellists. When rendering an adagio, too, that perpetual vibrato, which with many passes

for feeling, is quite absent in the case of Piatti.

4van der Straeten,History of the Violoncello. William Reeves, London, 1914. (p. 562)5The source does not identify Legouv further: presumably this is Ernest Legouv, the playwright.6Perenyi, E. Liszt: the Artist as Romantic Hero. Little, Brown, & Company, Boston, 1974.7Hudson, T. P. Piatti.A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 1880. (vol. 2, p. 746)

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It is a common misconception that the use of vibrato increased in a steady line from the Baroque

period onwards, in conjuction with the advent of widespread steel string usage. However, this review,

printed in 1858, is nearly contemporary with the criticism of Servais unending sugary vibrato. Servais

predates Piatti by about 15 years, which shows that the question of vibrato is a complicated one of personal

and audience taste.

As a teenager, Piattis public performances were so successful that he embarked on a European

tour. But during that tour he was taken ill and had to sell his cello to pay for food and lodgings until he

was well enough to leave. On his way home in 1843, he encountered Liszt, who invited him to share a

concert in Munich on a borrowed instrument. The event was a success, and Liszt organized further

concerts in Paris 1844, around which time he presented Piatti with an Amati cello. Also in 1844 was

Piattis London debut, to which the critics wrote, Piattis magnificent violoncello playing won universal

admiration, by the perfection of his tone and his evident command over all the intricacies of the

instrument.8

While traveling Great Britain in 1844, Piatti visited Dublin, where he first saw the Stradivari cello

that now bears his name. It wasnt until its owner, Pigott (then a well-known Dublin cellist), died, that Piatti

was able to own it:

I was agreeably surprised on immediately recognising my former acquaintance [visiting the new

owner, Baron Nathaniel Rothschild], and great was my chagrin at not being in a position to

purchase it; I simply had not the means to do so. Happening to call upon Maucotel, the violin-

maker, I talked about the instrument, and strongly urged him to see it and try to buy it. He

followed my advice, and after some bargaining became its owner at the very modest figure of 300.

It remained only a short time in his hands, as at my suggestion he offered it for 350 to ColonelOliver, who accepted it; this took place in 1853. A short time afterwards J.B. Vuillaume came to

London, and hearing through Maucotel of the cello, called upon its owner and there and then made

an offer of 800 for it, but the colonel refused to sell. I was a frequent visitor at the house, and

often played upon the Stradivari. I used to restring it; in fact, looked upon it as if it had been my

own child! One day a day graven in my memory in 1867, I was as usual at the colonels

house, and was playing on and comparing the three violoncellos he possessed an Antonio and

Hieronymus Amati, a Montagnana and the Stradivari. The Colonel suddenly said to me: Which

do you prefer? Laughingly I answered: One cannot have a doubt the Stradivari. Take it

home, was his rejoinder. I felt so embarrassed by what appeared to me a sudden resolve that I

politely declined, and in due time took my leave and went home. To my astonishment, though

and I must say it was of a joyful nature the Stradivari followed in my wake.9

While officially a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, most of his teaching was

private to fit around his hectic concert schedule. Some of his more famous pupils were Robert Hausmann,

Hugo Becker, Leo Stern, and William Whitehouse.

As in the case of other cellists of his era, few of his compositions are still performed publicly, or

8 Campbell, M. The Great Cellists. Victor Golantz Ltd, London, 1988. (p. 111)9quoted in Hill,Antonio Stradivari: His Life and Work (1644-1737). Dover Publications, New York, 1963.

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even known. However, there are 2001 editions of both hisNotturno in Fand his Variations on a Theme

from Lucia di Lammermoor, a popular Donizetti opera based on a lurid Sir Walter Scott novel. In

addition, Piattis Caprices, widely available, are still used as both etudes and recital works.

His lasting important contribution to cello repertoire was arranging and publishing works by 18th

century composers. According to Campbell, his goal was to bring cello music out of the mud of salon

and empty virtuoso music10. Unlike Grtzmacher, who also published first editions of previously

obscure composers, Piatti tried to stay as faithful to the original as possible. The piano parts adhere to the

original figured bass, and he kept the bowing and fingering indications to a minimum. Piattis interest in

early music eventually led to a meeting with Arnold Dolmetsch (1858-1940), one of the pioneers of that

field.

Bernhard Cossmann(1823-1911), was a student of {??} Dreschler (dates), who in turn was a

student of {??} Dotzauer (dates). Campbell writes that his studies, still in use today, are the only reason

why he is known. Cossmanns career was fairly typical of cello virtuosos: he was principal cellist of

several orchestras (Theatre Italien in Paris, Gewandhaus Concerts at Leipzig, the Weimar Orchestra); he

underwent several European tours with Brahms, Hans von Blow, and the Austrian soprano Pauline Lucca.

However, Cossmann was best known in his time for his chamber music playing; Joachim, Laub, Singer,

and other great violinists were at times leaders of his quartet.

Friedrich Wilhelm Grtzmacher(1832-1903), also a student of Dreschler, is well remembered

by musicologists for his mutilations of many of the classical works. Perhaps the most famous incident is

that of the Boccherini Concerto in B-flat, which Grtzmacher created by taking samples from four

different works and pasting them together; unfortunately, the edition is still in widespread use today.

The positive aspect of Grtzmachers creativity is that he brought Boccherini into the public view.

Without this attention, the composer would have been remembered for very little. Grtzmacher also

reorganized, rearranged, and recomposed the Bach Cello Suites by adding chords, passages, and

embellishments to form a concert edition. Like Piatti, Grtzmacher wished to extend the cello repertoire

by replacing trite drawing-room pieces with classics, albeit mutilated, disfigured classics that still show

evidence of the tastes of the time.

Grove (1880), not as meticulous as we are now about historical practice, mentions, We are also

indebted to him for many careful editions of standard works (Beethovens Sonatas for Pianoforte and

1 0Campbell, op. cit. (p. 113)

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Cello, Rombergs Concertos, Boccherinis Sonatas, etc., etc.) and for the revival of some forgotten works

of considerable interest.11 This listing of Rombergs Concertos as standard is amusing, as, 120 years

later, very few teachers use them even as student concertos. Grtzmacher was employed at the Leipzig

Conservatory from 1850-1860, where he succeeded Cossmann, and at the Dresden Conservatory from

1877 until his death.

Karl Davydov(1838-89), inherited his Stradivari cello (known as the Davydov, the same cello

which was anonymously given to a young Jacqueline du Pre) from Count Mathieu Wielhorsky, a Russian

aristocrat. Because his parents wished him to complete his formal education before beginning a musical

career, Davydov completed a math degree at St. Petersburg Univerisity. He then began composition studies

with Moritz Hauptmann in Leipzig, with ambitions to be a composer. However, when asked to substitute

for Grtzmacher in Leipzig at a Mendelssohn trio, he was an instant success.

At the age of 22, he succeeded Grtzmacher at the Leipzig Conservatoire as cello professor.

Davydovs studies in math and composition contributed a great deal to his work on the development of

cello technique. In particular, he discovered that virtuoso passages, like those in the Romberg concertos,

sounded best when played on the A and D strings, and that the C and G strings should only be played

within the lower octave. He would advise his students to listen to and observe the best violinists; Campbell

has suggested that perhaps this was done not so much for technique as for phrasing and tone.

Davydovs compositions, like Servais, attempt to experiment with cellistic technique. [[ HisAt the

Fountain(part of op. 20) particularly comes to mind. In a fairly standard style, Davydov uses flashy

sixteenth notes, running up and down the fingerboard, to frame a singing melody. The work requires not

only finger technique, but also a solid spiccato stroke to keep the sixteenths even throughout the 3-minute

piece.]]

David Popper(1843-1913) is best remembered by modern cellists for the aformentioned pieces.

These virtuosic works, apart from still being popular today many debut recitals conclude with a

performance of hisHungarian Rhapsody or his Tarantellawere among the first to be transposed upbyviolinists, as opposed to the other way around. His other compositions, including four concertos, are not

fully forgotten, especially hisHochschule das Violoncellspiels (c. 1900). This series of chromatic etudes

can, when tackled with relish, train the left hand to jump faultlessly from position to position without

trouble, as well as train the ear to hear such jumps easily. They are, in some sense, a culmination of the

1 1Hudson, T. P., Grtzmacher. A Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 1880 (vol. 1, pp 634-635)

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technique necessary for nineteenth century music.

Born into the impoverished family of a Jewish Cantor in Prague, Popper was surrounded by a

musical and artistic family:

In the dimly lit room of the Popper home there were frequent gatherings of family and friends

around the piano. David could recollect hearing the singing of beautiful songs at such times, and

his enjoyment in the songs of Schubert, Schumann, and Mendelssohn, and the great lyrics from

poems of Goethe, Heine, Lenau, Schiller and Ruckert, and the works of many other composers and

poets.1 2

As a child prodigy (he could sing on pitch at three and was improvising at the piano at age five), he

received early lessons on the violin. His parents encouraged his talent, knowing that a practical skill, such

as violin-playing, would open up possibilities for earning a living there were many state and municipal

orchestras, as well as the private bands of the remaining nobles.

At twelve, he auditioned and was admitted to the Prague Conservatoire on the condition that he take

up the cello rather than the violin; the director of the conservatoire, Johann Friedrich Kittl (1809-1868), wastraining musicians for the National Theatre, the Opera, and the Philharmonic Orchestra, and there was a

shortage of cellists. Popper studied at Prague under Goltermann, a student of Kummer in Dresden, who

was in turn a pupil of Dotzauer.

His performance of the newly composed Volkmann Concerto in A minor in 1864 opened up a

world of possiblities to him as critics praised his talent and exceptional promise. In 1867, Popper first

appeared in Vienna; a year later he was engaged as principal cellist to the Imperial Opera Orchestra, a post

previously held by such famous figures as Nicolaus Kraft and Joseph Merk. Another performance of the

Volkmann Concerto in 1868 produced praise from Herman Starcke in theNeue Zeitschrift fur Musik:

Vienna has had, until now, no cello to boast about, and none was received with such enthusiasm, other

than some foreign artists who appeared on transitory visits. We can congratulate ourselves on the recent

acquisition of this artist.13

When Liszts newly formed Hungarian Academy (formed in 1875 to compete with the young-

talent-draining conservatories of Vienna, St. Petersburg, Leipzig, and Paris) started a string department,

Popper was appointed its first cello professor. With Jeno Hubay, the young violinist who headed the string

department, Popper formed the Budapest Quartet.

Besides being a virtuoso cellist, Popper was an excellent pianist, often accompanying his students,

by heart if no music was present.

Stephen Deak, Poppers student and biographer, mentions, It was my privilege to witness the exit

1 2Deak, S,David Popper. Paganiniana Publications, Neptune City, 1980. (p 30)1 3ibid,p. 119

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of an era which was fast vanishing and the beginning of a new musical approach: the uncompromising

submission and sublimation of the artist to the will and ideas of the composer.14

Regarding Casals, a young emerging performer towards the end of Poppers life, Deak relates an

experience at one of Casals early concerts:

We sat in the upper loge, in relative privacy. During the concert I watched Poppers reaction. His

serious appraisal of the performance showed in the expression of his face, and he applauded after

each number. But a slight puzzlement veiled the otherwise interested countenance. The striking

difference between the prevailing bowing with loose wrist and straight thumb, and Casals bowing,

seemed most obvious when he played at the upper part of the bow without lowering his wrist, and

compensated by the gradual pronation and elevation of his arm. But the upper arm position was

radically altered when the bow was applied on the C string. It was drawn in close to the body,

with wrist fairly straight...

Another first impression was Casals limited use of slides. These were accepted by nineteenth

century string players as a technical device for large leaps, as well as for intensely expressive

effects, without regard for the distortion of musical playing.

Casals had developed his unique style with an unconventional kind of fingerings which, amondother things, employed frequent extensions. We were surprised and struck by his performance.

His bowings and fingerings combined in the production of a flawless technical brilliance and a

luminous tone, with infinite degrees of dynamic variation.1 5

Thus we find a first-hand account that appears to name Casals as the initiator of a new school of

cello playing.

Jules de Swert(1843-91) was Servais most prominent pupil at the conservatoire, where he was

Laureat, or head of the class, at fourteen. He lived a successful solo career, as well as performing

chamber music with Clara Schumann and Leopold Auer. In Bayreuth, at Wagners request, he formed the

orchestra for the controversialDas Ring des Nibelungencycle performances of 1876, sitting principal

cellist. Strangely, though, no mention of him can be found in the standard Wagner texts.

Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Fitzenhagen(1848-1890) studied under Theodore Muller, cellist of the

Muller quartet, and under Grtzmacher in Dresden, where Fitzenhagen was also engaged at the Chapel

Royal. Despite an offer of Liszts to join the orchestra in Weimar following a performance at the

Beethoven Festival in 1870, Fitzenhagen took up an appointment as professor at the Imperial Conservatoire

in Moscow. During this time, he was regarded as the premier cello professor in Russia.

Fitzenhagens eternal contribution to the cello literature is his re-ordering of Tchaikovskys

Variations on a Rococo Theme,op. 33, which was dedicated to him in 1877. Tchaikovsky sent him the

1 4ibid,p. 2381 5ibid, p. 240

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music, giving him freedom in modifying the solo cello part; but when the variations were to be printed in

full score in 1889, anecdote has it that Anatoly Brandoukov (a student of Fitzenhagens, to whom in 1887

Tchaikovsky dedicated the Pezzo Capricciosowith similar freedom of modification) was visiting

Tchaikovsky and found him in a bad mood. According to legend, the composer showed him the music,

saying, That idiot Fitzenhagens been here. Look what hes done to my piece hes altered everything!

Fitzenhagen had chosen to stun the audience by switching the third variation and the seventh, and

doing away with the eighth. This way the stormy, virtuosic D minor variation came as a brilliant finale.

Brandoukov asked Tchaikovsky what he was going to do about it, but the composer retored, The devil

take it! Let it stand as it is! perhaps because Fitzenhagen had written him about the furore he had

created with the variations, and that Liszt was thoroughly pleased and had even commented, Now there, at

last, is real music!16 Some cellists nowadays, such as Steven Isserlis, are trying to undo Fitzenhagens

tampering, but the majority of recordings and editions still use his ordering.

Robert Hausmann(1852-1909) is considered by all the biographers as one of the great chamber-

music players of the second half of the nineteenth century. A student first of Theodore and then Wilhelm

Mller, Hausmann succeeded the latter in his post as first professor of cello at the Berlin Hochschule

(founded in 1869; Hausmann was one of its first pupils). Joseph Joachim, violin professor there, took

Hausmann to London, where the cellist met and studied with Piatti. Hausmann joined the Joachim Quartet

in 1878, succeeding Wilhelm Mller, and stayed with them until the violinists death in 1907. (The

Joachim Quartet in London was a different group, of which Piatti was the cellist, which performed regularly

at the Monday and Saturday Popular Concerts, and was responsible for performing the late Beethoven

string quartets for the first time in public in London.)

Hausmann premiered and was the dedicatee of many works which have persisted in the popular

repertoire today: the Brahms Double Concerto, Brahms F Major Sonata, and Max Bruchs Kol Nidrei.

He also published an edition of the Bach Suites which is supposedly closer to the original text than those

of his contemporaries.

Hausmanns 1724 Stradivari still bears his name.

Johann Klingenberg, also born in 1852 (d. 1905), held several important positions in ducal bands

at Wiesbaden and Brunswick, but focused mainly on editing music. He can be solely remembered for his

Dotzauer-Klingenberg tutor, which organizes the Dotzauer etudes progressively and incorporates a few

1 6Campbell, M. op. cit. (p. 76)

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Duport etudes, and is perhaps the most thorough work ever compiled. The very first etude begins with a C

major scale, rhythmically altered, and progresses gradually into G major; the middle and last portions are

some basic string crossings using simple arpeggiations. After this easy introduction to the first position,

the tutor continues (in first position) to introduce several types of bowing spiccato, legato (using different

length bows, as in #3). By the fifth etude, the fingers are learning to extend. And so on, throughout the

four volumes, new concepts are introduced gradually and simply, interspersing bow technique with left

hand, all the time using dynamics to build a sense of musicality about the etudes. Perhaps the only

drawback about the Dotzauer etudes themselves is their lack of harmonic inventiveness and the strange

voice-leadings that often occur. However, they remain widely used by modern cello teachers, especially in

the Klingenberg edition.

Joseph Hollman(1852-1927) first studied under Servais at Brussels, then later with Leon

Jacquard in Paris. He toured Europe and gave concerts in London with Saint-Sans (van der Straeten,

writing in 1914 remarks twice that they are still fresh within the memory of music-lovers.) Saint-Sans

second cello concerto (1902) was dedicated to Hollman.

While contemporary critics adored his power and technique (even Bernard Shaw, not an admirer of

the cello, had something kind to say about Hollman), Pierre Fournier, who lived above the Hollmans in

Paris, remarked,

The instrument grated, blew, boomed, whistled, wheezed, coughed and sometimes even sneezed. In

short, all the symptoms of a head cold were accurately parodied by the bow of Monsieur

Hollman.1 7

Hans (Hanus) Wihan(1855-1920), studied under Franz Hegenbarth in Prague and completed

his studies under Davydov, whose free movement of the right arm he admired for its production of a more

natural sound. His career followed a normal path, holding several orchestra appointments. He formed a

close friendship with Liszt while at Weimar and was admired by Wagner, von Blow, and Richard Strauss,

all of whom he met while soloist of the court orchestra at Munich. StraussRomanceis dedicated to

Wihan.

He had a close connection with Czech music and had contacts with Dvork and Smetana. Wihan

founded in 1891 the Czech String Quartet, which stayed together for over 40 years and was considered one

of the greatest of the era. Dvork wrote hisRondoOp. 94 for Wihan, as well as the cello part in the

Dumky Piano Trio and the Cello Concerto. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Wihan was unable to

perform the concerto for its first public appearance (the honor went rather to Leo Stern in 1896), instead

1 7Campbell, M. op. cit. (p. 86)

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performing it first at a private house in August 1895, then in 1899 in the Hague, in Amsterdam, and in

Budapest, with Dvork conducting.

Correspondence between Dvork and his publishers reveals that Wihan, in reading over the

concerto before its publication, made some modifications to it, including adding a cadenza in the fourth

movement:

I have had some differences of opinion with Friend Wihan on account of a number of places. I do

not like some of the passages and I must insist on my work being printed as I have written it.

The passages in question can be printed in two versions, an easierand a more difficultversion. I

shall only then give you the work if you promise not to allow anybodyto make changes Friend

Wihan not excepted without my knowledgeand consent and also not the Cadenza which Wihan

has added to the last movement...I told Wihan straight away when he showed it to me that it was

impossible to stick such a bit on.1 8

The fact that Wihan attempted to add a cadenza on to the concerto speaks strongly to the fact that

they were still standard fare, while the conflict arising from that indicates that Dvork felt his work to be

untouchable, an entity in and of itself, separate from the artists interpretation. (For more on this, see PartIII.)

Julius Klengel(1859-1933) grew up in a musical family and studied cello with Emil Hegar, a

student of Grtzmacher and Davidov. In 1874 he joined the Gewandhaus Orchestra, becoming principal in

1881. He remained with the orchestra for 50 years, working sometimes under Wilhelm Furtwangler

(1886-1954), one of the great conductors of the early twentieth century.

Klengel is mostly remembered as a teacher, however, and his etudes and technical studies are still

widely used today. As his pupils, he had some of the most famous names remembered today: Feuermann,

Piatigorsky, Stutschewsky, Kurtz, Suggia, Grummer, and Pleeth. He was much loved by his students, as

attested by Piatigorsky in his autobiography:

Julius Klengel was short and old. His beard was stained around his mouth from smoking cigars.

He smoked one when I met him. His eyes laughed. He did not ask what I would like to play; he

just went to the piano and began the Haydn Concerto [D major the C major was not discovered

until mid-century]. We went through the entire work and he was pleased to hear me play his

cadenzas...

I moved into the Hartung boardinghouse, where many of Klengels students stayed. It was

inexpensive and the landlady, Frau Hartung, didnt mind our practising at all hours of the day.

Even those students who lived elsewhere came often to Hartungs. They did so on the advice of

Klengel, who wanted us to learn from each other. His system was simple. He would remark,

Schneiders vibrato is marvelous. Everyone would come to spy on Schneiders vibrato. To

Schneider he would say, Aubers trill is the best. It worked. The students, though jealous,

learned from each other and made progress. I marveled at Klengels art of teaching by really not

teaching. At lessons one seldom heard suggestions or discourses on music from him. He let a

1 8 Sourek, Otakar. Antonin Dvork: Letters and Reminiscences. transl. by Samsour, R.F. Da Capo Press, New York,

1985. p 184.

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student play a piece to the end and said, Fine or in a severe case, Watch your left arm, young

man.1 9

As part of his regular teaching repertoire he included the Bach Suites (of which he produced an

edition) and the Beethoven sonatas. The inclusion of the Bach suites sheds doubt on the myth that Casals

rediscovered them.

William Whitehouse(1859-1935) is considered to be Piattis favorite pupil, even though he only

studied with Piatti for one year. Whitehouse taught at the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of

Music, and Kings College, Cambridge. Whitehouse was highly regarded for both his solo and chamber

performances, and often deputized for Piatti (under the deputy system, an orchestral player who had

another engagement the night of a performance or rehearsal could send a deputy to take his place). He

played with Joachim, and toured as The London Trio with Simonetti and the pianist Amina Goodwin.

His students are recognizable names of the early twentieth century: Salmond, Withers, Evans, Kate Ould,

Beatrice Evelyn, and Beatrice Harrison.

Hugo Becker(1864-1941) began on violin and piano, but fell in love with the cello at the age of

nine and studied under Kanut Kundinger, a musician at Mannheim. Coming from a musical family, like

Klengel, he had considerable experience playing chamber music with his relatives, and even toured with his

father, brother and sister in 1880, as the Becker Family Quartet. His father is listed as an eminent

violin-player in the 1880 Grove.

20

In Frankfurt he was solo cellist of the opera orchestra and first teacherof cello and chamber music director at theHochschulethere. He toured extensively throughout Europe and

toured the US in 1900-01, and deputized for Piatti in London, eventually replacing him. Becker achieved a

great reputation as a teacher, even though he was often overly pedantic. He played in some famous

chamber ensembles, with such people as Ysaye and Busoni, Dohnanyi and Marteau, and Schnabel and

Flesch.

His playing was considered by one Russian critic to be classic rather than romantic, pointing out his

timing and the ease of his technique. Von Blow, a close friend, considered Beckers playing to be

virile, which was a considerable turn-around from the general view of the cello as an instrument of the

soul. His book, Technique and Aesthetics of Violoncello Playing, written in collaboration with Dr. Dago

Rynar, a physiologist, also uses the term virile and states that the cello is flexible in its expression.

1 9Piatigorsky, G. Cellist. Doubleday & Company, Inc., New York. 1965. pp 64-652 0David, P. Becker, Jean. A Dictionary of Music and Musicians 1880 (vol. 1, p. 161)

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Herbert Walenn(1870-1953) was born into a musical family. He started his musical education at

the Royal College of Music, then studied with Edward Howell at the Royal Academy, then with Becker in

Frankfurt. He taught at the Royal Academy for many years, and a number of his pupils became famous:

Nelsova, Hambourg, Cherniavsky, and Barbirolli (who, before his career as the great conductor John

Barbirolli, was known as the mediocre cellist Giovanni). His teaching methods were unorthodox in that he

generally referred his pupils to books rather than teaching them technique. He greatly developed art in

England, encouraging amateur musicians and raising the standards in that area. He founded the London

Violoncello School in 1919, providing important opportunities for solo performances and group cello

works.

William Henry Squire(1871-1963), often forgotten nowadays, was highly regarded in his day.

He studied at the Royal College of Music under Howell, and studied composition with Hubert Parry. He

was principal cellist in many British orchestras, a professor at the Royal College of Music from 1898-1917,

and at the Guildhall School of Music from 1911-1917. He is remarkable mostly for his early recordings,

among which is one of the Elgar Concerto (conducted by Hamilton Harty, 1936). Faur dedicated his

Sicilienneto Squire. Campbell considers him a composer of some substance, although his works are

generally small in length and development.

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Bibliography

A Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed G. Grove. vols 1-4. Oxford, 1880.

Campbell, M. The Great Cellists. Victor Golantz Ltd, London, 1988.

Deak, S. David Popper. Paganiniana Publications. Neptune City, 1980.

Ginsburg, L. History of the Violoncello. ed H. R. Axelrod, transl T. Tchistyakova. Paganinia Publications,

Inc., Neptune City, 1983.

Hill. Antonio Stradivari: His Life and Work (1644-1737). Dover Publications, New York, 1963

Perenyi, E. Liszt:the Artist as Romantic Hero. Little, Brown, & Company, Boston, 1974

Piatigorsky, G. Cellist. Doubleday & Company, Inc., New York, 1965.

Rees, B. Camille Saint-Saens: a life. Chatto & Windus, London, 1999.

Sourek, Otakar. Antonin Dvork: Letters and Reminiscences. transl R. F. Samsour. Da Capo Press, New

York, 1985.

Tchaikovsky, M. The Life and Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky. Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, 1924.

The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. ed D.M. Randel. Harvard U. Press, Cambridge, 1996.

van der Straeten, E.S.J. History of the Violoncello. William Reeves, London, 1914.

Walden, V. One Hundred Years of Violoncello: A History of Technique and Performance Practice, 1740-

1840. Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge, 1998.

Wasielewski, W.J. The Violoncello and its History. transl I.S.E. Stigand. Da Capo Press, New York,

1968. (reproduction of first English edition, Novello, Ewer and Co., London and New York, 1894)

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Alexandra RoedderMusic 199 (Independent Study Project)

Richard TaruskinUC Berkeley - Spring 2003


Interlude - A Recital of Early Nineteenth Century Cello Music1

In my first endeavors into performance practice, I purchased, with help from the Music

Departments Lyons Prize and the Associated Students of the University of Californias Academic

Mini-Grant, a copy of an early Tourte bow. I also strung a cello with gut strings. While the strings

are certainly not exactly what was used then - it is difficult to know exactly what was used - they are

at least closer than modern steel strings. The bow is copied as closely as possible from the model.

In my performance of Beethovens Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano, Op. 5, No. 1, written

in 1796, I was accompanied by a fortepiano, rather than a modern piano, and the effect amazed me.

What used to be thin and rather weak-sounding with a modern piano was suddenly well-balanced

and full enough with the fortepiano. And the fortepiano, which sounds tinny and rather silly against

a steel-strung modern instrument, became lush.

When first picking up the gut-strung cello, I was using a modern French bow, with modern

bow technique. In order to make a decent sound on the gut strings, however, I had to modify my

attacks and use, in general, a faster bow to keep the sound spinning out. The best way to describe

the modification of the attacks would be that, with gut strings, one cannot grab the string with the

bow; one must persuade it to sound by digging in gently and releasing. In addition, the

sustained intensity that is possible with steel strings is much harder to produce with gut strings and

a modern bow. Any excess pressure causes gut strings to choke.

In using the Tourte bow, I found things to be quite different. For one, the bow is gripped

differently - further away from the frog, with the pinky just touching the ebony of the frog, the other

three fingers spread out in a similar fashion to todays grip, the middle (and occasionally ring)

fingers lightly touching the bow hair, if desired, and the thumb resting between the middle and ring

fingers, on the opposite side of the bow stick. The effect of this grip is to essentially move the bow

motion up one level anatomically. Instead of a finger motion, use the wrist; instead of the wrist,1This (rather disjointed) little essay was written following the performance of April 21, 2003. Included in the

project binder is a CD of that performance and a green program.

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use the arm or shoulder, and so forth.

For an example of how this affects technique, take the spiccato stroke. On the modern cello,

this is executed with loose fingers and wrist, using a short horizontal and bouncy stroke. With the

Tourte bow and, this stroke becomes fairly stiff and much more vertical - the wrist is almost

stationery and the arm nudges the bow up and down.

There are several main differences anatomically, if you will, between the early Tourte

bow and the modern Tourte bow. Firstly, the weight: the earlier bow is heavier and weighted more

towards the tip (hence the need for a grip further out along the stick). Secondly, when the hair and

wood are tensioned, the stick and hair appear to be almost parallel. Finally, the hair at the frog is

held by the modern mechanism, but lacks the metal plate (ferrule) at the base of the frog which

holds down the horsehair and spreads it out evenly.

The transitional and early modern bows have round sticks of pernambuco, often of the

finest quality, this latter usually of a dark chocolate brown colour. They are in general

slightly shorter than those that are termed Tourte's mature work. Their heads are rather

gentle in contour and fairly rounded (when viewed in profile), but many possess the

tension and statuesque qualities so evident in his mature and late work.2

The bow I obtained is indeed round, made of pernambuco, and of a dark chocolate brown. It is

shorter than all my modern bows.

Because of its lighter and quicker action, the transitional bow creates a quick response to

changes in bow speed and pressure. This makes it easier to ham it up on cantilena passages

without needing vibrato. Vibrato is needed on the modern instrument to warm up the sound of the

steel strings. The gut strings, however, are already warm by themselves, and so vibrato serves to

highlight notes or change character, and is not needed as a background. The soupy writing of many

early 19th century composers (Romberg, Servais, and even occasionally Beethoven) becomes

slightly less schmaltzy when changes in tone are much easier to accomplish.

The advantage that the modern setup has over the transitional setup is brilliance and variety.

The modern setup simply can do more in terms of different bow strokes - thrown strokes, certain

bouncing strokes, the fast detach stroke caused primarily with the forefinger of the right hand

(exemplified by the second movement of the Elgar concerto), strong accents; in short, almost

anything requiring a sharp attack can be done with more consistency on the modern setup. It is

more dependable and a little less finicky about the beginnings of notes. The reward, however, of2Childs, P. Tourte, Franois Xavier. Grove Music Online,ed L. Macy. (accessed 5/3/04)



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playing with the transitional setup is that, within the range of available bow strokes, greater nuance

is possible.

The above might sound as though no virtuosic playing is possible on the transitional setup.

Yet we know from repertoire and biographies that virtuosity was greatly prized. However, virtuosity

in 1800 must have meant something different than it does today.

From looking at a number of works, including Beethoven, Romberg, Kraft, Ries, and

Onslow, among others, it is clear that quick scales, arpeggios, and fancy bow crossings were

popular in the early nineteenth century Because these can be done with separate bows using the

transitional bow, they sound much more impressive than the slurs used in modern technique. Rapid

scales on separate bows practically play themselves; the scrubby sound that accompanies the bow

changes does not overpower the individual notes. On the modern cello, that scrubbiness is harsher

and very intrusive, and is avoided as best as possible.

Music for the period was written for the instruments of the period; while most people

acknowledge that as fact, its always inspiring to see it for yourself, and to experience a period bow

doing something much different than a modern bow does on the sam e piece.



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Monday, April 21, 2003, 12 noon

Morrison Hall, Room 125

A Recital of Early Nineteenth Century Violoncello Music

L. van Beethoven: Sonata for Piano and Cello, Op. 5, No. 1 (1770-1827)

1. Andante - Allegro

2. Rondo - Vivace

B. Romberg (1767-1841):Divertimento uber westfalische Thema

Alexandra Roedder, cello

Karen Rosenak, fortepiano

Ludwig van Beethoven, born in 1770 in Bonn, is today regarded as perhaps the most influential composer of

the nineteenth century. His nine symphonies, each exploring a different boundary of the music of his day, were

used by many later composers as justification for their own explorations, and left a long shadow for the next

generation. While his later works are indeed quite novel and otherworldy, his early works, some of them underthe tutelage of Haydn, show clear classical tendencies, but hint at his later sound.

The first Sonata for Piano and Cello, Op. 5 No. 1, in F major, is actually the first sonata for cello with

the piano part written out fully, rather than left in figured bass, as was previously done. The piano part is quite

complex and difficult, perhaps (although it is hard to tell how difficult this piece would have been in its day)

more difficult than the cello part. Beethoven takes advantage of the sonorities and capabilities of this early

piano. The lighter action and more transparent sound allow small gestures to still be heard within a thick

texture; combined with the sonority of the gut-strung cello, the music works beautifully.

The single rhythmic idea that is consistent throughout the entire work is that of displacing the

downbeat. The introduction presents this idea with its initial sense of meterless-ness, and the Allegro continues

it not with the first theme, but with the second theme, which places the emphasis on the offbeat. As the

development unwinds, the downbeat is chased by both instruments, who finally arrive in the recapitulationtogether on the downbeat.

The main theme of the Rondo, a cheerful melody in 6/8 time, also places the emphasis in the middle of

the measure. This theme is alternated with other melodies (it being a rondo, with the scheme A B A C A ...),

which give each instrument a chance to show off its capabilities. The Rondo is less musically complex than the

first movement; the B, C, and D material do not always act as independent phrases, but often more as filigree

or ornamentation of the original rhythmic idea of downbeat displacement.

The work ends with a traditional Adagio and Coda, allowing the cellist to climb the fingerboard

impressively.

Bernhard Romberg(1767-1841) is remembered as a great cellist and pedagogue of his day, yet his 100+

works - concertos, sonatas, divertimenti, quartets, and other small pieces - lay forgotten. The large-scaleRomantic concertos and sonatas of the latter half of the nineteenth century appear to have left the older,

smaller, more mundane works at the back of the cellists music shelf. But they have a certain charm of their

own, despite the almost certain fact that theyre much more fun to play than to listen to!

HisDivertimento uber westfalische Lieder, Op. 65, was certainly composed before his death in 1841, perhaps

around 1820 or 1830, although harmonically sounds later. The basic form is that of theme and variations;

each variation is designed to showcase a different cellistic technique. As Romberg himself was a cellist, it does

this very well, managing to sound more difficult than it actually is.

The opening introduction allows the sonority of the instrument to sing out with a Baroque-style andate,

then launches into a display of string crossing technique while the piano has a melody. After the incredibly


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simple theme is given, the first variation showcases spiccato technique, and the second uses triplet figures to

clamber up and down arpeggios. The third variation is highly expressive and cantabile, while the fourth is flashy

and jumpy, in sixteenths. The meter changes to 3/4 for a variation reminiscent of a Dotzauer exercise and yet

another singing melody. Back in 4/4, the cello introduces a simplistic variation of the original theme, which

expands organically into numerous virtuosic passages, broken only by a slight ritard. The ending is almost

anti-climactic, allowing the piano to play over the cellosponticelloarpeggios.

The interesting case in this performance is that the printed version used today is from around 1880,

edited by Friedrich Grutzmacher, who disregards completely the current idea of historical perspective and uses

the most up-to-date fingerings and dynamic markings, as well as specifying which section of the bow should beused. Because these instructions come from sixty years later, the fingerings are not those that Romberg might

have used himself - he advocated an oblique hand position with the cello much further away from the body, to

the left, and used thumb position frequently in the lower portions of the fingerboard. Many of the virtuosic

passages in this work could be played quite easily with such an arrangement, if the cello were in the proper

position, and minus the endpin. However, this performer chose, on the suggestions of a noted Baroque cellist,

to continue to play with the endpin until the bow grip and general technique of earlier music became more

comfortable. Thus the fingerings used today are highly personal and follow no particular nineteenth century

school of thought.

The bowused today was purchased with the help of the ASUC and the Music Departments Bernice Lyons

Prize. It was made in 2001 by Andrew Dipper and is a copy of an early Tourte bow, of the same type that J.L.Duport perhaps used when he gave the first performance of this work. The main differences between the earlier

bow and todays bow are weight, tension, and ability to grip the strings. Any cellist who wishes to try out the

bow may do so after the performance. The cellois a modern instrument with modern fittings, but has gut

strings and is tuned to A-415 instead of the modern A-440.

Alexandra Roedderis a junior in the music department here at UC Berkeley. She spent the first two and hal

years of her time here attempting a double major with music and astrophysics, but had an epiphany last

semester while her broken shoulderblade prevented her from playing cello, and decided to devote her energies to

obtaining a Ph.D. in Musicology. She is a member of the UC Symphony and will be soloing with them next

fall. Her piano trio recently won a Wednesday noon concert for next fall, as did her performance of the Bach G-

Major Unaccompanied Suite on this early-style instrument. Her research project, The Violoncello in the Romantic

Era: 1820-1920, of which this performance is a part, was awarded a Haas Scholarship for next year. She would

like to extend inexpressible gratitude to a number of people: firstly, Ms. Rosenak, for agreeing to assist in this

project; without her, the performance could never have happened. Next, she would like to thank her teacher,

Leighton Fong; the two cellists Elisabeth Reed and Elisabeth LeGuin, for their help with learning to manage the

bow; her advisors, Richard Taruskin and Davitt Moroney; the music department and the ASUC, for assisting

with the bow purchase; and lastly but never least, David Bernhagen, for the unrestricted use of his cello.

Karen Rosenakis a musicianship teacher here at UC Berkeley. In addition to being an excellent pianist, she

is a wonderful musician to work with.


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Alexandra RoedderMusic H195 (Honors Project)

Richard TaruskinUC Berkeley - Summer/Fall 2003


Part II - A Survey of Current Cello Teachers on Romantic Repertoire and Aesthetics

Introduction

The original purpose of this survey was to discover how much cello teachers applied the

concepts of historical performance to music of the nineteenth century. However, because of fear

that many teachers would answer, Yes, of course I consider it in my teaching, the questions were

more subtle. Rather than simply asking about performance practice, they asked about etude books,

repertoire, vibrato and its relation to sound, as well as what Romantic repertoire and sound were.

It would perhaps have been better to simply ask directly, because the teachers have strong

enough convictions about what they teach that they would have answered honestly. Nevertheless,

their answers were informative: new trends in teaching, both in method books and pedagogy;

different concertos and the way teachers see them; how the newest generation of teachers is

approaching the cello, not only with regards to method but also to repertoire; and how disconnected

from the early music movement most modern cello teachers are. The survey questions can be

found in Appendix 1.

This paper is organized around the questions. They are not presented in the order they were

asked, but rather in an order to best display the conclusions.

The Concerto

There were a total of one hundred and eight responses to this question, and in the final

analysis, the result was as expected: most teachers thought the Dvork Cello Concerto was the

concerto. The numbers below list all the responses; teachers often listed multiple concertos. Amore extensive analysis is found in Appendix 2. Concertos in boldare from the nineteenth

century.

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Concerto # %

Dvork, Concerto in b minor, op. 104, 1896 47 44%Haydn, Concerto in D major, Hob. VIIb: 2, 1783/1804 12 11%

Haydn, Concerto in C major, Hob. VII, n. 1, 1765/ discovered 1961 10 9%

Elgar, Concerto in e minor, op. 85, 1919 8 7%

Saint-Sans, Concerto No. 1 in a minor, 1873 6 5.5%Boccherini-Grtzmacher, Concerto in B flat major, 1895/19481 6 5.5%Shostakovich, Concerto No. 1, op. 107, 1959 6 5.5%

Chaikovsky,2 Variations on a Rococo Theme,op. 33, 1876-77 5 4.6%Schumann, Concerto, op. 129, 1850 5 4.6%Lalo, Concerto in d minor, op. ?, 1877 5 4.6%Prokofiev, Symphony Concertante in e minor, op. 125, 1938 5 4.6%

Walton, Cello Concerto, 1956 2 1.8%

Shostakovich, Concerto No. 2, op. 126, 1966 2 1.8%Vivaldi, concertos in e and a, dates unknown 1 0.9%

Davydov, Concerto No. 1, op. 5, 1859 1 0.9%Kabalevsky,Concerto No. 1 in g minor, op. 49, 1948-49 1 0.9%

Lloyd, Cello Concerto,1998 1 0.9%

It is apparent that concertos of the nineteenth century are a fundamental part of current

repertoire. Not surprisingly, though, some concertos that were popular in that time, by Goltermann,

Volkmann, and Romberg,3have now been relegated to the student concerto genre.

Despite the fact that the question explicitly asked teachers the reason for their choice, many

teachers listed their concerto with no justification. Either they didnt have time to give a reason, or

they felt their choice needed no explanation.

The most common reason listed for a top of the food chain concerto was technical

difficulty. Next waspersonal preference, or variants thereof: so beautiful, grandeur and

beauty, or other opinions about its sound. Musically challengingor requiring maturitycame1The well-known Boccherini B-flat major concerto was composed, literally put together, in 1895, by Wilhem

Friedrich Ludwig Grutzmacher (1832-1903) from other Boccherini cello concertos (there are a total of eleven). An

unaltered B-flat concerto was published in 1948.2Interestingly, the work that is published as Chaikovskys was edited heavily, almost re-composed, by Karl

Friedrich Wilhelm Fitzenhagen (1848-?), who, without Tchaikovksys permission or knowledge, gave the works

first performance, in 1877, with the variations switched around for maximum effect on the audience. There is only

one major label recording of the original version that I could find, and that is Steven Isserlis 1998 recording on

Virgin Records.3Between the three of them, these cellists wrote approximately 15 concertos before 1853.

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next, then ability to teach technique- which also in a way counts as difficulty. Then followed

reasons likepopularity(everyone knows what it should sound like, always requested at

auditions),physical endurance, emotional satisfaction, a sense of reaching a goalor arriving

somewhere for the student. Then came a variety of answers, including: reading the music, learning

style, letting the cello reach its full sound potential, how well the orchestra part meshes with the

cello,heroic piece, has it all, why not, and obviously. (Not surprisingly, obviously

was in conjunction with both the Dvork and Haydn D major concertos.)

As the experience (and by inference, the age) of a teacher increased, the more likely it

became that Dvork would be listed as the top concerto - and listed alone. This speaks to the

changes occurring as generations pass. Teachers are turning increasingly towards works like the

Elgar Concerto (1919), Shostakovichs first concerto (1959), and the Prokofiev Sinfonia

Concertante (19514), all written after the Dvork Concerto (1896). The presence of the Walton

(1968) and George Lloyd (1998) concertos also show the emergence of younger ears and

adventurous performers who dont flinch at the risks of taking on contemporary or non-

traditional works.

Both Haydn concertos are listed - and as the second and third most popular concertos.

Reasons given were along the lines of demands precision and note-reading skills, though one

mentioned recognition of style, which is a step towards historical issues of performance.

Etudes

Approximately 100 different etude books are used across the US. The full list, a mix of

eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century books, can be found in the appendix. Depending on

the kind of teacher (private, public, orchestra), there are exercises ranging from basic (Dotzauer-

Klingenberg, book 1) to very complicated (Popper High School of Cello Playing); cello tutors

designed for group study, beginning with the basics of note-reading (Strictly Strings, Applebaum,

etc.); and, used by about a third of teachers, the Suzuki books and/or the Suzuki method.

The nineteenth century tutors remain popular, although time has distilled the many in

existence to a dozen or so common ones. In order of popularity, these are the nineteenth century

cellists whose methods, etudes, and tutor books are still used (the full list is Appendix 3):

4In 1938 the original concerto in e was written; the Symphony Concertante, which was composed in 1951, is based

upon this work.

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David Popper 53 entries5

J.J.F. Dotzauer 376

Julius Klengel 20

Sebastian Lee 20Feuillard 15

W.F. Grtzmacher 8

F.A. Kummer 7

Percy Such 7

Alfredo Piatti 6

Carl Schroeder 4

Dotzauer-Klingenberg 4

Bernhard Cossmann 4

K.F. Wilhelm Fitzenhagen 2

Carl Davydov 1

Auguste Franchomme 1

Adrien Franois Servais 1

Dotzauer remains a favorite in its multiple incarnations (Klingenberg, Grant, and

Schroeder), only two teachers use Bernhard Cossmann, and about a dozen use Lee. Popper is still

very popular; despite their rhythmic monotony, they are among the most interesting etudes available,

and improve ear training as well as hand strength. The etudes by Jean Louis Duport (1749-1819), aset of 21 pieces (not all composed by Duport), is the only lasting set of etudes from the eighteenth

century.

Among later methods, most popular are books by Alwin Schroeder (1855-1920, brother of

Carl Schroeder). There are two sets of books: first, his Method, in three volumes (1890?); second,

his 170 Foundation Studies(1916), including studies by Buchler, Merk, Piatti, Duport, Cossmann,

Servais, Lee, Schroeder, Grtzmacher, Dotzauer, Franchomme, and Berteau. Many teachers use this

book, and, because of its contents, are therefore staying in the nineteenth century. (Some of the

Schroeder answers could, however, have been Carl Schroeder, whose method book was

published in 1890. Nevertheless, there enough responses that clearly meant the Alwin Schroeder

5Though these Popper books were written between 1901 and 1905, they are, in a sense, a culmination of nineteenth

century cello technique.6Many of these Dotzauer answers could easily be the Dotzauer-Klingenberg version, as it is a fairly cheap edition

and widely available through International Music Company, New York.

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books to indicate a substantial majority.) Early twentieth century tutors include W.H. Squire,

Sevcik, and Stustchevsky. It would be an interesting project to discern the differences, apart from

technical difficulties, between early twentieth century and mid-nineteenth century etude books. As it

is not the point of this paper to summarize modern pedagogy, I will leave the topic of etudes for

later.

The conclusion to draw from these results is that, although cello teachers are slowly using

more modern materials, a good portion of them still rely heavily on nineteenth century cello

methods.

Vibrato

There are a few general camps about teaching vibrato. Some teachers start it almost right

away, as soon as the first position hand is set and the student can play in tune. Some wait two or

three years, or until the student has positions 1 through 4 in good form. Some start when the

student is ready or when the student is playing pieces that could be improved by it. Whatever

moment is chosen for the beginning of instruction, it is described with remarkable precision.

Many teachers appear to follow the general principles of vibrato instruction as laid out by

Phylis Young (see article in Appendix 4) , but only one respondent actually mentioned the name.

The article, a brief biographical sketch of Young, describes her methods of teaching vibrato.

Though no cello teacher would ever say outright that dynamics and tone color, through bow controlhave no effect on the cellos expressiveness, that is what is implied in this article, as well as in many

responses; this is mildly disturbing.

There are three fundamental opinions about vibratos importance: very importantor crucial;

just as important as other thingsor only when used properly; and adds to sound. There is here

again a generational issue, though in this case it comes in spurts, rather than a one-way trend.

Most of the teachers who gave vibrato a lower importance (just as important or adds to

sound) have less than 20 years of experience. In fact, almost all of the teachers with 9-10 years of

experience answered with an adds, and those with 15-16 years of experience were split between

the just as and adds group. Theres a smattering again at 30 years and once more at 40

years of teachers who dont feel its crucial, but the data are so scattered at that point that analysis is

futile. Only two respondents said vibrato was a separate issue from good sound, and they occurred,

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not surprisingly, at 10 and 15 years. Appendices 5 and 6 contain further analyses and extracts.

It would appear that teachers dont teach what they were taught, if one assumes a 15-20 year

gap between generations of teachers. Disappointingly, there isnt an obvious correlation between

these answers and the answers to question 13, which questions differences between how they teach

now and what they were taught. A few teachers who consider vibrato important say that not

much is different between the way they teach and the way they were taught; unfortunately, there

arent enough of these for there to be any discernible trend. Answers to question 13 (discussed

below) usually only mention vibrato when respondents report that they teach it sooner than they

were taught.

Repertoire

The concept of a standard repertoire is not a very solid one. In the first place, a persons

concept of important repertoire will tend to center around what they learned and liked. Their

knowledge of repertoire will only go so far as what they actually know. However, teachers who

replied ...and standard works, generally left out compositions that most teachers included, which

indicates that there is a body of repertoire that many teachers consider central to the cello, and can

be called standard. The reasons for the inclusion of this body of repertoire could be musicality

and capability for teaching technique seem the most probable of reasons, considering the trend of

answers and reasoning found in the concerto question.There is a certain degree of uncertainty in these answers. Many responses were ambiguous

as to whichconcerto or sonata by a particular composer, or whether they meant both concertos by a

composer, especially when one is much more well-known than the others, as is the case with

Vivaldi, Boccherini, Romberg, Goltermann, Saint-Sans, Shostakovich, and Kabalevsky. All

answers such as Mozart quartets, were assimilated under Mozart chamber music. While this

is not as precise as it could have been, this method gives a larger picture of the chamber music

repertoire. The following is a list of responses that received more than five votes each. Items in

boldwere composed in the nineteenth century. (Appendix 7 contains the full, unedited list.)

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Piece #

Bach, Unaccompanied Cello Suites (c. 1720) 86

Saint-Sans, Cello Concerto (presumably No. 1, 1873) 39Beethoven, sonatas (1796-1815) 37

Dvork, Cello Concerto (1895) 34Haydn, cello concertos (dates unknown, D maj. poss. 1772) 32

Brahms, sonatas (1866, 1887) 31Vivaldi, cello sonatas (1711-1729) 20

Beethoven, chamber music 19Brahms, Sonata in e minor (1866) 19Lalo, Cello Concerto (1877) 18Mozart, chamber music 15

Chaikovsky, Rococo Variations (1876) 15

Elgar, Cello Concerto (1918) 15Haydn, Cello Concerto in C major (date unknown) 14

Haydn, chamber music 13

Boccherini, cello concertos (1770s) 12

Faur, lgie (1896) 12Saint-Sans, Le Cygne (1887) 10Schumann, Cello Concerto (1850) 9Bach, Sonatas for Viola da Gamba (before 1741) 8

Schubert, Arpeggione Sonata (1824) 8Bruch, Kol Nidrei (1881) 7Shostakovich, Cello Sonata (1934) 7

Boccherini-Grtzmacher, Cello Concerto in B flat (date unknown) 6

Breval, cello sonatas7(1783-1795) 6

Saint-Sans, Allegro Appassionato (1875) 6Brahms, chamber music 5Goltermann, cello concertos (late nineteenth century) 5Orchestral excerpts 5

Shostakovich, concertos (1959, 1966) 5

Vivaldi, Concerto for Two Cellos7 (pub. 1711 or 1727) 5

Out of 106 responses, 86 mentioned the Bach Suites - either just #1 in G major, or #1-3, or

all of them, or any other combination. Of the 24 who didnt include Bach in their lists, 17

7The popularity of these works can be ascribed to the inclusion of one modified sonata in the Suzuki Cello School

books.

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misunderstood the question in some way and answered with a general answer about genres or

making the piece fit the student, or they didnt answer it at all. That leaves only seven teachers of

106 who dont include the Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello in their list of essential repertoire.

About half of this repertoire is from the nineteenth century. The rest, with the exception of

Elgar and Shostakovich, is from the eighteenth century. But it will be shown below that, despite

much of standard repertoire being from the nineteenth century, teachers treat the music as though it

were modern.

Show-off Pieces

A show-off piece can be defined as a piece of short to moderate length that does not

require much musical thought. Generally, the notes are difficult, often (though not always) fast, and

melodic phrases arent particularly unusual or inventive. However, the ones that have lasted, such

as David Poppers Tarantella, op. 33,Gavotte in D, op. 23, Hungarian Rhapsody, op. 68,

Elfentanz, op. 39; W.H Squires Tarantella, op. 23, Danse Rustique,op. 20, No. 5,Bourre, op.

24; and Saint-SansLe Cygne(from Carnival of the Animals) andAllegro Appassionato, op. 43,

have some substance to them, and are all from the second half of the nineteenth century or the very

beginning of the twentieth century.

Five teachers answered that they dont use show-off pieces. One teacher who answered in

this fashion, however, listed pieces used to develop better technique which were identical to thoseused by other teachers as show-off pieces.

Younger teachers (10-20 years of experience) use the small pieces by Squire, while older

teachers use the David Popper pieces. Consequently, while Popper is used by almost all the

teachers, few older teachers use the Squire pieces. Those that do, use Squires Tarantella. At all

levels can be found the van Goens Scherzo, op. 12.

While there is considerable variety in these answers, there is also a lot of consistency.

Forty-seven teachers use at least one piece by David Popper; seventeen use pieces by Squire; twelve

use the Bach Unaccompanied Suites, or portions thereof. The Haydn C Major concerto, as shown

below, also topped the list, although only one teacher who listed it as show-off also listed it as a

top concerto. The complete results are given in Appendix 8.

The conclusion that can be drawn from these results is the same one that can be drawn from

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the answers about repertoire: we are still in the nineteenth century. While we dont use, for

example, Adrien Servais Souvenir de Spa, which was common as part of a young cellists debut

recital in the nineteenth century,8we still use the works of the latter half and turn of the century to

display technical capabilities.

Differences

There has been no systematic change in teaching methods, though there have been many

changes in the last fifty years. Many teachers try to be more relaxed about teaching their students,

and to focus more on the details of technique. Some say they play more with or for their students,

others say they play less and observe more. Vibrato is taught sooner by some, along with thumb

position and double stops. Students are allowed more freedom in (1) choice of pieces to play, (2)

fingering and bowing choices, and (3) musical interpretation. There are no noticeable generational

trends. Some teachers teach what they were taught, for the most part, but most claim not to. This

claim is corroborated by further evidence below. The list of differences is found in Appendix 9.

Romantic Sound

This question (number eleven), asks for the teachers opinion on what Romantic sound

is. The answers received fell into several distinct categories. First, there were a handful of answers

that were inapplicable to the question, such as, Why just romantic? How about classical and

Baroque? Then there were responses giving a composer or piece(not necessarily from the cello

repertoire): Beethoven, Brahms, and Rachmaninoff were each mentioned twice; also Wagner,

Dvork, Schumann, Faure, and Shostakovich were named. These were a minority among

responses.

The bulk of the answers had two components: a technical definition and an emotional or

descriptive definition. Technicalmeans answers such as rich tone, lots of vibrato, heavy, and

developed vibrato and controlled shifts using clean slides and expressive slides; slower

tempos, or big dynamics, expressive, vibrato. Emotional ordescriptiveincludes

Turbulance! and sweet and longing. Many answers were, of course, a combination of the

two; some gave a performer as an example.

8see van der Straeten, E. History of the Violoncello. William Reeves, London, 1914.

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The general consensus was close to the expected result. Romantic sound, to most teachers,

means lots of vibrato - varied in speeds and widths, but plenty of it- , a thick or lush sound,

often loud, and a high emotional/expressive communicative element. (This is the same sound

students are taught to aim for in practicing, and that they are exposed to on major label recordings.)

A handful of teachers mention using audible shifts, but stress that it should be tastefully done;

we know from early recordings, however, that audible shifts were a fundamental part of the

technique and werent necessarily what we now consider tasteful.

Approximately half of the responses gave vibrato as a part of Romantic sound.

Interestingly, there were those who didnt list vibrato specifically, but, in their answer to 5b

(importance of vibrato), said that vibrato was essential to a good sound and, in question 11, said that

Romantic sound was a beautiful tone. If we make a basic assumption that cellists today like to have

a beautiful sound f

Documents

- ROEDDER, Alexandra - The Violoncello and the Romantic Era. 1820-1920