Miranda Wilson's Blog - Posts Tagged "cellos"
Summer Reads for Cello Lovers
Looking for the perfect cello-related summer read? These four books will be right at home on your deck chair this summer—they're intensely readable and full of fascinating stories about emotional connection between cellists and their instruments. Best of all, they steer clear of technical jargon, so even if you don't play cello (or any instrument at all) there's a lot here to draw you into the sound-world of the best instrument. Yes, I know I'm biased :)
The Cello Still Sings: A Generational Story of the Holocaust and of the Transformative Power of Music
In her cathartic memoir, Horvath unravels five decades of family secrets, uncovering the amazing story of her Holocaust survivor parents. It's also an unflinching portrait of a contentious father-daughter relationship and a love letter to the cello that both Horvath and her father both played.
Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound
This luminous group biography weaves together the stories of four cellists—Lise Cristiani, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Pál Hermann, and Amedeo Baldovino—with the poignant story of Kennedy's own career-ending injury. The power of music and the cello to surmount the insurmountable jumps off every page. I couldn't put it down.
A Cello Named Pablo
This charming book is fun for children and adults alike. It tells the story of a cello that belonged to the great Pablo Casals, now in the hands of star cellist Amit Peled. Whimsically illustrated by Avi Katz, this book is a sweet, relatable feel-good read.
The Adventures of a Cello
Carlos Prieto recounts the adventurous life of his Stradivarius cello, tracing its history through previous owners dating back to 1720. If this cello could talk, what tales it would have to tell! Best of all, there are fun cameos from cello superstars, including Yo Yo Ma.
What I love about all these books is how they completely draw you into their stories without getting lost in technical detail. They're the kind of accessible yet substantial writing I was hoping to achieve in my own recent book, Notes for Cellists: A Guide to the Repertoire —books that welcome everyone into the conversation about why this instrument matters so much to so many of us. So whether you're an amateur, a professional, a teacher, or just a lover of the cello, consider adding these to your summer reading list.
The Cello Still Sings: A Generational Story of the Holocaust and of the Transformative Power of MusicIn her cathartic memoir, Horvath unravels five decades of family secrets, uncovering the amazing story of her Holocaust survivor parents. It's also an unflinching portrait of a contentious father-daughter relationship and a love letter to the cello that both Horvath and her father both played.
Cello: A Journey Through Silence to SoundThis luminous group biography weaves together the stories of four cellists—Lise Cristiani, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, Pál Hermann, and Amedeo Baldovino—with the poignant story of Kennedy's own career-ending injury. The power of music and the cello to surmount the insurmountable jumps off every page. I couldn't put it down.
A Cello Named PabloThis charming book is fun for children and adults alike. It tells the story of a cello that belonged to the great Pablo Casals, now in the hands of star cellist Amit Peled. Whimsically illustrated by Avi Katz, this book is a sweet, relatable feel-good read.
The Adventures of a CelloCarlos Prieto recounts the adventurous life of his Stradivarius cello, tracing its history through previous owners dating back to 1720. If this cello could talk, what tales it would have to tell! Best of all, there are fun cameos from cello superstars, including Yo Yo Ma.
What I love about all these books is how they completely draw you into their stories without getting lost in technical detail. They're the kind of accessible yet substantial writing I was hoping to achieve in my own recent book, Notes for Cellists: A Guide to the Repertoire —books that welcome everyone into the conversation about why this instrument matters so much to so many of us. So whether you're an amateur, a professional, a teacher, or just a lover of the cello, consider adding these to your summer reading list.
Four Books That Celebrate Pioneering Women in Music
As I've written my own books about cello practice, pedagogy, repertoire, and performance, I've become increasingly aware of the pioneering women who made their way to the top of the music profession—often against tremendous odds. These four books illuminate the stories of remarkable women who made towering contributions to classical music.
Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World brings together the stories of four British composers: Ethel Smyth, Rebecca Clarke, Doreen Carwithen, and Dorothy Howell. Broad juxtaposes their individual life stories into a moving portrait of how they navigated musical creativity within a male-dominated landscape.
Women and the Piano: A History in 50 Lives offers a sweeping survey of women pianists. Some, like Clara Schumann, are justly famous. Others, like Marie Jaëll, are unjustly less so, but Tomes's work does a lot to rectify their omission from the history books. Tomes shows us how the piano was both a way for women to express themselves creatively, and a symbol that there is much more to be done. I particularly liked that she included women pianists in the jazz world, which can be even harder to break into than the classical one.
Maud Powell, Pioneer American Violinist: New, Revised Edition, Volume Two tells the amazing story of a nineteenth-century violinist who broke a lot of barriers. Powell not only challenged the received notion that playing the violin was "unladylike," and also proved that American musicians could hold their own on the international stage.
Guilhermina Suggia: Cellist is particularly special to me, since playing the cello is my principal occupation. Anita Mercier chronicles the remarkable Portuguese cellist who wouldn't let anything—including the privilege afforded to male cellists, including her sometime partner Pablo Casals—stop her from pursuing a career as a cellist, which at the time was an even more unusual choice for a woman than violinist. That wasn't all: Mercier's painstaking research shows that Suggia, unlike male musicians who relied on the support of a helpmeet spouse or a team of employees, took full administrative charge of her career and finances. This might be the reason she made significantly fewer recordings than male cellists of her generation, but enough survive for us to understand her awe-inspiring artistry.
Reading these books has been deeply motivating for my own work. While I didn't set out with explicitly feminist goals when writing Teaching Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass, I was struck by how most books by women cello pedagogues focused on teaching children and beginners. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but I felt proud to have been one of relatively few women to have written specifically for advanced players in my first book, Cello Practice, Cello Performance.
Similarly, when writing The Well-Tempered Cello: Life With Bach's Cello Suites, I found myself thinking often about Anna Magdalena Bach and how our understanding of Bach would be fundamentally different without her careful copying and preservation of his scores. As I navigated my own journey into motherhood, I was moved by her dual role as musician and mother.
These pioneering women directly influenced my latest book, Notes for Cellists: A Guide to the Repertoire, where I made a conscious effort to include compositions by women composers from Fanny Hensel to Dorothy Rudd Moore to the indomitable Ethel Smyth herself.
Behind every present-day woman musician are the women who fought to be heard, to be taken seriously, and to create lasting art. Their stories deserve to be celebrated. I'm conscious that I stand on their shoulders, and I hope that emerging generations of women musicians will stand on mine.
Quartet: How Four Women Changed the Musical World brings together the stories of four British composers: Ethel Smyth, Rebecca Clarke, Doreen Carwithen, and Dorothy Howell. Broad juxtaposes their individual life stories into a moving portrait of how they navigated musical creativity within a male-dominated landscape.
Women and the Piano: A History in 50 Lives offers a sweeping survey of women pianists. Some, like Clara Schumann, are justly famous. Others, like Marie Jaëll, are unjustly less so, but Tomes's work does a lot to rectify their omission from the history books. Tomes shows us how the piano was both a way for women to express themselves creatively, and a symbol that there is much more to be done. I particularly liked that she included women pianists in the jazz world, which can be even harder to break into than the classical one.
Maud Powell, Pioneer American Violinist: New, Revised Edition, Volume Two tells the amazing story of a nineteenth-century violinist who broke a lot of barriers. Powell not only challenged the received notion that playing the violin was "unladylike," and also proved that American musicians could hold their own on the international stage.
Guilhermina Suggia: Cellist is particularly special to me, since playing the cello is my principal occupation. Anita Mercier chronicles the remarkable Portuguese cellist who wouldn't let anything—including the privilege afforded to male cellists, including her sometime partner Pablo Casals—stop her from pursuing a career as a cellist, which at the time was an even more unusual choice for a woman than violinist. That wasn't all: Mercier's painstaking research shows that Suggia, unlike male musicians who relied on the support of a helpmeet spouse or a team of employees, took full administrative charge of her career and finances. This might be the reason she made significantly fewer recordings than male cellists of her generation, but enough survive for us to understand her awe-inspiring artistry.
Reading these books has been deeply motivating for my own work. While I didn't set out with explicitly feminist goals when writing Teaching Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass, I was struck by how most books by women cello pedagogues focused on teaching children and beginners. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, but I felt proud to have been one of relatively few women to have written specifically for advanced players in my first book, Cello Practice, Cello Performance.
Similarly, when writing The Well-Tempered Cello: Life With Bach's Cello Suites, I found myself thinking often about Anna Magdalena Bach and how our understanding of Bach would be fundamentally different without her careful copying and preservation of his scores. As I navigated my own journey into motherhood, I was moved by her dual role as musician and mother.
These pioneering women directly influenced my latest book, Notes for Cellists: A Guide to the Repertoire, where I made a conscious effort to include compositions by women composers from Fanny Hensel to Dorothy Rudd Moore to the indomitable Ethel Smyth herself.Behind every present-day woman musician are the women who fought to be heard, to be taken seriously, and to create lasting art. Their stories deserve to be celebrated. I'm conscious that I stand on their shoulders, and I hope that emerging generations of women musicians will stand on mine.
Five Classic Books Every Cello Lover Should Know
These days it's incredibly easy to find out information about the cello (because obviously it's the best instrument!). There are YouTube tutorials, online masterclasses, TikToks... you name it. But before this there was some truly impressive detective work by cellist-authors of the past who were curious about where our instrument came from. They wanted to know everything: who invented cellos, who played cellos, who composed pieces for cello...and did their research in a time when it was a lot harder to find out information. These five classic books not only lay the groundwork for how understand the instrument today, but are also fascinating to read.
The Violoncello and Its History
Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski - "The Violoncello and Its History" (1889)
The original. Wasielewski got there first, and his pioneering work opened the door for everyone who followed.
History of the Violoncello, the Viol Da Gamba, Their Precursors and Collateral Instruments, with Biographies of All the Most Eminent Players in Every ... the 1915 Edition, Two Volumes in One Book .
Edmund van der Straeten - "History of the Violoncello, the Viol da Gamba, Their Precursors and Collateral Instruments" (1914)
Don't let the unwieldy title fool you—this book is surprisingly bingeworthy! Van der Straeten wasn't just writing about the most famous cellists of his time; he knew a lot of them and had actually heard them play. His firsthand accounts of nineteenth-century virtuosi, most of whom never got to enter a recording studio, at least give us some idea of their artistry.
The Cello
Elizabeth Cowling - "The Cello" (1975)
This book is the most comprehensive cello biography of the mid-twentieth century. Cowling traces the instrument from its sometimes obscure origins to the concert halls and recording studios of the twentieth century.
History of the Violoncello
Lev Ginsburg - "History of the Violoncello" (1983)
This fantastic book is hard to find—it's not that easy to get your hands on a copy, but it's worth the search. Ginsburg packed his book with a treasure trove of stories and images.
Cello Story Dimitry Markevitch - "Cello Story" (1986)
This fun, gossipy book is a masterpiece of storytelling. Markevitch understood that the cello's history isn't just about times and places—it's about the people too. Full of anecdotes (some of which are first-hand), it's just a ton of fun to read.
Of course, modern research has superseded some of the errors in the classic works, and filled in a few gaps in the knowledge. But to anyone writing about cello today, they're the foundation of what we know. These authors did the original detective work, and the rest of us stand on their shoulders. I used all of them when I was writing my own books (especially "Teaching Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass," co-authored with Dijana Ihas and Gaelen McCormick) and I regularly pick them up for a re-read. Highly recommended!
The Violoncello and Its History Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski - "The Violoncello and Its History" (1889)
The original. Wasielewski got there first, and his pioneering work opened the door for everyone who followed.
History of the Violoncello, the Viol Da Gamba, Their Precursors and Collateral Instruments, with Biographies of All the Most Eminent Players in Every ... the 1915 Edition, Two Volumes in One Book .Edmund van der Straeten - "History of the Violoncello, the Viol da Gamba, Their Precursors and Collateral Instruments" (1914)
Don't let the unwieldy title fool you—this book is surprisingly bingeworthy! Van der Straeten wasn't just writing about the most famous cellists of his time; he knew a lot of them and had actually heard them play. His firsthand accounts of nineteenth-century virtuosi, most of whom never got to enter a recording studio, at least give us some idea of their artistry.
The CelloElizabeth Cowling - "The Cello" (1975)
This book is the most comprehensive cello biography of the mid-twentieth century. Cowling traces the instrument from its sometimes obscure origins to the concert halls and recording studios of the twentieth century.
History of the VioloncelloLev Ginsburg - "History of the Violoncello" (1983)
This fantastic book is hard to find—it's not that easy to get your hands on a copy, but it's worth the search. Ginsburg packed his book with a treasure trove of stories and images.
Cello Story Dimitry Markevitch - "Cello Story" (1986)This fun, gossipy book is a masterpiece of storytelling. Markevitch understood that the cello's history isn't just about times and places—it's about the people too. Full of anecdotes (some of which are first-hand), it's just a ton of fun to read.
Of course, modern research has superseded some of the errors in the classic works, and filled in a few gaps in the knowledge. But to anyone writing about cello today, they're the foundation of what we know. These authors did the original detective work, and the rest of us stand on their shoulders. I used all of them when I was writing my own books (especially "Teaching Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass," co-authored with Dijana Ihas and Gaelen McCormick) and I regularly pick them up for a re-read. Highly recommended!
