The Great Cellists (Signed copy)
Signed by Margaret Campbell
Author
Publisher
Printing Details
First edition, first printing. Hardback in dustwrapper. 23.5 × 15.5cm, 352pp.
Signed and dedicated by Margaret Campbell to the title page.
The Great Cellists is a comprehensive and authoritative history of the lives and work of the cello's great performers and teachers, from the emergence of the solo instrument in the seventeenth century to the present day. In its early history, the cello was a genuine 'bass' violin that came in three sizes and from the thirteenth century was played side by side with viols and later violins. The instrument we know today came into general use by the time the great makers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—such as Amati, Stradivari and Guarneri—brought their craft to perfection and made numerous of the instruments most sought after by today's virtuosi. Many of the earliest known professional cellists were employed as court musicians, but their names have not been widely known. The most familiar names belong to those early cellists who were also composers: Boccherini, Romberg, Piatti and Popper. In more recent times, the great Europeans Becker, Klengel and Salmond led to Feuermann, Piatogorsky, Fournier, Rostropovich, and above all to Casals; and they, in turn, have greatly influenced contemporary musicians such as the late Jacqueline du Pre and the manifold brilliant players from Russia, Japan and the USA. The Great Cellists reveals a splendid range of personalities from the conventional to the eccentric. Included also are the numerous less well-known cellists who were important as founders of the various national 'schools'. Margaret Campbell has interviewed many eminent musicians and had rich access to letters and private documents in her coverage of the last hundred years.
Condition
Good condition, the dustwrapper has some surface abrasions and dents, and has been price-clipped but the book remains in strong readable condition.
ISBN
9780575036840