Adrien-François Servais

Adrien- François Servais ( born June 6 1807 in Halle, near Brussels, † November 26, 1866 ) was a Belgian cellist and composer.

According to his contemporaries, especially by Hector Berlioz, Servais was the most notable cellist of his time. He was nicknamed " The Paganini of the cello ".

Life

His father was a modest church musician who taught him the violin. At the age of 12 he decided to give up the violin in favor of the cello, after he had heard his future teacher Nicolas- Joseph Platel in a concert. Already in 1829 he became assistant Platel at the Brussels Conservatory.

During his numerous tours with over 10,000 concerts throughout Europe on a regular basis were his own compositions on the program. His travels have taken him to Russia, where he was given a Stradivarius cello of a princess Jussopow to the present. Since then, this instrument " Servais " called. It is currently in the collection of the National Museum of American History in Washington.

In 1849 he married the rich, Jewish, converted to Christianity and music-loving merchant's daughter Sophie Féguine from Saint Petersburg.

Servais was friends with many musicians of his time, as with Franz Liszt, who repeatedly lived during his stays in Brussels in Servais ' house, with violinists Henri Vieuxtemps and Hubert Léonard, with whom he four Duos for Cello and Violin by themes from operas composed. But even with Gioacchino Rossini. With the luthier Jean Baptiste Vuillaume bound him a long letter friendship.

Some years after his death, a monument was erected in his home town. His eldest son, François- Matthieu, Franz Servais called, was a renowned pianist and principal conductor at the Monnaie theater. The youngest son Joseph Servais (1850-1885) was the father as an important cellist. He was a professor at the Brussels Conservatory, for him Vieuxtemps composed his two cello concertos.

Works (selection)

His compositions include:

• 2 Concertos for Cello and Orchestra.
• 16 Fantasies for Cello and Orchestra
• 14 Duos for 2 Cellos on opera themes ( joint work with Jacques Grégoir )
• 4 Duets for cello and violin on opera themes ( joint work with Hubert Léonard and Henri Vieuxtemps )
• Fantasie op 2 "Souvenir de Spa " for Cello and Piano
• 6 Caprices for Cello and 2 Cello ad lib.