Paul Tortelier

Paul Tortelier ( born March 21, 1914 in Paris, † 18 December 1990 Chaussy ) was a French cellist, who achieved both as a performer and as an educator worldwide fame. Tortelier recordings with EMI and Erato, including Bach's cello suites. In the first complete recording of orchestral works by Richard Strauss, the Staatskapelle Dresden under Rudolf Kempe, he was the soloist in the tone poem Don Quixote.

To Tortelier pupils was Jacqueline du Pré, whose best man was Tortelier at her marriage to Daniel Barenboim.

Tortelier Yan Pascal Tortelier son and pupil is an internationally recognized conductor.

Biography

Tortelier was to practice from an early age by his parents to stop cello. His Breton father, a carpenter by trade, himself played the violin and mandolin. His mother loved the cello and wanted to educate their gifted son to a cellist. So he came up with twelve years now, the Paris Conservatoire in the class of Louis Feuillard, later in the Hekking by Gérard, who became his essential formative teacher. At the age of 16 he received his first award and then spent three years studying harmony with Jean Gallon, a novitiate, which was crowned by the first prize for harmony music in 1935.

In the following period, he joined the Orchestre Lamoureux, with whom he performed for the first time as a soloist with the Concerto for cello by Édouard Lalo. From 1935 to 1937 he was member of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte- Carlo, which was led at that time by Arturo Toscanini and Bruno Walter. Richard Strauss conducted at this time in Monte - Carlo his symphonic poem Don Quixote, in which Tortelier took over the solo cello part. Since then, his name is closely linked with this piece he played again in the course of his life on many other occasions and also recorded.

In 1939 he was invited by Serge Koussevitzky to come as 3rd solo cellist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After the Second World War, he returned to France, where he was for two years (1945-1946) first soloist of the Société des concerts du Conservatoire.

Tortelier was a friend, admirer and pupil of Pablo Casals, of which he was invited as chief cellist for the first Festival de Prades in 1950, a memorial service to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach. This contributed greatly to continue to make it known and to consolidate his cello career. Tortelier has now been invited by numerous orchestras around the world; he formed with Arthur Rubinstein and Isaac Stern sustained famous trio.

Instrument

Paul Tortelier is also the inventor of a special cello attitude, where it is held almost horizontally from the cellist playing. This position is made possible by a bent spine ( footrest ), the " Pique Tortelier " is called.

Chairs

Paul Tortelier was a gifted teacher. He was Professeur 1956 at the Paris Conservatoire, which he left in 1969 to go to the Folkwang School in Essen in the year. Here he remained until 1975. At the Conservatory of Nice he taught from 1978 until 1980. During the seventies he gave for the BBC a number of master classes which were great successes. He received in 1980 the first European appointment as Honorary Professor at the Beijing Conservatory.

Tortelier finally died at the age of 76 years on 18 December 1990 of a heart attack at the castle Villarceaux in Chaussy, where he held a course for young musicians.

His pupils were especially Philippe Muller, Anne Gastinel, Georg Pedersen, Hege Waldeland, Johann Sebastian Sommer, Stefan Metz, Arto Noras, Frieder Lenz, Melissa Phelps, Michel Strauss, Jean Decroos, Jacqueline du Pré, Aisling Drury - Byrne, Aleth Lamasse, Gerhard Mantel, Solen Dikener, Raphael summer.

Swell

• Marc Vignal, Dictionnaire de la Musique, éditions Larousse.
• Paul Tortelier Article par Alain Pâris de l' Encyclopédie Universalis.