David Popper

For the American diplomat, see David H. Popper.

David Popper (June 16, 1843 – August 7, 1913) was a Bohemian cellist and composer.^[1]

David Popper

Life

He was born in Prague, and studied music at the Prague Conservatory.^[2] He studied the cello under Julius Goltermann (1825–1876), and soon attracted attention. He made his first tour in 1863; in Germany he was praised by Hans von Bülow (who was also a son-in-law of Franz Liszt), who recommended him to a position as Chamber Virtuoso in the court of Prince von Hochenzollern-Hechingen in Löwenberg. In 1864, he premiered Robert Volkmann's Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 33, with Hans von Bülow conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. He lost this job a couple of years later due to the prince's death.

He then made his debut in Vienna in 1867, and was made principal cellist at the Hofoper. From 1868 to 1870 he was also a member of the Hellmesberger Quartet.^[3] In 1872, he married pianist Sophie Menter,^[2] a pupil of Liszt. She later joined the staff at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. In 1873, Popper resigned from his post at the Hofoper so as to continue his tours with his wife on a larger scale, giving concerts throughout Europe. Popper's and Menter's marriage was dissolved in 1886.

That year, Liszt recommended Popper for a teaching position at the newly opened string department at the Conservatory at Budapest. In Budapest, he participated in the Budapest Quartet with Jenő Hubay.^[4] He and Hubay performed chamber music on more than one occasion with Johannes Brahms, including the premiere of Brahms's Piano Trio No. 3 in Budapest, on December 20, 1886.^[5]

Popper died in Baden, near Vienna.^[2]

Among his notable students were Arnold Földesy, Jenő Kerpely, Mici Lukács, Ludwig Lebell and Adolf Schiffer (teacher of János Starker).^[4]

It has been said by János Starker that Popper would run up a substantial bill at a local restaurant. To make up for this, Starker says that he would run home, compose a piece, take it to his publisher and use that money for the bill.^{[citation needed]}

David Popper was one of the last great cellists who did not use an endpin.

Works

Popper was a prolific composer of music for his instrument, writing four concertos, a Requiem for three cellos and orchestra (1891) and a number of smaller pieces which are still played today, including the ever-popular cello solo piece Tarantella. His shorter showpieces were written to highlight the unique sound and style native to the cello extending the instrument's range to heights with pieces such as Spinnlied (Spinning Song), Elfentanz (Dance of the Elves), or the Ungarische Rhapsodie (Hungarian Rhapsody), which was published by the Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag.^[6]. He also wrote instructional pieces. Popper is also famous for his High School of Cello Playing (Op. 73), a book of cello études that is used almost universally by advanced cello students.

An old edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians described him thus: "His tone is large and full of sentiment; his execution highly finished, and his style classical."

• Op. 3, Scenes From a Masked Ball, cello and piano
  • No. 1, Harlequin-Scene
  • No. 2, [n. d.]
  • No. 3, [n. d.]
  • No. 4, Papillon
  • No. 5, [n. d.]
  • No. 6, [n. d.]
• Op. 5, Romance, cello and piano
• Op. 8, Concerto No. 1 in D minor, cello and orchestra
• Op. 10, Pieces for cello and piano
  • No. 1, Sarabande
  • No. 2, Gavotte, in D minor
  • No. 3, Trio-Pastoral
• Op. 11, Pieces for cello and piano
  • No. 1, Widmung
  • No. 2, Humoreske
  • No. 3, Mazurka in G minor
• Op. 12, Mazurka in D minor, cello and piano
• Op. 14, Polonaise de concert, cello and piano
  • Chanson d'autrefois, cello and piano
• Op. 16, Suite for two cellos
  • March for two cellos
• Op. 18, Sérénade orientale, cello and piano
• Op. 22, Nocturne in G major, cello and piano
• Op. 23, Pieces for cello and piano
  • No. 1, [n. d.]
  • No. 2, Gavotte in D major
• Op. 24, Concerto No. 2 in E minor, for cello and orchestra
• Op. 27, Preludes for cello solo
  • No. 1, Andante serioso; [n. d.]
• Op. 28, Concert-Polonaise No. 2 in F major, cello and piano
• Op. 32, Pieces for cello and piano
  • No. 1, Nocturne
  • No. 2, Mazurka in A major
• Op. 33, Tarantella, cello and piano
• Op. 35, Four Mazurkas, cello and piano
• Op. 38, Barcarolle in G major, cello and piano
• Op. 39, Dance of the Elves, cello and piano
• Op. 41, Nocturne, cello and piano
• Op. 42, Three Nocturnes, cello and piano
• Op. 43, Fantasy on Little Russian Songs, cello and piano
• Op. 48, Menuetto in D major, cello and piano
• Op. 50, Im Walde, Suite for cello and orchestra
  • No. 1, Eintritt (Entrance)
  • No. 2, Gnomentanz (Gnomes Dance)
  • No. 3, Andacht (Devotion)
  • No. 4, Reigen (Round Dance)
  • No. 5, Herbstblume (Autumn Flower)
  • No. 6, Heimkehr (Homecoming)
• Op. 51, Six Mazurkas, cello and piano
• Op. 54, Spanish Dances, cello and piano
  • No. 1, Zur Gitarre
  • No. 2, Serenade
  • No. 3, Spanische Tänze
  • No. 4, L'Andalouse
  • No. 5, Vito
• Op. 55, Pieces for cello and piano
  • No. 1, Spinning Song
  • No. 2, Concert Étude
• Op. 59, Concerto No. 3 in G major, cello and orchestra
• Op. 60, Walzer Suite, cello and piano
• Op. 62, Pieces for cello and piano
  • No. 1, La Mémoire
  • No. 2, La Chanson villageoise (Village Song)
  • No. 3, La Berceuse
• Op. 64, Pieces for cello and piano
  • No. 1, Wie einst in schöner’n tagen (Once in Fairer Days)
  • No. 2, Tarantelle, in A major
  • No. 3, Wiegenlied (Lullaby)
• Op. 65, Pieces for cello and piano
  • No. 1, Adagio
  • No. 2, Menuetto
  • No. 3, Polonaise
• Op. 66, Requiem, for three cellos and piano (originally for three cellos and orchestra)
• Op. 67, Pieces for cello and piano
  • No. 1, Largo
  • No. 2, Gavotte in D minor
  • No. 3, [n. d.]
  • No. 4, Gavotte in D minor
• Op. 68, Hungarian Rhapsody, cello and piano
• Op. 69, Suite for cello and piano
  • Largo à l'ancienne mode
• Op. 71, Scottish Fantasy, cello and piano
• Op. 72, Concerto No. 4 in B minor, cello and orchestra
• Op. 73, High School of Cello Playing (Hohe Schule des Violoncellospiels): Forty Études for Cello Solo
• Op. 74, String Quartet in C minor
• Op. 75, Serenade, cello and piano
• Op. 76, Zehn mittelschwere große Etüden [a/k/a Studies (Preparatory to Op. 73)]
• Op. 76a, Fünfzehn leichte melodisch-rhythmische Etüden

Works with unknown or no opus number

• Cadenzas for cello
  • Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto in D major
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Concerto in A minor, Op. 33
  • Robert Volkmann: Cello Concerto in A minor
  • Robert Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129
  • Molique, B.: Cello Concerto in D major
• Romance in G major for cello and piano, originally for violin and piano
• Chant du soir, cello and piano

Arrangements and transcriptions for cello and piano

• Bach, J.S., Arie aus der D-dur Suite
• Chopin, Nocturne, Op. 9, No. 2
• Campioni, Minuet Pastoral
• Cherubini, Ave Maria
• Giordani, Caro mio ben
• Handel, Largo; Sarabande
• Jámbor, Nocturne, Op. 8, No. 1
• Jensen, Murmelndes Lüftchen, Op. 21, No. 4
• Mendelssohn, Auf Flügeln des Gesanges; Reiselied, Op. 19, No. 6
• Pergolesi, Nina (Tre giorni)
• Purcell, Aria
• Rubinstein, Mélodie, Op. 3, No. 1
• Schubert, Du bist die Ruh’; Ave Maria, Op. 52, No. 4; Der Neugierige; Sei mir gegrüsst; Litanei auf das Fest "Allerseelen"; An die Musik
• Schumann, Träumerei, Op. 15, No. 7; Abendlied, Op. 85, No. 12; Schlummerlied, Op. 124, No. 16
• Tchaikovsky, Song Without Words, Op 2, No. 3; Chanson triste, Op. 40, No. 2; Barcarolle, Op. 37, No. 6; Perce-Niegre, Op. 37, No. 4; Chant d’automne, Op. 37, No. 10

Media

Elfentanz

Performed by Hans Goldstein (cello) and Mellicia Straaf (piano)

Notes

1. ^ Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John, eds (2000). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries. ISBN 1561592390.  Some other sources list his date of birth as December 9, 1843.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Černušák, Gracián (ed.); Štědroň, Bohumír; Nováček, Zdenko (ed.) (1963). Československý hudební slovník II. M-Ž. Prague: Státní hudební vydavatelství. pp. 345.  (Czech)
3. ^ Potter, The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet, p.44
4. ^ ^{a b} Campbell, The Cambridge Companion to the Cello, p. 71
5. ^ Clive, Brahms and His World:A Biographical Dictionary, p. xxvii, xxviii,xxix
6. ^ Aufführungstermine Friedrich Hofmeister Musikverlag 2011 (German)

References

• Campbell, Margaret (1999). "Nineteenth-century virtuosi". In Stowell,Robin. The Cambridge Companion to the Cello. Cambridge University Press. pp. 70–71. ISBN 0521629284. 
• Clive, Peter. Brahms and His World:A Biographical Dictionary. Scarecrow Press. pp. xxvii, xxviii,xxix. ISBN 0810857219. 
• De'ak, Stephen (1980). David Popper. Neptune City, NJ: Paganiniana Publ.. ISBN 0876666217. 
• Potter, Tully (1999). "From chamber to concert hall". In Stowell,Robin. The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet. Cambridge University Press. pp. 44. ISBN 0521000424. 
• Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John, eds (2000). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.). New York: Grove's Dictionaries. ISBN 1561592390. 

External links

• Free scores by David Popper at the International Music Score Library Project

This article is based on a text from the Etude magazine, prior to 1923, that is in the public domain.

See also: Popper (disambiguation)

Persondata
Name	Popper, David
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 16, 1843
Place of birth
Date of death	August 7, 1913
Place of death