A History of the Cello in WA - Part 1
A HISTORY OF THE CELLO
IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Ian Abbott
Copyright of this paper is held by the Royal Western Australian Historical Society. This article is republished here with the permission of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society. The article was originally published in Early Days (Journal of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society) 14: 434-454 (2014).
The cello(1) is twice the length and width of a violin and four times its depth. It therefore encloses 16 times the volume of air. The vibration of this air, caused by bowing or plucking any of the four strings of a cello, yields its esteemed baritone and tenor voice. In this register it is intermediate between the viola and double bass. Rather humorously, though not inaccurately, an item published in 1928 in Bunbury likened the low notes to a cow down a well and the high notes to a canary with laryngitis.(2)
The cello originated in Italy in the 1520s. The first known solo music was written in the 1680s, arguably reaching its zenith in c.1720 with the six unaccompanied suites composed by J.S. Bach. In France the cello lived in the shadow of the viola da gamba until it displaced this instrument in the 1740s. During the Baroque era (c.1600-1750), the cello functioned mainly as a continuo instrument, that is, in providing the fundamental bass line and harmony to the ensemble. In the Classical era (c.1750-1830), especially in the hands of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, the cello gradually became an equal partner in the string quartet and piano trio, two of the most popular forms of chamber music.
Because of its size, the cello is not the most portable of musical instruments. On ships the violin and flute were commonly played by sailors. On land, possession of a piano or organ signified a family’s status in society. There was no place for the cello in army bands, which were dominated by woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. When Western Australia was founded in 1829, King George IV (a patron of Haydn in the 1790s) was entering the final year of his reign. Born in 1762, he learned to play the cello to a reasonable standard. By 1811, when he became Regent, his well-developed musical tastes doubtless promoted the cello and encouraged its broader adoption. His renowned debauchery, however, may have diminished the value of this regal imprimatur.
The cello has always had a much smaller following than the voice, piano and violin.(3) It is therefore of no surprise that the cello has been neglected in histories of music in WA.(4)
WA players during the first 65 years
In the first 15 years of the Swan River Colony, there are a few references in the press and diaries to musical instruments, namely pianoforte, flute, violin, ‘clarionet’, ‘keyed bugle’, fife, accordion, and drum.(5) At least two celli were brought to the Colony, one by John Wittenoom (1788-1855), chaplain, and another by Henry Trigg (1791-1882).(6) However I have found only one early account of the cello being played in private or public: In 1840 Wittenoom’s ‘bass-viol’ was played at a private party and there was an altercation that had legal consequences.(7) Someone was playing the cello in the colony in 1864, because cello strings were advertised for sale.(8) However, it was not until 1883 that a cello was first advertised in WA for sale.(9)
Encouragement given to classical music by Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, between 1840 and 1861 should have filtered down to WA.(10) However, the first public performance in WA known to have included a local cello was by the City Band in 1867. This ensemble was anonymously criticized for its poor reading of the music, being out of time, and lacking dynamics. This critic recommended that this band should never be heard again.(11) It wasn’t.
Government Printer Richard Pether, the first WA cellist to perform in public.
In 1870 the first resident cellist who was an active player was identified – Richard Pether (1839-1912, Government Printer 1870-1901). A small orchestra played an overture by Auber and arias by Donizetti.(12) It was not, however, until 1872 that the cello became a regular component of concerts.(13) These were performed by the Minstrels of the West, a small ensemble that on occasion expanded to a piano, two flutes, two violins, cornet, double bass and cello, the last played by Pether. Short pieces (overtures and quadrilles) by Rossini, Auber and Somner were played, and attracted favourable reviews.(14) These concerts were patronized by Governors Weld and Robinson. The Minstrels of the West are last mentioned in the press in 1882. During the 1880s two other cellists, Mr F.G. Easton and Mr Schultz, were active players.(15) Presumably all three were competent and confident performers. Extracts from a symphony (Haydn’s Military) were first heard in WA in 1885, and Pether was the cellist.(16) His playing in the same year of the recitatives in Haydn’s The Creation was praised.(17) He seems to have ceased playing in public in 1889.
In this period the only records found of the cello being played outside the metropolitan area are by Mr G. Lazenby at Cardup in the 1860s and Mr Holloway at York in 1889.(18)
Cellists in metropolitan WA from 1895 to 2000: A brief who’s who
During the first golden age of the cello in WA (1895-1914), 21 players performed in public. Prominent was Winifred Parsons (flourished 1894-1908), who was raised in WA in a musical family and performed frequently with her sister and brother.(19) During 1898-99 the medico Leonard Miskin was an active player in Perth. The most proficient of the early cellists were Miss Kate Chetham and Miss Zlata Kalmikoff. Chetham had studied in London and had taught and played cello in England. She joined her sister in Perth in 1909 but returned to England in 1915. Kalmikoff came to WA in 1927 to care for her ill brother. From 1929 to 1931 she was employed by wireless station 6WF in its studio orchestra to play items that were broadcast live. Trained at the Leningrad Conservatorium, she had orchestral experience in Berlin, Prague and Cape Town. She became a foundation member of the Perth Symphony Orchestra and was an active chamber and orchestral cellist until 1952.
Other prominent early professional cellists include F.G. Easton (fl. 1887-1919), Marjory Pether (fl. 1912-24), Sydney Morley (1893-1960, fl. 1914-52), Adele Pether (fl. 1929- 33), Ruth Krieg née Cranfield (fl. 1929-49), Edna Waterman (1931-42), Valdemar Robertson (fl. 1931-37), Vernon Rayner (fl. 1931-52), Beatrice Pether (fl. 1933-58), Barbara Walton née Leckie (fl. 1934-75), Otti Veit (fl. 1940-48), and Wendy Tyler (fl. 1945-57). Veit and Walton had studied at the Royal College of Music (RCM), Cranfield at the London College of Music, Beatrice Pether at the Elder conservatorium (Adelaide), and Tyler at the conservatorium in Sydney.
From 1887 until 1939 (when records cease), 37 cellists had played in the Fremantle orchestra. I have been unable to ascertain definitively which cellists played in the Perth orchestra (1898-), Perth Philharmonic orchestra (1910-), Metropolitan orchestra (1913-52), and Commercial Travellers’ orchestra (1927-). Since 1928 nearly 90 cellists have played with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra (WASO), and its precursor, the Perth Symphony Orchestra. The longest serving (14-31 years) have been Barbara Walton (1936-82), Shigeru Komatsu (1987-), Jill Cole née Heady (1961-90), Zoltan Barna (1951-76), Tim South (1988-), Fotis Skordas (1988-), Jon Tooby (1988-2007), Magdolna Kerekes (1989- 2006), Rod McGrath (1997-), Louis Mojzer (1960-76), Mary Williams (1972-87), and Brian Meddemmen (1958-72). Photographs and descriptions of the personalities of some of the more prominent WASO cellists, as well as reasons for their departure from WASO, are included in Marcia Harrison’s history of WASO.(20)
It is difficult to assess the standard that the early players of the cello in Perth achieved. Newspaper reviews provide no comment. However, in 1938 the conductor George Szell wrote that the standard of playing by the strings of the Perth Symphony Orchestra was ‘simply horrible’.(21) Were the celli included in this comment?
Visiting cellists
Tours by, and in some cases immigration of, professional cellists brought to public attention the capabilities of the cello as a solo instrument. The Wright brothers performed violin and cello duets as well as soli in 1860.(22) Then Charles Steele arrived from London in 1866 as a member of the Christy Minstrels. His playing had been praised during a visit in 1863 to Sydney and Melbourne.(23) His performance in WA included a solo on Scottish airs, ‘sweet spirit’, and ‘the last rose of summer’. According to press reports, his playing had ‘never before been equalled’ in WA and was ‘exquisitely beautiful’.(24) Steele was in WA for two months and travelled widely, including a visit to Geraldton.(25)
There was, however, little incentive for cellists to visit WA until the population increased following the discoveries of gold in the early 1890s. Claude Harrison, together with other musicians from Melbourne, was engaged to play at Cremorne Gardens in an orchestra from October 1896 to February 1897. He reputedly was the best cellist in Australia.(26) His playing was much praised.(27) The next visit by a recognized cello soloist was in 1905 when the Hungarian Arnold Foldesy, accompanied by a pianist, performed Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, Popper’s Elfentanz, Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen, and Chopin’s Nocturne in E flat.(28) He was followed in the same year by Auguste Van Biene, composer of the famous ‘Broken Melody’. John McLinden visited in 1907, played Popper’s Tarantelle, Dunkler’s Rêverie, Mascagni’s Intermezzo, and premièred Saint-Saëns Le Cygne in WA, 20 years after it was published. In 1921 Derrick Thompson played works by Bruch, Tenaglie, Popper, Gounod and Rubinstein.(29) The English cellist Dallas Fraser toured in 1922, playing works by Boëllmann, Fauré, Bruch, Glazounov, Saint-Saëns, Beethoven, Bach and Popper (all with piano accompaniment). The Belgian cellist Jean Gérardy played four concerts in Perth in 1923, after touring the eastern states. He performed pieces by Boëllmann (his teacher), Boccherini, Bach, Handel, Schubert, Pergolesi, Schumann and Popper, as well as concerti by Saint- Saëns (A minor), Haydn (D major), and Elgar, with piano accompaniment.(30) He also played at Kalgoorlie. The English cellist Maud Bell toured WA in 1929. The Russian cellist Edmund Kurtz, who studied with Julius Klengel, Diran Alexanian, and Pablo Casals, visited in 1937 for the ABC. Since then 43 soloists have visited and played with WASO (Table 1).*
* Not published with this paper, but available from admin@histwest.org.au
( N.B. Now available with this online version
- see A History of The Cello in WA - Tables )
Few northern hemisphere virtuosic cellists chose to visit WA before the advent of jet airliners. Possible reasons for this are: there was sufficient work for them in Europe and North America; the tyranny of distance required a long journey by sea to and from Australia; it was more lucrative to visit the larger cities in New South Wales and Victoria than Perth; and impresarios in Australia may have doubted the profitability of bringing cellists to Australia. Many of the greatest virtuosi, including Pablo Casals, Gaspar Cassadó, Emanuel Feuermann, Gregor Piatigorsky, Pierre Fournier, Raya Garbousova, Zara Nelsova and János Starker, never visited Australia. Others, including Edward de Munck (1880), Jean Gérardy (1901), May Mukle (1903), Adelina Leon (1920), Mstislav Rostropovich (1960) and Jacqueline du Pré (1970), did visit Australia but played with orchestras, or gave recitals, only in the eastern states.
Performance of cello concerti with WASO
In 1925 the music critic of the West Australian complained that for decades ‘we have known next to nothing, in Perth, of concerto performances with orchestral accompaniment’. All that he could recall were performances of piano concerti.(31) It was not until 1937 that a cello concerto was heard in WA During the 77 year period from 1937 to 2013, 29 cello concerti have been performed by WASO (Table 1). The most often performed are those of Elgar (9 times), Saint-Saëns (A minor, 9), Tchaikovsky (Rococo variations, 8), Dvořák (8), Schumann (6), Haydn (D major, 5), and Shostakovitch (Eb major, 5). Cello concerti were performed only ten times by WASO in the 38 year period from 1930 to 1968, considerably less than the 36 times in the 38 years from 1975 to 2013. This hints at increasing public acceptance of the cello, as with the exception of the Shostakovitch, all of the other most performed concerti had been composed before 1920 and thus must have been already familiar in some form to audiences. This may indicate conservative classical musical preferences by the WA public.
Nearly all the cello concerti listed (Table 1) were first played in WA many years after they premièred in Europe and were first performed in Australia. The only exceptions are the concerti composed by Vasks (simultaneous Australian and WA premières in 2001, only seven years after its composition) and Smalley (1997, one year after its composition).
Many cello concerti, including those by Tovey, Britten, Walton, Lutosławski, and Schnittke, are yet to receive performance in WA. Surprisingly, the Brahms double (violin and cello) concerto remains unperformed by WASO.
Endnotes
Cello is a diminutive suffix in Italian, and is derived from violoncello (literally: Small large viol), first used in 1665. Violoncello is used nowadays only in formal settings. The abbreviations ‘cello and cello were first used in the WA press in 1886 and 1887 respectively. ‘Violincello’ was sometimes used in early press reports but is erroneous.
Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Express, 19 Sep. 1928, p. 4.
Sydney Morning Herald 15 Sep. 1923, p. 16; West Australian 16 July 1937, p. 22; C. Fifield, Ibbs and Tillett: The Rise and Fall of a Musical Empire, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005.
E. Clifton, ‘Music and the stage in the early days’, Early Days: Journal and Proceedings of the Western Australian Historical Society 1(8): 1-18, 1930, 1(9): 16-33, 1931; A. H. Kornweibel, 1973 Apollo and the Pioneers, Music Council of Western Australia, Perth, 1973; J. Farrant, ‘Playing in tune’, in Farewell Cinderella: Creating Arts and Identity in Western Australia (ed. G. Bolton, R. Rossiter & J. Ryan), pp. 91-128, UWA Press, Crawley, 2003; Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia, UWA Press, Crawley, 2009, pp. 606-611, 613-616, 652, 919-920.
Perth Gazette 7 Sep. 1833, 28 Nov. 1835, 15 Feb. 1835, 13 Aug. 1842; Clifton 1930/31; I Berryman, Swan River Letters, Swan River Press, Glengarry, 2002; J.M.R. Cameron, The Millendon Memoirs: George Fletcher Moore’s Western Australian Diaries and Letters, 1830-1841, Hesperian Press, Carlisle, 2006; J. Farrant, Past Present and Future: The History of the Royal Schools Music Club in Western Australia 1926-2006, RSMC, Nedlands, 2006; P. Barnes, J.M.R. Cameron, H.A .Willis, The Australian Journals of Marshall Waller Clifton 1840-1861, Hesperian Press, Carlisle, 2010; J. Meyer & V. Rogers, ‘Harmonising campus and community: University music’, in Seeking Wisdom: A Centenary History of The University of Western Australia (ed. J. Gregory), pp. 307-20, UWA Press, Crawley, 2013.
Western Mail 4 Dec. 1924, p. 15.
Perth Gazette 21 Mar. 1840, p. 31.
Perth Gazette 30 June 1864, p. 2.
Inquirer & Commercial News 2 Dec. 1883, p. 5.
The Diary of A.H. Stone (1850-52, typescript loaned by P. Statham-Drew) has no reference to the cello, even though Stone was a competent flautist and played in ensembles.
Inquirer 6 Mar. 1867, p. 3.
Herald 3 Sep. 1870, p. 3.
Inquirer 12 Feb. 1873, p. 2.
Perth Gazette 21 Feb. 1873, p. 2, Inquirer 26 Feb. 1873, p. 3.
West Australian 1 Nov. 1884, p 3.
Daily News 30 May 1885, p. 2.
Daily News 17 May 1888, p. 4.
Kornweibel, p. 98; Eastern Districts Chronicle 20 April 1889, p. 4.
Daily News 29 Sep. 1894, p. 2.
Marcia Harrison, West Australian Symphony Orchestra: Celebrating 75 Years, WASO Holdings, Perth, 2003.
M. Buzacott, The Rite of Spring: 75 Years of ABC Music-making, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007, p. 128.
Perth Gazette 16 Mar. 1860, p. 2.
Argus 10 Feb. 1865, p. 5, Sydney Morning Herald 17 Mar. 1863, p. 4.
Perth Gazette 6 July 1866, p. 2; Inquirer 11 July 1866, p. 2.
Inquirer 22 Aug. 1866, pp. 2, 3.
Inquirer 30 Oct. 1896, p. 3.
West Australian 10 Nov. 1896, p. 4, 20 Nov. 1896, p. 5, 8 Dec. 1896, p. 4.
West Australian 28 Mar. 1905, p. 1; Daily News 28 Mar. 1905, p. 6.
West Australian 20 Aug. 1921, p. 2.
West Australian 14 June 1923, p. 8, 19 June 1923, p. ?8; Daily News 9 June 1923, p. 1, 12 June 1923, p. 7.
West Australian 12 Sep. 1925, p. 15.