Discovering music and those who make it is much fun!

Jacqueline du Pré is a discovery I’d like to share as her musical gift was brilliant, exciting moving and incredibly exPrésive. Du Pré, one of the finest cellists who ever lived had an enormous talent and a wonderful career which tragically was to be ended earlier than one would have hoped because of loosing feeling in her hands due to multiple sclerosis.

Jacqueline was a natural beauty who showed signs of musicality as an infant. Born in Oxford England to a middle class family, her mom noticed that she could keep tune even before she could speak. Her mother a gifted pianist and piano teacher would tap out music that Jacqueline as a small baby was able to repeat perfectly.

Jacqueline’s older sister, Hillary, began playing piano at an early age and then progressed to flute. However, when Jacqueline heard the sound of a cello on the radio, she wanted to have the instrument that made the sound. Her mother purchased a full sized cello for the little girl. Although it was bigger than the child herself, she began taking cello lessons from her mother. Shortly after she continued to excel, she began attending the London Violin and Cello school where her oversized cello was replaced with one more suitably sized for her.

Jacqueline’s virtuosity was apparent immediately and very quickly she was winning every prize England had to offer.

Having studied with William Pleeth, she was introduced to the conductor, Barbirolli, who immediately said, "This is it! This is the real thing…This is what we have been waiting for!" He recognized the enormous talent that was Jacqueline Du Pre’s immediately. Du Pre’s interpretation of Elgar’s beautiful and melancholy cello concerto is said to be not only "definitive" but "legendary" as well. The recording of it conducted by Barbirolli and together with the London Philharmonic is said to be the best Elgar Cello recording in history. It is so exPrésive and moving and really conveys the autumn of Elgar’s life which he was hardily resisting at the time. Nevertheless, it is some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard.

Interestingly, Jacqueline du Pre met another young musical genius -- Daniel Barenboim, the conductor/pianist who champions peace throughout the world and especially in the middle east and the founder of the West Eastern Divan Orchestra (brought to our attention by Sally earlier on the blog). Together Barenboim and du Pré were referred to as the "Golden Couple". .

Barenboim met Jacqueline du Pré for the first time under very unusual and very unromantic circumstances. Barenboim tells the story like this: Barenboim was taken ill at a venue with glandular fever. While he was in bed being treated by doctors and complaining of aches and pains and general unpleasantness, the doctors kept telling him that if he thought he was in bad condition, he should see Jacqueline du Pré. After hearing this many times, he became curious and called her up on the telephone. She also had come down with glandular fever. Over the telephone they compared glandular fever notes but when they finally recovered, each of them went on to their own respective itinerary without ever meeting in person. A couple of years later, however, they met at a musician friend’s home and introduced themselves to each other via a Brahms concerto. Barenboim said that he felt immediately that both he and Jacqueline had a kindred understanding of music and played together beautifully. In 1967 Barenboim and du Pré married in Israel right before the Six Day War broke out.

During her life, Jacqueline took master classes with Casals and Rostropovich and Tortelier. Rostropovich once told Jaqueline that she had "already overtaken him on the cello" which was an amazing statement for him to make. Her first cello teacher, who Jacqueline referred to as her "cello daddy" William Pleeth, said that the first day she came to class, as a very young girl, he was aware that there was a "limitlessness" to her playing and that whatever he would throw at her she would come back with even more. He said that Jacqueline never got "stuck" as musicians sometimes do at times in their careers. Her genius was such that it always flowed freely and abundantly. Great conductors like Barenboim had a difficult time keeping up with her.

Jacqueline participated in Pablo Casals masterclass in Zermatt, Switzerland,  with Paul Tortelier in Paris,  and with Mstislav Rostropovich in Russia.  All of these teachers were the best cellists the world had to offer and as I mentioned earlier, Rostropovich declared of Jacqueline that she was the only young cellist that could not only equal but OVERTAKE his own achievement.  She was indeed a musical genius with endless possibility.

Jacqueline du Pré has the reputation as one of the finest musicians England has produced.