Cello - In Search of a Voice - Kate Kennedy

Overview

Kate Kennedy explores the profound connection between cellists and their instruments, arguing that a cello is more than an object but an extension of the player's identity and voice. Through historical narratives of cellists like Lea Christiani, Amado Baldino, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, and Paul Hermann, Kennedy illustrates how cellos bear the marks of their players' lives, adventures, and traumas, becoming repositories of their stories and legacies. The journey highlights the cello's physical and emotional resonance, from its bodily form to its capacity to carry a player's spirit through time and even into new forms of existence, like the bee cello.

Key takeaways

Cellos are not merely instruments but extensions of a player's identity, embodying their physical presence and emotional resonance.
Historical cellos act as living archives, bearing physical marks (scars, cracks) and carrying the stories, legacies, and even the 'soul' of their past players.
Lea Christiani, a forgotten 19th-century cellist, pioneered solo performance and faced intense gender scrutiny, her legacy preserved primarily through her Stradivarius.
The 'Mara' Stradivarius survived a catastrophic shipwreck, demonstrating an instrument's resilience and capacity for reconstruction, its story obscured by brilliant repairs.
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch's survival in Auschwitz was facilitated by her cello playing, highlighting music's dual role as a lifeline and a tool of oppression in extreme circumstances.
The 'B cello' transformed into a beehive challenges human-centric views of music, suggesting instruments can have non-human voices and purposes.
The 'Open String cello' project aims to democratize instrument creation, enabling young people to build and own their own instruments, fostering a deeper connection and providing a 'ticket to safety'.

Chapters

11:16 Introduction and the Cello as an Extension of Self

Jane Shaw introduces Dr. Kate Kennedy, highlighting her multifaceted career as a musician, literary critic, and biographer.
Kennedy describes an initial discomfort with being photographed with her cello, feeling her identity as a cellist was secondary.
The experience of being photographed revealed the cello as an essential part of her silhouette and sense of self.
A cello is described as a limb, essential, visible, yet intangible, with its absence creating an 'audible silence'.

16:40 The Bodily Nature of the Cello and Player Connection

Kennedy's journey began as a personal investigation into her own fractured relationship with her instrument due to an arm injury.
Cellos have a bodily form with a neck, shoulders, ribs, back, and belly, sized to fit the player's torso.
Cellists often anthropomorphize their instruments, assigning gender and names, viewing them as companions.
Pablo Casals described his cello as a beloved companion, while Steven views his as a spiritual alter ego.

18:25 The Enduring Voice of the Cello vs. Human Voice

Unlike human voices that age or change pronunciation, a cello's sound remains consistent across centuries.
Modern strings and bows differ from historical ones, making it challenging to replicate a past player's exact sound.
Playing an old instrument is not a séance, but a connection to the past through listening for the 'whisper under the note'.
The desire to hear these 'ghosts' or 'whispers' catalyzed Kennedy's journey across Europe.

21:00 Lea Christiani: The Forgotten Pioneer and Her Stradivarius

Kennedy's first stop was Italy to investigate the 'Christiani' Stradivarius, linked to Lea Christiani.
Christiani was a pioneering female cello soloist in the 1840s, now largely forgotten, with the cello being her primary legacy.
She undertook an epic journey across the Russian steppes with her Stradivarius, transporting it on sledges and mules.
Reviews from her time reveal a bizarre male fixation on her playing posture and attire, questioning her decorum.

23:00 Christiani's Escape from Gendered Expectations and Tragic End

Kennedy suggests Christiani's Siberian journey was an escape from Western gender obsessions and preconceptions.
Her ship nearly capsized due to whales attracted by her playing, but both she and the Stradivarius survived.
Christiani died of cholera in the Kamchatka region, her body lost, but her Stradivarius was recovered.
The 'Christiani' Stradivarius is now a priceless artifact, the main remaining trace of her exploits.

24:51 The Museum of Violins and Min Kim's Lost Violin

Kennedy visited the Museum of Violins in Cremona, viewing Stradivari's molds and instruments.
The 'treasure trove' room houses the most valuable instruments, creating an eerie, dimly lit atmosphere.
Violin prodigy Min Kim, whose own Stradivarius was stolen and unrecoverable, visited the museum.
Kim pressed her ear to the glass cases, trying to 'hear' the silenced instruments, seeking a flicker of their past life.

27:24 The Christiani Cello's Scars and Mendelssohn's Musical Portrait

Kennedy was eventually allowed to play the Christiani cello, noting its physical scars and cracks from temperature changes.
These marks represent Christiani's adventures, a tangible link to her life, unlike her lost burial site.
Mendelssohn's 'Songs Without Words' for Christiani captured her lyrical, melancholy playing style.
Kennedy plays a passage to evoke Christiani's voice, as captured by Mendelssohn.

30:28 Amado Baldino and the Trieste Piano Trio's Shipwreck

Kennedy's second story features Amado Baldino, cellist of the Trieste Piano Trio, who played the 'Mara' Stradivarius.
The trio grew up in Nazi-occupied Trieste, using music as a 'capital M' survival mechanism.
During a South American tour in 1963, their ship sank in the River Plate due to fog and a reckless captain.
Baldino, the pianist, and violinist Renato Zenettovich survived by clinging to a life raft, discussing music theory.

34:55 The Mara Stradivarius's Survival and Reconstruction

Baldino grabbed his Mara Stradivarius as the ship caught fire and listed, escaping with the pianist and violinist.
The Mara Stradivarius was lost overboard but later found floating in its case by divers.
Renato's violin was destroyed, but the Mara was remarkably intact, though fragmented.
W. E. Hill & Sons painstakingly reconstructed the Mara Stradivarius, which sounded even better afterward.

37:43 Anita Lasker-Wallfisch: Survival Through Music in Auschwitz

Kennedy's third story is about Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a 101-year-old cellist who survived Auschwitz.
Her family failed to escape Nazi Germany, and she was sent to Auschwitz after imprisonment and solitary confinement.
Upon arrival, she revealed she was a cellist, leading to her inclusion in the camp orchestra directed by Alma Rosé.
Playing music for the guards was a means of survival, though deeply traumatic for many prisoners.

40:20 Lasker-Wallfisch's Post-War Career and Perspective

After Alma Rosé's death, Jewish players were transferred to Bergen-Belsen, where Anita nearly died.
Liberated, she wrote to her sister about 'Cello' (spelled out as 'Ce Lo'), a sacred word.
She eventually obtained a cello and played for fellow survivors, later having a distinguished career with the English Chamber Orchestra.
Anita viewed music as a lifeline, but acknowledged its abuse by the Nazis as a form of torment for others.

42:53 Paul Hermann: The Lost Cello and Its Rediscovery

Paul Hermann, a Hungarian cellist hailed as the next Casals, was killed in WWII.
His daughter, Corey, was seven when he went into hiding in Toulouse, leaving behind his Nicolo Gagliano cello.
Hermann was arrested and sent to Drancy internment camp; his cello remained in his sealed apartment.
His cousin, risking his life, swapped a student cello for the Gagliano and escaped with it.

45:00 The Gagliano Cello's Journey and Reunion with Corey

Hermann was killed at Fort de Romainville, known as the 'fort of death'.
The Gagliano cello, inscribed 'Ego sum musicus' (I am the soul of music), was eventually found by Kennedy.
After years of searching, the cello was identified by Chinese cellist Jan Wang, who recalled seeing it played by Sam Lucas.
Sam Lucas, a young Australian cellist, learned Hermann's concerto and played the cello, reuniting Corey with its sound after 85 years.

50:00 The Bee Cello: A Cello as a Beehive

The 'B cello' belongs to physicist Professor Martin Benick, who believes bees are superior to humans.
A broken cello, destined for disposal, was repurposed as a beehive, with the F-holes serving as entrances.
Bees have modified the cello's structure, reinforcing the bridge and soundpost, and sealing small gaps in the F-holes.
Bees exhibit unusual behavior, stroking the cello's front, possibly honoring their reflections in the varnish.

54:10 Bach for Bees and the Cello's Non-Human Voice

Kennedy played Bach for the bees, noting their humming lowered, suggesting they 'listened' through their legs.
An accelerometer on the bridge captured a 'spectral duet' of wind, bees, and cello strings.
The bee cello challenges the notion of human intervention in an instrument's voice, suggesting music not meant for human ears.
This encounter altered Kennedy's sense of ownership and the meaning of a cello, seeing it as instrument, architecture, and home.

55:58 The Open String Cello: A New Instrument for Young Players

The 'Open String cello' is a charity project creating new, experimental hybrid cellos from discarded fragments.
Designed by Robert Brewer Young of W. E. Hill & Sons, it's based on Stradivari's drawings and other historical instruments.
The cello is round like a guitar, with a flat back and pyramid scroll, designed for assembly in weeks from a flatpack kit.
The project aims to provide affordable, high-quality instruments for youth orchestras in disadvantaged areas, like Argentina's Barrio Ludueña.

1:00:15 Learning the Cello Anew and the Composite Being

Kennedy built a prototype, learning the cello from the 'inside out' by understanding its construction.
This process revealed the cello's internal structure and the precision required in its making.
The cello is inscribed with a poem by Ursula von Willaume, likening the cellist and cello to a composite being like a centaur.
This project emphasizes creating new instruments with a history yet to be imprinted, offering a voice to young players.

1:02:10 Conclusion: The Cello as a Carrier of Legacy

Cellos, unlike the 'amnesiac' Hermann cello, carry stories, touches, scars, and marks of their players.
Kennedy's journey helped her fall back in love with her instrument and find her own way of being heard.
The cello cannot preserve a person intact but can carry their essence onwards.
The inscription 'Ego sum musicus' reflects the cello's role in carrying the soul of music and its players.

1:04:18 Audience Q&A: Jacqueline du Pré Ballet and Cello Vibrations

A question arises about the erotic implications of playing the cello, referencing a ballet about Jacqueline du Pré.
Kennedy confirms seeing the ballet and participating in workshops, noting the dancer embodying the cello itself.
The ballet conveyed du Pré's struggle and the beginning of the end through subtle movements and stillness.
A question is posed about the intensity of cello vibrations for bees when Bach was played.

1:08:15 Audience Q&A: Paul Hermann's Cello's Journey and Instrument Identity

The Paul Hermann cello is on loan to Sam Lucas from the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf.
Documentation for instruments, especially those associated with disappeared players, can be lost or changed hands discreetly.
A question asks if a similar project could be done for other instruments and why the cello is special.
Cellists often have a lifelong, intense relationship with their cello, viewing it as a 'body double' and closest to the human voice.

1:09:25 Audience Q&A: Student Cellos and Bach's Repertoire

Kennedy believes a beginner cellist can form a strong bond with a student cello, comparing it to her own first cello with a large crack.
The first cello is seen as the player's 'first voice'.
A question asks about the benchmark solo cello repertoire if Bach's suites didn't exist.
Without Bach's suites, solo cello repertoire would be significantly limited, making them a 'gift' especially for unaccompanied playing.

Summary, takeaways, and chapters were generated by AI from the video's transcript and may contain errors. The video belongs to its creator, Gresham College.