Monday, April 21, 2008

Jacqueline du Pre (1945 - 1987)

"A creature like no other and beyond words", "pure genius", "purity and truth shone out through her music".

Jacqueline's story is one of the most legendary of all twentieth century musicians' stories, and also, sadly, one of the most tragic. At age 20, she was among the top 3 cellists in the world allready. At age 26 she could not play very well anymore. Two years later she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and had to stop playing. In 8-9 short years of career, she recorded most of the works available for the cello and some of these recordings are still considered "definitive" for the instrument, the best ever. She had then a few years of teaching and died on October 19, 1987, at the age of 42.

As a passionate of cello, I have listened most of the important cellists of the 20th century and many of the less important. I never met elsewhere the emotion I felt with Jacqueline's records, not even with Rostropovich's ones.

(after a week-end with some of her cds, I wanted to write a few words about her, for some friends who didn't know her art).

No comments: