Popper, David

David Popper (1843-1913), a leading cello virtuoso of his day, was born in Prague, studied cello at the Prague Conservatoire with Julius Goltermann, subsequently toured throughout Europe as a soloist and became principal cellist of the Vienna Court Opera. He also performed as a chamber musician with Johannes Brahms, Jenล‘ Hubay, Emil Sauret and Clara Schumann amongst others.

Popper was a prolific composer of cello music and his High School of Cello Playing Op.73, comprising forty etudes have remained essential study repertoire for more than a century and Pablo Casals declared that โ€œno other composer wrote better for the instrumentโ€.

Music publishers are rarely heaped with praise by composers, usually the exact opposite, so it is nice to discover a piece which commemorates the death of a publisher who was obviously also a good friend.

Daniel Rahter (1828-1891) initially managed the A. Bรผttner music publishing house in St. Petersburg before setting up his own publishing company in his native Hamburg in 1879. He was a great admirer of Tchaikovsky’s music and in 1888


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