Vioncello's Fireman Emanuel Feuermann

With four strings tuned C, G, D, and A; the Vioncello or simply Cello has been a mainstay of classical music since the 16th century.

It is difficult to fathom chamber music without the sound of Cello in its spectrum. However, on a larger setting, its sound is easily engulfed by an orchestra during solo passages. Chief reason why this instrument has fewer concertos over its smaller sibling, the violin.

By the same token, there are only a handful of string artists who belong to the Pantheon of great cellists. There is Pablo Casals; his former student, Jacqueline Du Pre; and of course, Emanuel "Munio" Feuermann.

Born 22nd of Novermber 1902 in Kolomyia, Galicia. Emanuel belonged to a household  exceptionally predisposed to music. His parents were both amateur musicians while his elder brother Zigmund was a violin prodigy.

Emmanuel was destined to be a cellist. At four, tutored by his father, he insisted to play the violin  they way Antonio Stradivari redesigned the cello -- upright.

He made his concert debut playing Haydn's Cello Concerto in 1914. A few years later, barely seventeen years of age, he became a professor at Cologne Conservatory until 1923.

An unrelenting perfectionist who despised compliments and the instrument itself; he lamented cello as monstrous beast, difficult and  impossible. Words hard to reconcile against his performances' facile elegance.

Feuermann was well respected by his peers. "Feuermann is the true fireman of cello!", once exclaimed by his friend, violin virtuoso, Jascha Heifetz. Even his idol Casals, who is considered by many as history's finest on the instrument, regarded him as the greatest living cellist.

Word has it that Feuermann could play the original score of Mendelssohn's violin concerto on his cello. Another version of this story is him performing the entire frenetic third movement by bowing a violin held in vertical position.

His untimely death in 1942 via a routine medical operation is one of the great tragedies in the annals of classical music. A day marked by outpouring of grief, with no less than the great Arturo Toscanini crying "murder!" on Emanuel's funeral.

Cultchas crew now present the volcanic genius of the vioncello, Emanuel Feuermann.

(1) Emanuel Feuermann portrait posted with kind permission from Mr. David Sanders of Montagnana books
(2) Young Emanuel Feuermann portrait posted with kind permission from Ms. Selma Gokcen of Well-Tempered Musician

(3) Emanuel Feuermann performance photo with Jascha Heifetz from the Internet Cello Society
(4) Video from Youtube with kind permission from Marking19. Last known surviving footage of Emanuel in 1939 performing Antonin Dvorak's Rondo Op. 94 and David Popper's Spinnlied with Theodore Saidenberg.