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![Violoncello Without a Master: Alwin the Auto-Didact](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_aed21fa5b7e1486882725a7e730c899f~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_aed21fa5b7e1486882725a7e730c899f~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
May 15, 20225 min read
Violoncello Without a Master: Alwin the Auto-Didact
Alwin Schroeder’s status as a self-taught cellist gained widespread notoriety from at least as early as 1885. That year the Leipzig...
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![Have Cello, Will Travel: Alwin's Toothbrushes](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_65558b93ade346cb9b727e307b387d1c~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_65558b93ade346cb9b727e307b387d1c~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
May 1, 20226 min read
Have Cello, Will Travel: Alwin's Toothbrushes
In the late 1890s, Alwin Schroeder and his family spent their summers in the Rangeley Lakes region of Maine. In her book The Islanders,...
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![Telo-melo Cello: Step-Child of Gasparo?](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_d9a49f10b92549838123d7e9d80b3967~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_267,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_d9a49f10b92549838123d7e9d80b3967~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Apr 10, 20225 min read
Telo-melo Cello: Step-Child of Gasparo?
My recent post on cello poetry brought to mind the writings of Robert Haven Schauffler, who studied cello with Alwin Schroeder at...
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![Alwin Schroeder's Bach Cello Suites Edition](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_d664a988dfcf4651a2dd48b377f632e3~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_d664a988dfcf4651a2dd48b377f632e3~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Mar 23, 20227 min read
Alwin Schroeder's Bach Cello Suites Edition
Alwin Schroeder's 1888 edition of the Bach Cello Suites is often overlooked in the literature on the suites. I believe it deserves...
46 views1 comment
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![Bulgarian Rhythms: Lyubomir Pipkov's Spring Caprices](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_8d71f6a76aca4e8b892a8d563f10f095~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_8d71f6a76aca4e8b892a8d563f10f095~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Mar 5, 20222 min read
Bulgarian Rhythms: Lyubomir Pipkov's Spring Caprices
Listen to Five Spring Caprices by Pipkov, arranged for cello and piano by G. Dean In Bulgaria, the month of March is named after Baba...
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![More Cello Verses: Sonnets and Songs](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_774df7aa69e44ae5ad44d80b893ef363~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_256,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_774df7aa69e44ae5ad44d80b893ef363~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Feb 5, 20223 min read
More Cello Verses: Sonnets and Songs
As on most days, today I was answering the ever-present question of “who WAS that cellist?” when my query results led me off in another...
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![19th Century Cellists in the US: Frederick Bergner](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_dcb3116c257f42c6b9c1a6b442d4eb41~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_200,h_263,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_dcb3116c257f42c6b9c1a6b442d4eb41~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Jan 31, 20227 min read
19th Century Cellists in the US: Frederick Bergner
Listen to my performance of Bergner's Reverie Best known as the first cellist of the New Philharmonic Society for 47 seasons, Frederick...
58 views0 comments
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![19th-century Cellists in the US: Theodore Ahrend](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_3ca94f0f8944498ba5427477193aaf08~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_366,h_201,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_3ca94f0f8944498ba5427477193aaf08~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Jan 16, 20226 min read
19th-century Cellists in the US: Theodore Ahrend
Born in Germany in 1829 or 1830, cellist Theodore Ahrend studied in Brussels, where he may have worked with Francois Servais./1/ In 1849...
40 views1 comment
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![The UNC Greensboro Cello Collections, in Four Haikus](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_8d5a23be4dc14cb5b8cedb368f5bf499~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_8d5a23be4dc14cb5b8cedb368f5bf499~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Jan 8, 20222 min read
The UNC Greensboro Cello Collections, in Four Haikus
Before the winter break I spent a few days among the Cello Collections at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Although I have...
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![US Cello Performances, 1891-2: An Annotated Timeline, Part 2](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_c9380036a0694edd91163d62789c8f5d~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_c9380036a0694edd91163d62789c8f5d~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Dec 4, 20216 min read
US Cello Performances, 1891-2: An Annotated Timeline, Part 2
See Part 1 here January 1892 9 Liederkrantz Hall, NY Anton Hekking among the solo performers on Liederkrantz 45th...
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![US Cello Performances, 1891-2 Season: An Annotated Timeline, part 1](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_ca8484bbfec44999b7699111f4ad72bf~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_ca8484bbfec44999b7699111f4ad72bf~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Nov 24, 20215 min read
US Cello Performances, 1891-2 Season: An Annotated Timeline, part 1
The 1891-2 season, Alwin Schroeder's first in the US, saw an extraordinary convergence of musical talent in this country, and the...
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![Hugo Becker's Love Scenes, Op. 7](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_6881a109fd6f4d89a7daf101e27027f9~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_6881a109fd6f4d89a7daf101e27027f9~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Nov 14, 20211 min read
Hugo Becker's Love Scenes, Op. 7
Liebesleben (Love Scenes), a "little suite" for cello and piano, was published in Liepzig by Max Brockhaus in 1894. I discovered it in...
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![Bel Canto Cellists: Cesare A. Casella pere et fils](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_16f54779e4514845b8b0b158a977d40f~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_16f54779e4514845b8b0b158a977d40f~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Oct 30, 20216 min read
Bel Canto Cellists: Cesare A. Casella pere et fils
Listen to my performance of Chanson Napolitaine by C. A. Casella fils A second-generation member of an Italian cello-playing family,...
129 views1 comment
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!["Soak 'em": Thomas Edison's Advice To A Cellist](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_545856ed63bc4ee9b9848711f39725ce~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_545856ed63bc4ee9b9848711f39725ce~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Oct 23, 20211 min read
"Soak 'em": Thomas Edison's Advice To A Cellist
The following anecdote in an item from the Lewisburg (PA) Chronicle (Oct. 15, 1891, p. 3) concerns an Edison engineer who was also a fine...
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!["Sing, Cello Sing": Jane M. Mattingly's "The Cello"](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_9716bcfebadd457080178b19b90db1c5~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_9716bcfebadd457080178b19b90db1c5~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Oct 16, 20211 min read
"Sing, Cello Sing": Jane M. Mattingly's "The Cello"
In the early 1920s the Willis Music Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, published A Happy Journey for Little Fingers, a set of six Practical...
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![Schroeder Student Spotlight: Hugo Schlemueller](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_4cc2e1cc8c77476b9dac642403742e3a~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_4cc2e1cc8c77476b9dac642403742e3a~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Oct 9, 20213 min read
Schroeder Student Spotlight: Hugo Schlemueller
One of Alwin Schroeder’s students at the Leipzig Conservatory was Hugo Schlemueller (1872-1918), the son of a Leipzig music critic. There...
27 views1 comment
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![Encore: More Music by Hermann Heberlein](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_46e1fec75f1d4f5383ca9f54921d1066~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_46e1fec75f1d4f5383ca9f54921d1066~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Oct 2, 20211 min read
Encore: More Music by Hermann Heberlein
Listen to the first part of Heberlein's Concertstuck, Op. 8 Heberlein and other cellists performed this work in Detroit during the 1890s....
35 views1 comment
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![Sounds of Bulgaria: The Music of Lazar Nikolov](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_31a000670ab943f28e3cffdc468566b3~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_31a000670ab943f28e3cffdc468566b3~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Sep 25, 20214 min read
Sounds of Bulgaria: The Music of Lazar Nikolov
It was a world beyond anything I had yet experienced or imagined. When I recall it, the sounds come back to me first. I hear the...
38 views1 comment
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![On This Day in 1891: Schroeder Arrives in the US](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_037d9f9f3efc4b4fabdf286bfeef1024~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_383,h_197,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_037d9f9f3efc4b4fabdf286bfeef1024~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Sep 22, 20213 min read
On This Day in 1891: Schroeder Arrives in the US
Listen to David Popper's Adagio, Op. 65, No. 1, published in 1891 and dedicated to Alwin Schroeder 130 years ago today, Alwin Schroeder...
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![Bel Canto Cello: Adrian Bradbury Plays Piatti's Opera Fantasies](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/022555_97e848a4122b410ea236d5a726db9032~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_454,h_341,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_auto/022555_97e848a4122b410ea236d5a726db9032~mv2.webp)
Geoffrey Dean
Sep 11, 20212 min read
Bel Canto Cello: Adrian Bradbury Plays Piatti's Opera Fantasies
Bradbury and Davies perform Piatti's Fantasy on Bellini's La Sonnambula British cellist Adrian Bradbury’s 2020 2-CD release of Alfredo...
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