Jacqueline du Pré, British Cellist

 Classical Music / Cellists Datebook: January 26

 

Brief biography of Jacqueline du Pré, world-renowned British cellist whose career was sadly cut short at the age of 42 due to multiple sclerosis, but regarded as one of the 20th century's greatest cellists.

Jacqueline du Pré was born in Oxford, England, January 26, 1945, and died in London, October 19, 1987. At the age of four she already had a real talent for the cello. Along with her sister Hilary, she received her early musical training from her mother, Iris, a professional pianist and music teacher. Jacqueline du Pré subsequently studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London with William Pleeth, then in France with Paul Tortelier, in Switzerland with Pablo Casals and with Mstislav Rostropovich in Moscow. At the age of 13, William Pleeth made her play the Cello Concerto by Elgar, which she managed to memorize in only four days, and which she performed, according to Pleeth, "almost perfectly". Her debut solo recital was at Wigmore Hall in London in 1961. Afterwards, the Concerto, played for the first time when she was barely 17 years old, at the Royal Festival Hall in London in 1962, became her favourite piece. 

Video: Jacqueline du Pré & Daniel Barenboim - Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85. With the New Philhamonia Orchestra. Youtube, uploaded by Julio Isaac. Accessed January 26, 2023.

In 1965 she recorded Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85, with the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir John Barbirolli. Her interpretation was hailed as definitive, and the mournful piece came to be her signature. In 1967 she married Daniel Barenboim, the Argentine-born Israeli pianist and conductor, another young virtuoso, and the couple toured the world, often performing with the Israeli violinist Pinchas Zukerman.

Video: Tribute to Jacqueline du Pré | by AllegroFilms.  Sorry, due to copyright reasons, we are not allowed to embed this video. Please watch it directly at Youtube: Here - Tribute to Jacqueline du Pré.

In 1970 du Pré began to experience bouts of weakness and loss of sensation in her limbs, accompanied by fatigue and depression. Believing that her symptoms were rooted in psychological stress, doctors recommended a sabbatical. She returned to performing in 1973, but her technique had become inconsistent, resulting in the first negative reviews of her career. The true cause of her symptoms remained unidentified until October 1973, when she was finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The diagnosis ended her playing career, although she continued to teach when her health permitted it. Jacqueline du Pré died on 19 October 1987 at the age of 42, putting an end to an extremely painful and incapacitating affliction. Her death remains one of the greatest tragedies of modern music history. Rest in peace Jacqui du Pré; thank you for the music.

Suggested links:  

Jacqueline du Pré - Dvořák Cello Concerto – London Symphony Orchestra cond. Daniel Barenboim. Youtube, uploaded by blue8348. Accessed January 26, 2023. 

Jacqueline du Pre plays Schumann's Cello Concerto in A minor (Op.129). Youtube, uploaded by Araks Gyulumyan. Accessed January 26, 2023. 

Remembering Jacqueline du Pré, Youtube, uploaded by Southbank Centre. Accessed January 26, 2023.

Tribute to Jacqueline du Pré | by AllegroFilms. Youtube, uploaded by Allegro Films. Accessed January 26, 2023.

 

Image Credit:

Jacqueline Du Pré. Uploaded by Southbank Centre February 18, 2010. On 21st March 2010 Southbank Centre hosted 'Honouring Jacqueline du Pré'. Accessed January 26, 2023 in remembrance of her. 

 

Resource: 

Jacqueline Du Pré. en.wikipedia.org. 

(c) January 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

William Somerset Maugham

Literature / Writers Datebook: January 25

 

 

Brief biography of the life and works of English writer William Somerset Maugham, known for his novels, plays and short stories. Famous for his novel Of Human Bondage.  

 

 

 

Early Years

William Somerset Maugham  (b. 25 January 1874 – d. 16 December 1965), was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. He was born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, then schooled in England and went to a German university. In London he became a medical student and qualified as a physician in 1897 but he never practised medicine, instead, he became a full-time writer. 

His first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), a study of life in the slums, attracted attention, but it was as a playwright that he first achieved national celebrity. By 1908 he had four plays running at once in the West End of London. He wrote his 32nd and last play in 1933, after which he abandoned the theatre and concentrated on novels and short stories. 

 

Writings and Writing Style

Maugham's novels after Liza of Lambeth include Of Human Bondage (1915), The Moon and Sixpence (1919), The Painted Veil (1925), Cakes and Ale (1930) and The Razor's Edge (1944). His short stories were published in collections such as The Casuarina Tree (1926) and The Mixture as Before (1940); many of them have been adapted for radio, cinema and television. His great popularity and prodigious sales provoked adverse reactions from highbrow critics, many of whom sought to belittle him as merely competent. More recent assessments generally rank Of Human Bondage – a book with a large autobiographical element – as a masterpiece, and his short stories are widely held in high critical regard. Maugham indicates in his foreword that he derived the title from a passage in Baruch Spinoza's Ethics:  "The impotence of man to govern or restrain the emotions I call bondage, for a man who is under their control is not his own master ... so that he is often forced to follow the worse, although he see the better before him." Maugham's plain prose style became known for its lucidity, but his reliance on clichés attracted adverse critical comment. Maugham was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s.

 

First World War Years  

Maugham worked for the British Secret Service during the First World War. He later drew on his experiences for stories published in the 1920s. Although primarily homosexual, he attempted to conform to some extent with the norms of his day. After a three-year affair with Syrie Wellcome which produced their daughter, Liza, they married in 1917. The marriage lasted for twelve years, but before, during and after it, Maugham's principal partner was a younger man, Gerald Haxton. Together they made extended visits to Asia, the South Seas and other destinations. Maugham gathered material for his fiction wherever they went. They lived together in the French Riviera, where Maugham entertained lavishly. After Haxton's death in 1944, Alan Searle became Maugham's secretary-companion for the rest of the author's life. 

Maugham gave up writing novels shortly after the Second World War. He died at the age of 91.

Legacy

Although most of Maugham's early successes were as a playwright, it is for his novels and short stories that he has been best known. He was a prolific writer: between 1902 and 1933 he had 32 plays staged, and between 1897 and 1962 he published 19 novels, nine volumes of short stories, and non-fiction books covering travel, reminiscences, essays and extracts from his notebooks. William Somerset Maugham's works sold prodigiously throughout the English-speaking world.

Works by William Somerset Maugham

Liza of Lambeth  1897

Of Human Bondage  1915

Ours Betters  1917

The Moon and Sixpence  1919

The Circle  1921

The Trembling of a Leaf (including 'Rain')  1921

The Painted Veil  1925

The Constant Wife  1926

Cakes and Ale  1930

The Razor's Edge  1944

  

 

Image Credit:

W. Somerset Maugham. Wikipedia Commons. Public Domain. (Maugham by Carl Van Vechten, 1934)

 

Resources:

Great British Writers, Colour Library Books (1993)

Larousse Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring (1994)

Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography. 3^rd Ed, ed. by Jennifer Uglow (1999) 

W. Somerset Maugham. en.wikipedia.org. 

 

(c) January 25, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.