Jacqueline Mary du Pré (January 20, 1945 – October 19, 1987) was an English cellist. January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... October 19 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1987 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Jacqueline du Pré

Born in Oxford, Jacqueline du Pré is acknowledged as one of the greatest cellists who ever lived. She had a successful career until her death from multiple sclerosis. Jaqueline du Pré File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Oxford is a city and local government district in Oxfordshire, England, with a population of 134,248 (2001 census). ...

Early years

Du Pré was 4 years old when she heard the cello for the first time, on the radio. From then on the sound of the instrument never left her life, starting with lessons from her mother Iris du Pré. Two years later, she started receiving lessons at a London cello school and entering music competitions alongside her sister. At ten years old she won a prize at an international competition, and by the age of twelve she was performing in concerts for the BBC in London. She studied under William Pleeth at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, under Paul Tortelier in Paris, under Rostropovich in Russia, and under Casals in Switzerland. A cropped image to show the relative size of a cello to a human (Uncropped Version) The cello (also violoncello or cello) (pronounced Cheh-loh) is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... Iris du Pré (nee Iris Greep) (1924 - ?) was a pianist, composer, conductor and educator, best known as the mother of two famous musicians. ... The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Categories: University stubs | Performing arts education in London ... Paul Tortelier (March 21, 1914 - December 18, 1990) was a French cellist and composer. ... Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich (Мстисла́в Леопо́льдович Ростропо́вич) (born March 27, 1927) is a Russian cellist and conductor, considered to be one of the greatest living cellists. ... Pau Casals i Defilló (December 29, 1876 – October 22, 1973), commonly known as Pablo Casals, was a virtuoso Catalan, Spanish cello player (and later conductor). ...

Career

Throughout her career, du Pré performed with prestigious orchestras and soloists. In particular, her recording with the London Symphony Orchestra of the Elgar concerto in 1961 brought her international recognition. For this performance, she used her first Stradivarius -- "the Davidov" -- which was given to her by an admirer, Ismena Holland. The 1965 recording under Sir John Barbirolli is equally esteemed. The London Symphony Orchestra (frequently abbreviated to LSO) is a full time orchestra based in London. ... Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, Bt OM GCVO (June 2, 1857 – February 23, 1934) was a British composer, born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester, Worcestershire, to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Ann. ... Edward Elgars Cello Concerto is a dark and heartbreaking work by this most English of composers, reckoned to be the most popular of all concertos for the cello. ... 1961 (As MAD Magazine pointed out on its first cover for the year) was the first upside-down year—i. ... One of the violins in the Stradivarius collection of the Royal Palace, Madrid, Spain. ... The Davidov Strad (also: Davidoff or Davydov), or Stradivarius, is a cello built by Antonio Stradivari in 1712. ... Sir John (Giovanni Battista) Barbirolli (December 2, 1899 - July 29, 1970), was a British conductor and cellist who led the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. ...

In 1965, du Pré played the Elgar concerto at her first appearance in the USA on May 14 at Carnegie Hall. 1965 was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Manhattan, New York City. ...

Her friendship with musicians Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, and Pinchas Zukerman, and marriage to Daniel Barenboim, led to the famous film by Christopher Nupen of their Schubert "Trout" Quintet; collectively, the five referred to themselves as The Jewish Musical Mafia. Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman (born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli violinist and teacher. ... Zubin Mehta (born April 29, 1936 in Bombay, India) is an internationally renowned conductor of European classical music. ... Pinchas Zukerman Pinchas Zukerman (born July 16, 1948) is a noted Israeli violinist, violist and conductor who was appointed Music Director of Ottawas National Arts Centre Orchestra in April, 1998. ... Daniel Barenboim Daniel Barenboim (born November 15, 1942) is an Argentinean-Israeli pianist and conductor. ...

Awards

Du Pré received several fellowships from music academies and honorary doctorate degrees from Universities, as an acknowledgment of her talent. In 1960, she won the gold medal of the Guildhall School of Music in London and the Queen's Prize for British musicians. She was created an OBE in 1976. Commanders Badge of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions, in order of seniority: Knight or Dame Grand Cross...

Marriage

Jacqueline met pianist Daniel Barenboim at Christmas in 1966. Their marriage one year later brought about one of the most fruitful relationships in the world of music: some consider it comparable only to that of Clara and Robert Schumann. This was evidenced by the many performances of du Pré with Barenboim as either a pianist or orchestral conductor. She converted to Judaism for the marriage. 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Wieck Schumann (September 13, 1819 – May 20, 1896), wife of composer Robert Schumann, was one of the leading pianists of the Romantic era as well as a composer. ... Robert Schumann (June 8, 1810 – July 29, 1856) was a German composer and pianist in the Romantic period of Classical music. ... Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. ... For a discussion of Jews as an ethnicity or ethnic group see the article on Jew. ...

Jacqueline's sister, Hilary, was married to the conductor, Christopher "Kiffer" Finzi, with whom Jacqueline had an affair. According to Hilary and her brother Piers in their book A Talent in the Family (released in America as Hilary and Jackie), the affair was conducted with Hilary's consent as a way of helping Jacqueline through a near nervous breakdown, during which she exhibited suicidal behavior and begged Hilary to sleep with Kiffer as a way of living a simple life away from celebrity. In 1999, Kiffer and Hilary's children blasted their mother's account, recalling that their father was a serial adulterer who seduced their emotionally vulnerable aunt in a time of great need in order to gratify his own ego. Christopher Finzi, familiarly known as Kiffer (born 1934), is an orchestral conductor. ...

The disease

In 1973, the passionate sound of Jacqueline du Pré's cello started its irreversible decline, when the artist began to lose sensitivity in her fingers. It was the start of multiple sclerosis, the disease that caused her health to deteriorate until her death in London on October 19, 1987, at the age of 42. Barenboim was with her when she died. She left her 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius to Yo-Yo Ma. The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... October 19 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... One of the violins in the Stradivarius collection of the Royal Palace, Madrid, Spain. ... Classic Yo-Yo album cover Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友 Pinyin: Mǎ Yǒuyǒu) (born October 7, 1955) is a world-famous French-Chinese-American cellist. ...

In the last years of du Pré's life, Barenboim, with his wife's consent, set up home in Paris with pianist Elena Bashkirova, and fathered two children by her. They married in 1988. The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ...

See also

Hilary du Pré, Piers du Pré; A Genius in the Family: Intimate Memoir of Jacqueline du Pré. ISBN 1856197530. Since the 1998 film, this book is also published under the title: Hilary and Jackie.

Anand Tucker's film Hilary and Jackie (1998) is about the lives of the sisters Hilary and Jacqueline du Pré, based on the memoirs, A Genius in the Family. Anand Tucker is a film director and producer. ... Hilary and Jackie is a 1998 movie directed by Anand Tucker and written by acclaimed British screen-writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce, starring Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths as the sisters Jacqueline du Pré and Hilary du Pré. The movie is based on Hilary du Pres book about her sister...