In this episode of Biographers in Conversation, Dr Kate Kennedy, a distinguished cellist, musicologist, broadcaster and Director of Oxford University’s Centre for Life Writing, chats with Dr Gabriella Kelly-Davies about her choices while crafting Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound.
Just as a cello’s voice is divided across four strings, each with its own colour and character, this is a journey in four parts, in search of four players and their instruments…
Cello
In Cello, Kate retraces the footsteps of four extraordinary cellists from nineteenth and twentieth-century Europe who faced unimaginable hardships, high stakes situations, persecution and even death camps.
The Hungarian Jewish cellist and composer Pál Hermann managed to keep one step ahead of the Gestapo for much of the Second World War but he was eventually captured and murdered.
Pál Hermann
By kind permission of his family
Lise Cristiani, the first female professional cello soloist, undertook an epic – and ultimately fatal – concert tour of Siberia in the 1850s, taking with her one of the world’s greatest Stradivari cellos.
Lithograph image of Lise Cristiani
from the Wiener Illustriete Theaterzeitung, 10 May 1845
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was incarcerated in both Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen camps, only surviving because she was the cellist in the Auschwitz-Birkenau women’s orchestra.
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch aged 12 or 13 in Berlin, with her Ventapane
Anita Lasker-Wallfisch in 2007
Amedeo Baldovino of the Trieste Piano Trio was forced to jump from a burning ship with his ‘Mara’ Stradivari, losing the cello, and nearly losing his own life when the boat was shipwrecked near Buenos Aires.
Amedeo Baldovino
The Trio de Trieste, with the ‘Mara’ Stradivari
Counterpointing the themes raised by these extraordinary stories are a sequence of interludes that draw together Kate’s reflections on the nature and history of the cello, and her many interviews and encounters with contemporary cellists.
Kate’s own relationship with the cello is a complicated one. As a teenager, she suffered an injury to her arm that imposed severe limitations on her career as a performer on the instrument that was her first love. She realised that, to start to understand what the cello meant to her, she needed to find out what the cello – and, crucially, the absence of the cello – has meant to some other cellists, past and present.
Retracing the cellists’ footsteps
With her beloved cello strapped to her back, Kate crisscrossed Europe by train, exploring the experiences of the four cellists and the enduring power of the relationship between each musician and their instrument. A vital aspect of her quest was understanding her own feelings for her ‘first love’.
As well as being an historical exploration, Cello is also a deeply personal one. The book is a blend of memoir and object, collective and quest biography. This innovative hybrid style enables Kate to weave together the cellists’ life stories with her own experiences and musings, interviews with fellow cellists, and meticulous historical research. It also allows her to describe the cello’s anatomy, voice, personality, spirituality and sensuality.
An Object Biography
Kate’s eloquent, lyrical and vibrant storytelling transports us into each scene, making us feel as if we’re in the scene hearing the music and travelling alongside her and the four cellists. Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound is an immersive and deeply personal exploration of the cello’s profound impact on human history and emotion. Through a captivating blend of history, music theory and personal anecdotes, Kate guides us we embark on a transcendent journey with her and the cello she treasures.
Kate painstakingly pieced together a multiplicity of tiny clues and fragments of evidence from sources dating back to the early nineteenth century. Just a few examples are concert programs and reviews from the mid-1800s onwards, addresses on old letters, and archives.
During her research, Kate meticulously followed the trail of the four cellists, catching endless trains and travelling in taxis from one historic concert hall or apartment building with taxi drivers who became so fascinated by your quest they joined in the search for clues.
Boccherini, Luigi, Cello Concerto in B flat major,
Jaqueline du Pré with the English Chamber Orchestra (including Anita Lasker- Wallfisch), conducted by Daniel Barenboim (EMI, 1967)
After the introductory chapter, Cello includes four sections Kate aptly named ‘movements’. The first movement is titled ‘Cello’, followed by ‘Journeys’, ‘Silence’ and ‘Sound’. The concluding chapter is titled ‘Encore’. Within each movement are two interludes with titles ‘such as ‘Gazing at the Cello’, ‘Listening to the Cello’, ‘Understanding the Cello’ and ‘The Cello Through Silence to Sound’.
Through the fascinating interludes, Kate draws together the cellists’ life stories with her personal experiences, musings, historical research and a cello’s physical and metaphysical characteristics. Through the interludes she also introduces other voices. We hear from cello makers and dealers, a physicist whose garden houses a cello-turned-bee hive, and cellists such as Steven Isserlis and Christian Poltera. She also includes a deeply moving conversation with Julian Lloyd Webber and his cellist wife Jiaxin. In 2014, Julian heartbreakingly sold his Stradivari cello after a neck injury forced him to end his career as a solo cellist.
Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista, ‘Dolorosa’ from Stabat Mater,
Arranged for cellos, Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, from their album
A Tale of Two Cellos (Naxos Classics 8.573251, 2013)
In Cello, Kate explores several themes, including the evolution of the cello and its emotional and spiritual resonance. She also celebrates the contributions and enduring legacies of several celebrated cellists. She reflects on the joys and challenges of mastering the instrument, the profound impact it’s had on her life, and the ongoing process of musical discovery and self-expression.
During her epic journey, Kate played the world’s greatest Stradivari. She also played a cello-turned-beehive and a new hybrid cello for youth orchestras in Uruguay. At times, she played her cello in some extraordinary places.
Dr Kate Kennedy
Photographer: Paul Wilkinson
Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound is a profound exploration of resilience, passion, and the indomitable human spirit. Kate’s meticulous research and heartfelt narrative have brought to life the stories of four exceptional cellists who, despite facing unimaginable hardships, found solace and strength in their music.
‘Strikingly original’
The Times
Throughout her book, Kate shares her personal journey of rediscovery and healing, mirroring the experiences of the cellists whose stories she shared. The tendinitis in her arm thwarted her dream, but it also opened a new path for her to connect with her ‘first love’ in a deeply powerful way. This personal connection adds a unique and poignant layer to her narrative, making Cello an intensely personal story as well as being a historical account.
The Role of a Biographer
Kate’s ability to weave together memoir, object, collective and quest biography into a seamless narrative is truly remarkable. Her lyrical storytelling and graphic sensory details transport readers into the world of each cellist, enabling us to experience the music and the journey alongside her and her biographical subjects. The inclusion of voices from cello makers, dealers, and acclaimed cellists such as Steven Isserlis, Julian Lloyd Webber and Christian Poltera further enriches the narrative, portraying the cello kaleidoscopically.
Kate has crafted an eloquent and multitextured homage to this warmest of stringed instruments.
Kate’s deep passion for the cello is palpable, and her insightful analysis of the instrument’s history, its emotional resonance, and its enduring impact on musicians and audiences is captivating. Her unique blend of scholarly research and personal reflection offers a fresh perspective on the cello, moving beyond mere technical analysis to explore its profound connection to the human spirit.
Cello is a timely reminder of the power of music to transcend cultural boundaries, connect us to our deepest emotions, and inspire us to reach for new heights of artistic expression.
Reviews of Cello
This is a beautiful, richly fascinating book – a love song to the cello which, as if a character, lives within the lives of those musicians who play it.
Sir Stephen Hough
It’s hard to think of another book about a specific instrument that goes quite as deep as this.
Richard Bratby, Gramophone
Difficult and dangerous lives extended far beyond the good manners of the concert hall.
Times Literary Supplement
Don’t expect many insights into the cello repertoire or its interpretation. Cello is about the nature and personality of an instrument, its lore, and above all, the player’s relationship to the object.”
Gramophone
Articles inspired by Cello
Cello by Kate Kennedy review — a tale of four cellists, The Times
Strings of her heart, Times Literary Supplement
Saved from certain death at Auschwitz – by playing the cello, The Spectator
Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound (by Kate Kennedy) | Book Review, Gramophone
Holocaust survivor reunited with cello of musician father murdered by Nazis, The Telegraph
Holocaust survivor reunited with father's cello more than 80 years after his death, itv NEWS (video)
Gramophone Talks to Kate Kennedy about Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound
Cello Listening Page
Hermann, Pál, Cello Concerto, reconstructed by Fabio Conti, Clive Greensmith with the Lviv International Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Theodore Kuchar (Toccata Classics, 2021)
Hermann, Pál, Grand Duo for Violin and Cello, Marko Komonko and Denys Lytvynenko (Toccata Classics, 2022)
Mendelssohn, Felix, ‘Song without Words’, in D major, op. 109, Christian Poltera (on the ‘Mara’ Stradivari) and Ronald Brautigam (BIS 2187, 2019)
Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista, ‘Dolorosa’ from Stabat Mater, arranged for cellos, Julian and Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, from their album A Tale of Two Cellos (Naxos Classics 8.573251, 2013)
Schumann, Robert, Trio in F major, op. 80, Trieste Piano Trio, recorded live in Buenos Aires, August 1973 (MZ Digital Audio, MZ 7096-201)
Dr Kate Kennedy is a biographer, cellist and broadcaster. She is one of the foremost critics of twentieth-century music, and lectures in Music and English at Oxford University.
Kate is the Director of the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing and a Supernumerary Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford, having previously held Research Fellowships in English and Music at the University of Cambridge. She is also Director of the Centre for the Study of Women Composers, Director of the Museum of Music History, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Her newest book Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound was published in August 2024 with Head of Zeus / Bloomsbury. It is a group biography that weaves together four narratives of cellists who suffered various forms of persecution, injury and misfortune.
Dweller in Shadows: A Life of Ivor Gurney was published by Princeton University Press in 2021: it was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Prize and awarded the American Musicological Society Prize in 2024. The result of many years of research, it is the first comprehensive biography of the poet/composer’s work.
Kate is a regular broadcaster and academic consultant to both BBC TV and radio, writing and presenting many Radio 3 documentaries on subjects ranging across music history and biography. In 2017, she was awarded Oxford University’s Vice-Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in Public Engagement with Research.