Emanuel Feuermann

Early displays of exceptional musical ability characterized the household into which Emanuel Feuermann was born. His father performed on violin and cello without formal instruction. Zigmund, the elder brother, revealed prodigious violin talent almost immediately. Expecting comparable promise, the father first handed Emanuel a violin, yet the boy chose to hold the instrument vertically after the fashion of a cello, leading the parent to purchase a compact training model instead.

The household relocated to Vienna to support Zigmund’s violin training and emerging concert activity. At age nine Emanuel began lessons with Friedrich Buxbaum, principal cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic and member of the Rosé String Quartet. He later studied with Anton Walter at the Vienna Music Academy.

A recital by Pablo Casals in Vienna during 1912, when Feuermann was ten, redirected his artistic path. The young cellist concluded that the Catalan musician was “truly re-creating the instrument.” He therefore insisted on tackling major repertory such as the Boccherini B-flat and Haydn D-Major Concertos. His teacher observed the rapid emergence of a formidable musical personality.

Feuermann made his Vienna debut in February 1914, performing the Haydn D-Major Concerto under Felix Weingartner with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Although the appearance succeeded, it attracted only modest attention. He subsequently toured with Zigmund and their father; the family regarded the event lightly, perhaps because the father concentrated his ambitions on Zigmund. The pressure ultimately proved overwhelming: Zigmund developed mental illness and died at fifty-two from a brain tumor.

In 1917 Feuermann commenced studies with Julius Klengel, who noted the limited scope of the boy’s repertory. Feuermann then organized his days into disciplined segments devoted to cello practice, music theory, piano work, and repertory expansion, supplementing these pursuits with extensive reading to remedy gaps in his general education—a habit he maintained throughout his life.

The death of cello professor Friedrich Grützmacher (nephew of the renowned cellist of the same name) in 1918 left a vacancy at Cologne’s Gürzenich Conservatoire. Klengel recommended the seventeen-year-old Feuermann. The appointment committee initially questioned the nomination of so young a candidate yet auditioned him and engaged him with full professorial duties, withholding only the formal title deemed unsuitable for an adolescent.

Throughout the 1920s Feuermann undertook demanding concert tours while producing a series of landmark recordings. Although widely praised, he considered his repertory overly traditional. In 1929 he joined the faculty of the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, now bearing the title of professor. He formed a string trio with violinist Joseph Wolfstahl (later replaced by Szymon Goldberg) and violist Paul Hindemith; the ensemble recorded several works, among them Hindemith’s String Trio No. 2. Feuermann subsequently broadened his programming into twentieth-century literature.

The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 terminated his Berlin position; the Hochschule issued a leave of absence that effectively ended his contract. Seeking a new base, he embarked on a world tour in 1934–35. Two New York recitals occurred in January 1935. Initial reviews commended his technical command yet found his interpretive personality understated. Eight days later a second recital drew a sparse general audience but attracted virtually every cellist in the city; after the opening work the musicians erupted in ovations and demanded multiple encores, prompting critics to revise their assessments. A parallel reception unfolded in London. Preoccupied with securing his wife’s departure from Germany, Feuermann’s 1938 New York recital initially failed to impress, yet his performance of the solo in Strauss’s Don Quixote elicited extravagant critical praise.

Feuermann and his wife established residence in Zurich, from which he conducted master classes and organized his touring schedule. While visiting Austria he was caught by the Anschluss; violinist Bronislaw Huberman arranged his exit to Palestine. A month later Feuermann, his wife, and their daughter reached New York and applied for citizenship.

He joined the faculty of Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute and spent summers in a rented Los Angeles house offering master classes that drew students from across the free world. Proximity to Jascha Heifetz and Arthur Rubinstein permitted formation of a celebrated trio. Following the precedent of his early idol Casals, Feuermann refined cello technique by eradicating residual nasal timbre once considered intrinsic to the instrument and by emphasizing whole-body participation in performance. Together with Casals he is credited with establishing the cello as a recognized solo instrument.

Admitted on 19 May 1942 for routine minor surgery, Feuermann succumbed six days later to peritonitis at the age of thirty-nine.