The cello ( /ˈtʃɛloʊ/ CHEL-oh; plural cellos or celli) is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass.
A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, in a string orchestra and as a member of the string section of an orchestra. It is the second largest bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, the double bass being the largest.
Cellos were derived from other mid- to large-sized bowed instruments in the 16th century, such as the viola da gamba, and the generally smaller and squarer viola da braccio, and such instruments made by members of the Amati family of luthiers. The invention of wire-wrapped strings in Bologna gave the cello greater versatility. By the 18th century the cello had largely replaced other mid-sized bowed instruments.
The name cello is an abbreviation of the Italian violoncello, which means "little violone", referring to the violone ("big viol"), the lowest-pitched instrument of the viol family, the group of string instruments that went out of fashion around the end of the 17th century in most countries except France, where they survived another half-century or so before the louder violin family came into greater favour in that country too. Thus, the name carries both an augmentative "-one" ("big") and a diminutive "-cello" ("little"). By the turn of the 20th century, it had grown customary to abbreviate the name violoncello to 'cello, with the apostrophe indicating the six missing prefix letters. It is now customary to use the name "cello" without the apostrophe and as a full designation. The word derives ultimately from vitula, meaning a stringed instrument.
Ralph Henry Kirshbaum (born March 4, 1946) is an American cellist currently living in Los Angeles. During his career he has performed solos with major orchestras worldwide, won prizes in several international competitions, and recorded extensively.
Kirshbaum was born in Denton, Texas, and grew up in Tyler. His father, Joseph Kirshbaum, was a professional violinist, music educator, and conductor who founded the East Texas Symphony Orchestra; his mother, Gertrude Morris Kirshbaum, was a harpist. Ralph started cello lessons with his father at age six; he continued with Dallas teachers Roberta Guastafeste at 11 and Lev Aronson at 14. He won numerous awards as a student and appeared as a soloist with the Dallas Symphony at age 15.
Kirshbaum continued his education at the Yale University School of Music, where he studied with Aldo Parisot. He graduated Yale magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with highest departmental honors. In 1968 he earned a Fulbright fellowship, but Selective Service registration issues prevented him from using it.
Mischa Maisky (Latvian: Miša Maiskis; born January 10, 1948 in Riga) is a Soviet and an Israeli cellist.
Maisky was born as the younger brother of organist and harpsichordist Valery Maisky (1942-1981).
He began studies at the Leningrad Conservatory and later with Mstislav Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory whilst pursuing a concert career throughout the Soviet Union. In 1966 he won 6th Prize at the Moscow International Tchaikovsky Competition. In 1970, he was imprisoned in a labor camp near Gorky for 18 months.[citation needed] After his release, he emigrated to Israel, where he holds citizenship. He also studied for a time with Gregor Piatigorsky in Los Angeles. He currently lives in Belgium.
In his performing and recording career, Maisky has worked in long-standing partnerships with artists such as the pianists Martha Argerich, Radu Lupu, and Sergio Tiempo, the violinists Gidon Kremer and Janine Jansen, and the conductors Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, and Giuseppe Sinopoli.
Ofra Harnoy CM (born January 31, 1965, Hadera, Israel) is a Canadian cellist.
Harnoy moved with her family to Toronto in 1971. When she was six, she began cello lessons with her father, Jacob Harnoy. Her teachers included Vladimir Orloff, William Pleeth, Pierre Fournier, Jacqueline du Pré, and Mstislav Rostropovich.
Harnoy made her professional debut as a soloist with an orchestra at age ten. Her solo-orchestral and recital debuts at Carnegie Hall in 1982 brought her public and critical acclaim.
Harnoy performed and recorded the world premiere of the Offenbach Cello Concerto in 1983 and the North American premiere of the Bliss Cello Concerto in 1984. She also made the world premiere recordings of several Vivaldi concertos. In 1987 Harnoy joined the roster of RCA Victor Red Seal, and recorded several best selling albums.
Harnoy has played in many genres of music. She has played with artists such as; Plácido Domingo, Sting, Igor Oistrakh, Loreena McKennitt, Jesse Cook and many more.
Harnoy's Beatles Album combined classical music with pop.
Yo-Yo Ma (born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Ma is regarded by some as the most famous cellist of the modern age.
Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris on October 7, 1955, to Chinese parents and had a musical upbringing. His mother, Marina Lu, was a singer, and his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a violinist and professor of music at Nanjing National Central University. His family moved to New York when he was five years old.
At a very young age, Ma began studying violin, and later viola, before settling on the cello in 1960 at age four. According to Ma, his first choice was the double bass due to its large size, but he compromised and took up cello instead. The child prodigy began performing before audiences at age five, and performed for Presidents John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower when he was seven. At age eight, he appeared on American television with his sister, Yeou-Cheng Ma, in a concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. Ma attended Trinity School in New York but transferred to the Professional Children's School which he graduated at fifteen years of age. He appeared as a soloist with the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra in a performance of the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations.
A big deal about something.
Plot
This is a story of an Ensemble of seven talented young music players. Ensemble, as a musical term, means playing together with more than two different instruments. These seven artists want to tell, meet and show people that classical music can be tender, easy and faithful. They show us how they live every single day. But it is not an ordinary one if music could be with. They believe that classical music could be popular, it is not outdated but rather, new and it is our life.
Plot
Inspiring Friendships through Music with a goal to move people and to make music for musics sake Goal: To capture the making of the love project cd on film with musicians from throughout the world. Not Genre-specific Music but Music that people can feel again. Dedicating Art to a Family that lost a very talented Artist utilizing His work. Combining Professional Collaborations World Cinematic Orchestrations: Classical Backgrounds, Rock, Opera, using top studios from NY to LA and Lifers of Music - Some very well known and some that simply should be. We set out to make a Record and ended up on a Journey we never anticipated. Want to Share what we think should be passed on a worldwide level. Interested in submitting to film festivals end/2009 into 2010! All You have is Now. Make it Count!
Keywords: independent-film
Take Nothing But Memories... Leave Nothing But Footprints
Plot
Master classical parodist Peter Schickele performs with Houston's Orchestra X under the direction of Peter Jacoby to bring alive PDQ Bach's greatest hits. Featuring The Schleptet in Eb major, Iphigenia in Brooklyn, "Unbegun" Symphony, Fuga Meshuga, New Horizons in Music Appreciation (Beethoven's 5th) and the oratorio, The Seasonings.
Keywords: bach, classical-music, musical-instrument, orchestra, parody
It's not what you owe, It's who you owe
Let the kitchen fire grow cold
Let the ancient winter blow
Let the running river go its way
See it move on by
Let the geese refuse to fly
Twist and tumble from the sky
Let the wintry fingers try our door
It's open, come on in
Chorus:
All the world may turn to stone
The sun may sink into the sea
But there will still be only one love
In this world for me, for me
Verse 3:
And if the cello has no string
It will always fail to sing
And if a man is without love
He'll surely fail in living every day
Repeat chorus:
Repeat verse 3:
And if I'm without your love
Turn it around, let it go
It cannot be when you know
It ain't over - cello - hello
Turn it around
You had to lie, I don't believe that
You had to lie, can't you see that
Turn it around make it gold
Like when you were on fire and I was cold
Jeträmmp, met dem Moped
oder schwazz met der Bahn,
immer benn ich dir irjendwie hingerherjefahre.
Nä, domohls hann ich kei Konzert vun dir versäump
un nahx kunnt ich nit schloofe,
oder wenn, dann hann ich vun dir jedräump.
Du kohms me'm Cello
en jede Saal en uns'rer Jäjend.
Ich sooß immer en der eezte Reih,
du woors unfassbar erregend.
Cello,du woors ens en Göttin für mich
un manchmohl soochs du mich ahn
un dann daach ich: "Mann - oh - Mann !"
Un dann woor ich widder völlig fäädisch.
Un hück wonnste irjendwo
un dat Cello steht em Keller.
Kumm, pack dat Dinge noch ens uss
un spill su schön wie fröher.
Cello,du woors ens en Göttin für mich
un manchmohl soochs du mich ahn
un dann daach ich: "Mann - oh - Mann !"
Un dann woor ich widder völlig fäädisch.
Jo, ich woor ständig do
un dat hätt dich dann övverzeuch.
Mer wollten immer zosammeblieve
un övverhaup, met dir, dat woor su jrooß,
dat kammer janit beschrieve.
Cello,du woors ens en Göttin für mich
un manchmohl soochs du mich ahn
un dann daach ich: "Mann - oh - Mann! "
Un dann woor ich widder völlig fäädisch.
Getrampt oder mit 'm Moped
oder schwarz mit der Bahn
immer bin ich dir irgendwie
hinterhergefahren
nein, damals hab' ich kein Konzert von dir versäumt
und nachts konnte ich nicht schlafen
oder wenn, dann hab' ich von dir geträumt
Du spieltest Cello
in jedem Saal in unserer Gegend
ich sass immer in der ersten Reihe
und fand dich so erregend
Cello
du warst eine Göttin für mich
und manchmal sahst du mich an
und ich dachte "Mann oh Mann"
und dann war ich weider völlig fertig
Ja, ich war ständig da und das hat dich dann überzeugt
wir wollten immer zusammen bleiben
und überhaupt, mit dir, das war so gross
das kann man ja gar nicht beschreiben
Und heute wohnst du irgendwo
und dein Cello steht im Keller
komm, pack das Ding doch nochmal aus
und spiel so schön wie früher
Du spieltest Cello
in jedem Saal in unserer Gegend
ich sass immer in der ersten Reihe
und fand dich so erregend
Cello
du warst eine Göttin für mich
und manchmal sahst du mich an
und ich dachte "Mann oh Mann"