Leonard Joseph Rose (July 27, 1918 – November 16, 1984) was an American
cellist and pedagogue.
Biography
Rose was born in Washington, D.C.; his parents were Jewish immigrants, his father from
Bragin,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
, and his mother from
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
,
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
. Rose took lessons from Walter Grossman,
Frank Miller
Frank Miller (born January 27, 1957) is an American comic book writer, penciller and inker, novelist, screenwriter, film director, and producer known for his comic book stories and graphic novels such as his run on ''Daredevil'' and subsequen ...
and
Felix Salmond
Felix Adrian Norman Salmond (19 November 188820 February 1952) was an English cellist and cello teacher who achieved success in the UK and the US.
Early life and career
Salmond was born to a family of professional musicians. His father Norman S ...
and after completing his studies at
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
's
Curtis Institute of Music at age 20, he joined
Arturo Toscanini's
NBC Symphony Orchestra, and almost immediately became associate principal. At 21 he was principal cellist of the
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Se ...
and at 26 was the principal of the
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
.
He made many recordings as a soloist after 1951, including concertos with conductors such as
Leonard Bernstein,
Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association with ...
,
George Szell
George Szell (; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He is widely considered one of the twentieth century's greatest condu ...
and
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the U ...
among others. Rose also joined with
Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist.
Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...
and
Eugene Istomin
Eugene George Istomin (November 26, 1925October 10, 2003) was an American pianist. He was a winner of the Leventritt Award and recorded extensively as a soloist and in a piano trio in which he collaborated with Isaac Stern and Leonard Rose.
Car ...
in a celebrated
piano trio
A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of m ...
.
Rose's legacy as a teacher remains to this day: his students from the
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...
,
Curtis Institute and
Ivan Galamian's
Meadowmount Summer School fill the sections of many American orchestras, notably those of the
Boston Symphony Orchestra,
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra, based in Cleveland, is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Se ...
,
Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. His pupils include
Lori Singer
Lori Singer (born November 6, 1957) is an American actress and musician. The daughter of conductor Jacques Singer, she was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and raised in Portland, Oregon, where her father served as the lead conductor of the Oreg ...
, Raymond Davis,
Desmond Hoebig,
Peter Stumpf Peter Stumpf may refer to:
*Peter Stumpp (d. 1589) or Peter Stumpf, tried as a werewolf in 1589
*Peter Stumpf (cellist), principal cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra
* Peter P. Stumpf Jr. (1948–2010), American politician and business ...
,
Fred Sherry
Fred Sherry (born 1948) is an American cellist who is particularly admired for his work as a chamber musician and concert soloist. He studied with Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School before winning the Young Concert Artists International Audit ...
, Christopher von Baeyer,
Myung-wha Chung, Patrick Sohn,
Thomas Demenga
Thomas Demenga (born 12 June 1954) is a Swiss composer and cellist.
Life and career
Born in Bern, Demenga studied with Walter Grimmer, Antonio Janigro, Leonard Rose and Mstislav Rostropovich and at the Juilliard School in New York, among othe ...
, Stephen Kates,
Lynn Harrell
Lynn Harrell (January 30, 1944 – April 27, 2020) was an American classical cellist. Known for the "penetrating richness" of his sound, Harrell performed internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with major orchestras o ...
,
Yehuda Hanani, Hans Jørgen Jensen,
Steven Honigberg, Eric Kim, Roger Drinkall,
Robert deMaine
Robert DeMaine (born December 6, 1969 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) is an American virtuoso cellist, best known as Principal Cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Early life
From a musical family, Robert DeMaine began learning music at age 4 fr ...
, Bruce Uchimura,
Donald Whitton,
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma ('' Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from ...
,
Ronald Leonard
Ronald Leonard is an American cellist. He has had a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, principal cellist and teacher. He is currently on the faculties of the USC Thornton School of Music and the Colburn School. He was a winner of ...
, Steven Pologe,
Sara Sant'Ambrogio,
Matt Haimovitz
Matt Haimovitz (born December 3, 1970) is a cellist based in the United States and Canada. Born in Israel, he grew up in the US from the age of five. He plays mainly a cello made by Matteo Goffriller in 1710.
Family, musical education and ea ...
,
Mats Lidström, Richard Hirschl,
John Sant’Ambrogio, and Marijane Carr Siegal.
He played an
Amati
Amati (, ) is the last name of a family of Italian violin makers who lived at Cremona from about 1538 to 1740. Their importance is considered equal to those of the Bergonzi, Guarneri, and Stradivari families. Today, violins created by Nicolò ...
cello dated 1662, played today by Gary Hoffman.
Rose died in
White Plains, New York
(Always Faithful)
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, seal_link =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country
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, subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State
, su ...
, of
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
.
In November 2009, a memorial marker was placed for Rose in the Mt. Ararat Cemetery in
Farmingdale, New York
Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The population was 8,189 as of the 2010 Census.
The Lenox Hills neighborhood is adjacent to Bethpage State Park and the rest of the ...
, next to the grave of his first wife, Minnie Knopow Rose, who died in 1964. Minnie and Leonard met at Curtis, where she studied viola.
His second wife was Xenia Petschek, whom he married in January 1965.
Xenia Rose died in 2002.
Awards and recognitions
Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance was awarded from 1959 to 2011. The award was discontinued in 2012 in a major overhaul of Grammy categories; since 2012, recordings in this category have fallen under the Best Small Ensemble Perfor ...
*
Eugene Istomin
Eugene George Istomin (November 26, 1925October 10, 2003) was an American pianist. He was a winner of the Leventritt Award and recorded extensively as a soloist and in a piano trio in which he collaborated with Isaac Stern and Leonard Rose.
Car ...
, Leonard Rose &
Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist.
Born in Poland, Stern came to the US when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and ...
for ''
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
: The Complete Piano Trios'' (
1971)
Notes
References
*
*
Further reading
* ''Leonard Rose. America's Golden Age and Its First Cellist'', Steven Honigberg, (revised edition 2013), Amazon.com
*''"With the Artists". World Famed String Players Discuss Their Art'', Samuel and Sada Applebaum, John Markert & Co., New York (1955). Pages 203-211 are devoted to Leonard Rose.
*Liner notes: "Leonard Rose Live in Recital, 1953–1960" VAI; "Seeking Perfection" by Susan M Anderson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Leonard
1918 births
1984 deaths
American classical cellists
American music educators
Cello pedagogues
Curtis Institute of Music alumni
Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)
Grammy Award winners
Jewish American musicians
Jewish classical musicians
Ukrainian Jews
20th-century classical musicians
20th-century American musicians
20th-century American Jews
20th-century cellists