Paul Tortelier

Paul Tortelier (21 March 1914 – 18 December 1990) was a French cellist and composer. After an outstanding student career at the Conservatoire de Paris he played in orchestras in France and the US before the Second World War. After the war he became a well-known soloist, playing in countries round the globe. He taught at conservatoires in France, Germany and China, and gave televised masterclasses in England. He was particularly associated with the solo part in Richard Strauss's ''Don Quixote'', cello concertos by Elgar and others, and Bach's Cello Suites.

Life and work

Early years

Tortelier was born in Paris, the son of Joseph Tortelier and his wife Marguerite, ''née'' Boura. Joseph, who came from a family with Breton roots, was a ''menuisier-ébéniste'' – a carpenter-cabinet-maker – in Montmartre. Tortelier's mother had a particular love of the cello and he began to play the instrument when he was six.Obituary, ''The Times'', 19 December 1990, p. 14 His general education was at the École Lucien Lafflessele, and from the age of nine he studied the cello with Louis Feuillard.

At the age of 12 Tortelier entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied the cello with Gérard Hekking. While a student he earned an income in a trio playing accompaniments to silent films.Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 19 December 1990, p. 19 He won the conservatoire's first prize when he was 16, playing the Elgar Cello Concerto, Goodwin, Noël
"Tortelier, Paul"
''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001 and then he studied harmony and composition under Jean Gallon. He made his professional début in 1931 at the age of 17, as soloist in Lalo's Cello Concerto with the Orchestre Lamoureux.

In 1935 Tortelier joined the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra as first cellist and played with them until 1937. He gave performances under Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini, and played the solo part in Richard Strauss's ''Don Quixote'' conducted by the composer.Martland, p. 292

In 1937 Tortelier accepted an invitation from Serge Koussevitzky to join the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He remained until the 1939–40 season. He was in Paris during the Second World War, teaching at the Conservatoire. He had a short-lived marriage to Madeleine Gaston, which ended in divorce in 1944. After the war he was principal cellist of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire in 1946–47. In 1946 he married a cello pupil, Maud Monique Martin, with whom he had three children, all of whom became musicians: Yan Pascal, a violinist and subsequently a conductor; Maria de la Pau, a pianist; and Pomona, a cellist.

International solo career

In 1947 Tortelier's international career as a soloist began in Berlin and Amsterdam. After a concert in the latter city, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, at which Tortelier again played the solo part in ''Don Quixote'', Beecham invited him to reprise his performance with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) at a festival of Strauss's music in London, in the presence of the composer. Within days Tortelier gave a recital with Gerald Moore at the Wigmore Hall and recorded the Strauss piece with Beecham and the RPO. After the recital, the music critic of ''The Times'' wrote that Tortelier showed himself to be "an artist of great distinction, whose playing combined technical mastery with fine musicianship throughout a programme including works by Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, and virtuoso show-pieces"."Recitals of the Week", ''The Times'', 13 October 1947, p. 7 He added:

During his subsequent career Tortelier played throughout Europe, the Americas, Australia, North Africa, Israel, the USSR and Japan, but Britain remained central to his career, and most of his recordings over the next four decades were made there. He found the English baffling in their undemonstrative feelings, but he was fond of them: "I cannot speak of the English without emotion. I owe them everything in terms of my career". He was less at home with Americans, whom he found friendly but lacking in real love.

In 1950 Tortelier was asked by Pablo Casals to play as the principal cellist in the Prades Festival Orchestra; out of respect for Casals, Tortelier agreed. He later said, "I have played for Toscanini and Karajan, but I never felt with any conductor what I felt with Casals"."Saraband", ''The Economist'', 25 August 1990, p. 82 More than any other cellist it was Casals who influenced him the most. Tortelier said that there was a spiritual quality in the older man's playing: "one never thought that Casals was playing the cello; he was playing music". Nonetheless, Tortelier gained technical insights from Casals, particularly the latter's flexible use of the left hand on the fingerboard and his assertive phrasing and articulation.Wilson, p. 97 He also absorbed Casals's approach to intonation, subtly sharpening or flattening the pitch of notes for the best harmonic effect. Casals said of Tortelier's mastery of the cello, "When you play you make it talk".

Although he was not Jewish (he was an agnostic Roman Catholic) Tortelier was inspired by the ideals of the founders of the newly formed state of Israel in 1948, and in 1955–56 he lived with his wife and children in the kibbutz Ma'abarot, near Haifa. During this period he made his début as a conductor, with the Israel Philharmonic."Tortelier, Paul, (21 March 1914–18 Dec. 1990), cellist, composer, conductor"
''Who's Who & Who Was Who'', Oxford University Press, 2022

Tortelier's international career continued into his seventies. At a concert to mark his 75th birthday he was joined by colleagues including his friend Mstislav Rostropovich, who conducted the Saint-Saëns A-minor concerto with Tortelier as soloist and later in the concert joined him as fellow soloist in a composition of Tortelier's own, the "Valse, alla Maud".

Tortelier died of a heart attack on 18 December 1990 at the age of 76 in the domaine of Villarceaux, Yvelines, Sir Charles Groves and Yan-Pascal Tortelier conducted, and the cellists included Maud Martin Tortelier, János Starker and two of Tortelier's former students, Arto Noras and Raphael Sommer.

Composer, teacher and innovator

Tortelier thought it important for executant musicians to write music, because he felt it enabled him to approach even repertory works as, to some extent, an act of re-creation:Coleman, Richard. "Paul Tortelier", ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 2 August 1980, p. 2

His compositions include a concerto for two cellos and orchestra (1950), a solo cello suite in D, and two sonatas for cello and piano. He wrote a set of variations for cello and orchestra (''May Music Save Peace''). He also wrote a symphony, the ''Israel Symphony''. Several of his compositions were included at a special concert to mark his 75th birthday at the Royal Festival Hall in 1989, in which his wife and son joined in his celebrations. He twice edited the Bach Cello Suites; his first version was published by Augener in 1961, and the second by Galliard in 1966.

Tortelier's students included Noras, Sommer, Jacqueline du Pré, Anne Gastinel and Nathan Waks. He was a professor at the Conservatoire de Paris (1956–69), the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany (1969–1975), and the Conservatoire Pierre Cochereau, Nice (1978–80). He was also an honorary professor at the Central Conservatoire in Beijing. In the 1960s and 1970s he gave a series of master classes which were recorded and broadcast on TV by the BBC
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