Jacqueline Mary du Pré

 by Desiree Ho  May 25th, 2012

Jacqueline Mary du Pré (1945-1987) is arguably one of the most gifted cellists of our time. She is particularly remembered for her legendary debut performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor (one of the favourite cello concertos of all time), which she performed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in 1962 under Rudolf Schwarz.

Jacqueline du Pré’s performance of Elgar’s Cello Concerto was regarded so highly that she returned three years in succession to perform this favourite work, and further recorded it for EMI in 1965 (album title “Jacqueline Du Pré – Favourite Cello Concertos”). Considered the finest interpreter of Elgar’s Cello Concerto, her work instantly became known as the benchmark reference which made her an international star. On 14 May 1965, she performed at Carnegie Hall for her United States debut.

Sadly, what began as a promising international career was cut short by a nervous system disease called multiple sclerosis, and she died in 1987 at the age of 42.

Du Pré’s Childhood

Du Pré was born in Oxford into a middle-class family. At the young age of four, she heard the sound of the cello on the radio for the first time and asked her mother for “one of those”. Her mother immediately noticed Du Pré’s fascination with the instrument and gave her her first music lessons, and by five she was enrolled into the London Violoncello School.

In 1956, Du Pré became the youngest recipient of the Suggia Gift Award, a scholarship established by the renowned Portuguese cellist Guilhermina Suggia. At just age 11, she continues to hold the title as the youngest recipient till this day. The award enabled her to further her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She also began winning many music competitions that further confirmed her talent and ability in the instrument.

As a Suggia awardee, Du Pré was required to practice the cello at least four hours a day, an obligation that cut her off from normal school activities and relationships. However, this allowed her to study under renowned cellist William Pleeth, a child prodigy himself.

Pleeth’s influence in Du Pré’s life was unquestionable. She called him “my Cello Daddy”, while Pleeth explained that teaching her was “like hitting a ball against a wall. The harder you hit it, the harder it would return. I could see the potential quite strongly on the first day. As the next few lessons went on, it just sort of unfolded itself like a flower, so that you knew that everything was possible.“

Studying with Casals and Tortelier

After becoming the youngest performer to ever win the Queen’s prize, Du Pré continued her studies under world-famous cellists Pablo Casals in Switzerland, Paul Tortelier in Paris and Mstislav Rostropovich in Russia. An anonymous benefactor bought her the beautiful 1673 Stradivarius cello in preparation for her professional debut. Rostropovich, who was so impressed with the young cellist, declared her “the only cellist of the younger generation that could equal and overtake his own“.

In 1966, Du Pré was invited to perform the Brahms F major Sonata with Israeli conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim. The two quickly fell in love and married in May the next year. TIME magazine wrote, “Thus began one of the most remarkable relationships, personal as well as professional, that music has known since the days of Clara and Robert Schumann.” Their marriage thrilled listeners around the world, and marked a triumphant period for both. Together they toured throughout North America and Europe, and recorded what became part of Du Pré’s legacy of recordings.

During the two years after the Elgar performance, she sometimes noticed numbness in her fingers. She could not pinpoint the exact time when it started, but she did take a break from the exhaustion of touring and performing in spring 1971 to move in with her sister Hilary in Ashmansworth, Hampshire.

Jacqueline Du Pré – Favourite Cello Concertos album © Discogs

When she resumed concert appearances in 1972, the numbness in her hands grew steadily worse. Her doctors could not explain the condition, but told her it was caused by stress. At a rehearsal for the Brahms Double Concerto in 1973 she needed help to open her cello case and said that she could not feel the strings with her fingers. She had to rely on her eyes to tell where her fingers were placed on the instrument.

Du Pré told Leonard Bernstein that she was unable to play. “Don’t be such a goose“, he told her. “You’re just nervous.” Although she managed three of the concerts, the third ended up as a disaster. That marked her last appearance as a cellist.

As a result, Bernstein took her to a doctor in New York, but neither could he find anything wrong with her. Du Pré began to wonder if she was going mad. Only after several tests in London two years later was she finally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The music world was stunned by the news that she might never play again.

Tributes soon poured in, including an Order of the British Empire (OBE) amongst other honorary degrees. Confined to a wheelchair now, Du Pré continued to contribute to the music world by conducting master classes at the Guildhall School and even conducted several of them on television. However, her health continued to decline. She died in 1987, at the age of forty-two.

In the words of her friend Christopher Nupen, “The loss is still touching the hearts of people all over the world, because this great cellist had ways of reaching the heart that are given to very, very few.“

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis is a nervous system disease that affects communication between the brain and the spinal cord. The inflammatory disease causes the body’s own defense system to attack the myelin sheath, the material that protects the nerve cells around the axons of the brain and spinal cord.

When myelin is lost, the axons can no longer effectively conduct signals. Consequently, the nerve impulses are distorted and interrupted, causing the patient to suffer almost any neurological symptoms including numbness, muscle weakness, difficulty in moving, coordination problems, amongst others.

Multiple Sclerosis usually occurs in young adults and is more common in women than men. Despite the advances in medical science and our knowledge about the disease process, little is known about the cause of the disease. The disease is usually mild but some people may lose the ability to write, speak or walk.

Despite her early departure, Du Pré left us a wonderful legacy of recordings, though her admirers may complain they were not enough. Nevertheless, Du Pré will be remembered for the elegance and ferocity that transcends in her music.

“There is plenty of strength to her playing, and a good measure of romanticism without the romantic string mannerisms of portamento (sliding from note to note) and a fast wide vibrato. She can produce a mellow sound of unusual size and clearly was born to play the cello,” wrote Harold C. Schonberg in The New York Times after her 1967 concert.  

Elgar – his music Cello Concerto. (n.d.). Retrieved August 22, 2011, from Jacqueline du Pré — The concerto’s consummate interpreter?: http://www.elgar.org/3cello-b.htm

Muelle, M. (n.d.). Jacqueline Du Pré. Retrieved August 22, 2011, from Jacqueline Du Pré: http://www.jacquelinedupre.net/jdupre/whoisjdp.htm

New York Times. (1987, October 20). Jacqueline du Pre, Noted Cellist, Is Dead at 42. Retrieved August 22, 2011, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/20/obituaries/jacqueline-du-pre-noted-cellist-is-dead-at-42.html

Zukerman, E. (1999, April 25). Heartstrings. Retrieved August 23, 2011, from Multi-sclerosis: http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/May1999/BookReviewsduPre.html

For more of the best in classical music, sign up to our E-Newsletter

Why Were Opera Singers Fat?

By Desiree Ho

Picture in your head an image of an opera singer. Like many people, you may see the stereotype of a fat lady in an extravagant gown belting it out like there was no tomorrow. Why are opera singers fat? Or, to be more accurate, why is there such a stereotype about opera singers?

The myth about fat opera singers does have some ground in history. In the past, opera consisted of mainly small-scale productions. By the 1800s, composers and opera houses opted for grander, bigger and fancier work, and that included singers who were capable of really belting it out. The theory went that the larger the singer, the greater the lung capacity to ensure a show-stopping performance. Remember, we are talking about a time long before the invention of sound systems and fancy acoustics.

Another myth holds that having a large amount of fatty tissue around the larynx increases resonance capability to produce a pleasing sound. Yet, it is virtually impossible to have a great deal of fatty tissue around the voice box without carrying a great deal of fatty tissue elsewhere on the body. While there doesn’t appear to be any scientific evidence to support any of these theories, a study published in 2001 in the Journal of voice suggested that professional opera singers tend to develop larger rib cages, and hence might look bigger than they really are.

Mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne once said, “Ours is a very lonely profession. Eating is company.” The more successful and popular you become, the further away from home you go, and of course, the more times you end up sleeping alone in a foreign hotel room. Busy rehearsal schedules and tours can get in the way of maintaining a regular schedule consisting of eating and exercising well.

Irregular eating habits may also explain obesity amongst opera singers. Many performers often wait until the evening performance is over before they care to take dinner. The reason is that the feeling of fullness can affect breathing, makes one sleepy, or could even lead to gastric discomfort. Hence, many singers will choose to postpone dinner in order to ensure top form. Moreover, flamboyant celebrations packed with hard-to-resist food, food and more food often follows a successful performance. If you take in the calories and don’t burn it, you will most probably put on weight.

Maria Callas

As controversial as it may sound, most singers actually want to drop the pounds and the “big lady” image that comes with being an opera singer. They try many methods to lose weight—crash diets, diet pills, liquid fasts and so on. However, many are also afraid that losing weight too fast will affect their voices, as it has been known that opera singers who lose a significant amount of weight lose vocal luster as well. Maria Callas’ voice began to deteriorate in the 50s, and many thought it was because she had lost over 30 kilograms. Her voice lost its unique touch, and it was barely enough for her to hold a high pitch.

On the other hand, leading dramatic soprano singer Deborah Voigt made international news when she was sacked from Strauss’ “Ariadne auf Naxos” at Covent Garden in London, because the director found her too big to look right in a black dress that was crucial to his staging concept. The unflattering American catch phrase about opera that “It ain’t over ’til the fat lady sings” was headlined as “The show ain’t over till the fat lady slims” in the British tabloid press. As a result, Ms Voigt, who had been struggling with her weight since adolescence, decided to undergo gastric bypass surgery—one of the most drastic measures to combat obesity. 

Luciano Pavarotti © www.onlineweblibrary.com

Pavarotti also tried to lose weight. However he never truly succeeded. In fact, his former wife used to joke that as long as she could still cook delicious noodles, she didn’t have to worry that Pavarotti’s heart would go astray. Yet in the end, he divorced his wife as well as left us early. Obesity causes diabetes, heart disease, stroke and arthritis. The spinal cord and knees can also deteriorate because of the extra body weight. More importantly, obesity can cause bodily infections that speed up oxidation rates. Through this mechanism, the risk of intestinal cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer and prostate cancers also increase. Research results show that 20% of female and 14% of male deaths in America are due to Obesity. Smoking also increases the risk of pancreatic cancer two-folds. Though Pavarotti admitted that he occasionally smoked cigars, he would only smoke about 10 cigars in the three summer months. Therefore, obesity is probably his cause of pancreatic cancer.

Despite all the medical battles, however, Pavarotti once said, “I think a life for music is a well-spent one, and that’s what I have dedicated mine to.” Perhaps this is how we should remember him—as a musician who devoted his life and work to music.

Did Mozart Suffer From Any Neurobehavioural Disorder?

by Desiree Ho

Once hailed as Time magazine’s top ten cultural figures of the millennium, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) should perhaps also be known as one of the most foul-mouthed classical musicians of all time.

Although the musical genius has passed away for more than 250 years, thanks to the preservation of Mozart’s works, we know for a fact that the prodigy fancied using vulgar language and referring to anal matters in his compositions.

“Kiss my Ass”: Mozart’s Use of Vulgar Language

“Leck mich im Arsch”, which literally translates into “lick my ass” or “kiss my ass” in modern terms, is the title of one of Mozart’s canons which he composed at the age of 26.

Such offensive language was not only evident in his work, but was also prevalent throughout his daily life. Over ten percent of Mozart’s letters are found to contain evidence of scatology, an investigation by Simkin reveals. Scatology is the study of faeces, and in Mozart’s case, it refers to the obsession of obscene language and references to excretory functions (and not in the medical sense). Mozart wrote to his cousin Maria Anna Tekla Mozart on 5 November 1777 saying “I sh*t on your nose, so it runs down your chin”, according to a translation by Spaethling in 2000; and to his father on 17 October 1777, Mozart wrote, “…But I sang a whole different text ‘P.E, o oh you prick, why don’t you kiss my ass…”

In fact, Mozart’s mouth was so foul that experts have suggested that he actually suffered from a complex neurobehavioural disorder called Giles de la Tourette’s Syndrome.

The Tourette’s Syndrome

This is because one of the occasional symptoms of Tourette’s Syndrome is Coprolalia. Coprolalia refers to the involuntary and often compulsive swearing of obscene words or taboo remarks. It comes from the greek word “κόπρος” (kopros), meaning faeces, and “λαλιά” (lalia) from lalein, which means “to talk”. Despite the amount of attention drawn to the condition, it is actually not a necessary symptom required for a Tourette diagnosis. Only about 10% of Tourette patients are reported to suffer from it.

On the contrary, it is the presence of motor and vocal tics (which last for at least one year) that characterise Tourette’s syndrome. Tics are sudden, repetitive movements or sounds that a person makes, usually unconsciously or with only very little control of the muscle groups.

© neuronup.us

Common tics include blinking the eyes very hard, shoulder shrugging, foot stomping, repeated sniffing, repetitive shouting, constant clearing of the throat or grunting. Some tics may even result in self harm, due to head banging or punching one self. Tics can sometimes be worsened when the person is under stress, excitement or anxiety. Patients have described the need to complete a tic or repeatedly carry out the tic in order to decrease the urge or sensation.

Although the exact neuropathology and the cause of the condition is not properly understood, research suggests that it is caused by nerve communication problems in the brain. Disturbance in the balance in neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine may also play a role in Tourette’s. These include abnormalities in parts of the brain, including the basal ganglia, frontal lobes and cortex.

Question: Did Mozart have a neurological disorder, or was it simply his unique personality?

Some argue that Mozart, as a genius in his own right, simply couldn’t care less about what others thought, and did not have an actual neurobehavioral condition. After all, he lived under the public eye as a child prodigy and was aggravated in life by the enormous demands of his father and society. A bit of strong language was simply a way for him to let out his frustrations, and to demonstrate his inner disrespect of the nobilities at the time.

© stamurai.com

Furthermore, the image of a respectable Mozart was probably just a creation of the late 1790s, where society was a little bit more conservative than it is today. It is said that the title of the “Kiss my ass” was changed to “Lasst uns froh sein” when published, meaning, “let’s be happy”. Mozart’s widow, Constanze, is also said to have ensured that Mozart’s letters would not be published immediately upon his death, and that obscene parts of Mozart’s letters would be eliminated in the very first edition.

Some even go on to say that the scatology in Mozart’s letter was simply typical of the conversation styles in southern Mavaria and Salzburg region at that time.

Yet, the case for Mozart’s Tourette syndrome was suggested for the first time at the World Congress of Psychiatry in Vienna in 1983, citing records that show that Mozart was prone to unpredictable and erratic behavior. For example, he had a tendency to trash hotel rooms and refuse to clean. He also had an impressive medical history of possible diseases, leading to the many mysteries surrounding both his life and death.

Nevertheless, the seemingly endless lists of Mozart’s neurobehavioral problems are only speculations. His life was after all very short, especially in today’s terms, so it will remain forever a mystery whether Mozart had a unique personality or an actual neurological disorder.

What we do know however, is that regardless of how foul-mouthed Mozart was, his music will continue to fill our concert halls, shopping malls, and even play on the phone while you are left on hold.