OBITUARIES

ANNER BYLSMA

STADELMANN PHOTO SEBASTIAN HÄNEL

Dutch cellist Anner Bylsma died on 25 July at the age of 85

In his long and varied career it is fair to say that Bach loomed large, in performance, writing and through two very different recordings of the Cello Suites made in 1979 and 1992. The first proved hugely influential on a generation of cellists as well as the period instrument performance movement in general, via his pre-eminence in the Dutch Baroque School alongside Gustav Leonhardt, Frans Brüggen and other pioneers.

The second recording was made on Stradivari’s last large-form cello (and one of only three surviving uncut), the ‘Servais’, and on a five-string violoncello piccolo for the Sixth Suite, reflecting scholarship in the intervening years.

Bylsma was a great believer in the essential accuracy (and therefore sanctity) of the Anna Magdalena Bach manuscript of the Cello Suites. He accepted there were some mistakes but not that all performance indications were suspect and therefore optional. In Bach, The Fencing Master, a performance guide-cum-aesthetic treatise, he dug into details, such as slurring patterns, which he believed reflected well-understood performance practice that has since been lost.

‘Three hundred years of opinions of lesser men - always lesser men than Bach have made it impossible to read what it says in the wonderfully clear quill-pen texts, of which we all have copies’, he wrote.

His obsession, alongside close study of the score, was counterpoint, believing that too many players squashed the music into a single line. With gut strings he found a subtlety in articulation which solved the problem of playing polyphonic music on an essentially monophonic instrument.

Of Casals’s totemic influence on how Bach was performed he coyly noted:

Any great personality can ruin the Suites for you if you have no personality of your own. But that is not his fault.’

Born in 1934, Bylsma was first taught by his musician father, going on to attend the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague and winning its Prix d’excellence in 1957 and the 1959 Casals Competition in Mexico.

Bylsma became principal cello for the Dutch National Opera orchestra followed by a six-year stint as principal of the Concertgebouw Orchestra (1962-68) before quitting to pursue his solo and chamber music interests.

With his wife, violinist Vera Beths, and violist Jurgen Kussmaul, he set up a flexible string ensemble, L’Archibudelli the name being a portmanteau of bow and guts - which made a number of recordings of Classical and Romantic repertoire on period instruments.

Bylsma retired from performance in 2006, naturally choosing Bach for his final public recital during the first Amsterdam Cello Biennale. He maintained contact with the cello world through masterclasses and teaching, and was a regular fixture at the Biennale, which named its award after him.

CHRISTIAN STADELMANN

Christian Stadelmann, the leader of the Berlin Philharmonic’s second violin section since 1987, died on 26 July aged 60. Born in Berlin in 1959, Stadelmann started on the violin aged seven with Charlotte Hampe, and then with Berlin Philharmonic concertmasterThomas Brandis at the city’s University of the Arts.

Following his studies he joined the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, before arriving at the Berlin Philharmonic as a second violinist in 1985. Two years later he graduated to section leader. He also played second violin for, and jointly founded, the Philharmonia Quartett Berlin with concertmaster Daniel Stabrawa, principal viola Neithard Resa and cellist Jan Diesselhorst.

He was eloquent in explaining the special role of the second violins, and the unique challenges that come with their role: ‘We second violins always have to find the right balance: on the one hand it’s necessary to give our part an independent profile (which because of its lower register is often not easy), but, on the other, we also frequently have the task of mediating between the first violins and the rest of the orchestra in order to foster unity’, he said.

‘You can actually see that in the two seating arrangements in which we operate: either outside, opposite the first violins, where independence is emphasised; or inside, where it’s much easier for us to promote good ensemble playing. And, because it’s so hard to reduce these two aspects to a common denominator, not every violinist can become a second.’

Cellist Knut Weber, a colleague in the orchestra, said: ‘The early death of Christian Stadelmann has affected us deeply. Not only was he an outstanding musician, but for more than 20 years he represented the Berlin Philharmonic as a member of the Funferrat (council of five). In addition, as a teacher at the Karajan Academy, he trained numerous young violinists, some of whom are now members of our orchestra themselves.’

PAUL BARTEL

The US violinist, educator and luthier Paul Bartel has died following a lengthy battle with cancer.

He was 67.

A graduate of Miami University, Bartel is best known as the long-time owner of the Baroque Violin Shop in Cincinnati,

OH, which he established with the ambition of supporting school music programmes by providing high-quality instruments at low cost. The business, which became one of the largest of its kind in the country, continues to rent out and sell stringed instruments to thousands of students across all 50 states.

In 1995, Bartel purchased the 1850s-era former Masonic Lodge from the city of Wyoming, aiming to transform it into a community arts centre. He conducted a huge renovation at his own expense for what would become the non-profit Wyoming Fine Arts Center. Today, nearly 1,000 people participate each week in various art forms taught by 30 professional teachers there.

In addition, Bartel was a keen musician, who often played his 1680 Stradivari for schoolchildren, to recruit students on behalf of music teachers. ‘He was a guy who was larger than life, always giving, always caring’, said Milan Dukic, executive director of the Wyoming Fine Arts Center. ‘In the early days of the Center, if there was a shortfall, Paul wrote a cheque. He believed in the mission.’