Cello

A Journey Through Silence to Sound

Kate Kennedy

A cello has no language, yet it possesses a vocabulary wide enough to tell, bear witness, and make connections across time and continents—a feat brought to life in this brilliant new book.

In this luminous narrative, Kate Kennedy, a writer and cellist herself, weaves together the story of four cellists who suffered various forms of persecution, injury, and misfortune. The stories are those of the forgotten Jewish cellist Pál Hermann, who is likely to have been murdered by the Nazis in Lithuania during the Holocaust; Lise Cristiani, another forgotten performer, who is considered to be the first female professional cello soloist and who embarked on an epic concert tour of Siberia in the 1850s taking with her a Stradivarius cello that can be seen to this day in a museum in Cremona in northern Italy; Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who played in the orchestra at Auschwitz and survived spells in both that camp and in Bergen-Belsen; and Amedeo Baldovino of the Trieste piano trio, whose 'Mara' Stradivarius was lost in a shipwreck in the River Plate between Buenos Aires and Uruguay but later recovered from the water and repaired.

Interwoven with these remarkable and often moving stories are a series of 'detours' that offer a foil to these remarkable lives. Cello examines the themes explored in the narratives from different perspectives, drawing together historical research, personal experience, and interviews and encounters with contemporary cellists in this unique book that will resonate long after the final page.

Kate Kennedy is one of the foremost critics of twentieth century music of her generation and is frequently heard on Radio 3. She is an Associate of the English Faculty at Oxford, where she lectures on twentieth century literature and biography. She is the author of Dweller in Shadows: A Life of Ivor Gurney. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, Co-Director of the Oxford Centre for Life-writing, and Director of the Centre for the Study of Women Composers.

Buy it now in print: Amazon Barnes & Noble IndieBound

Buy it now in ebook: Amazon Barnes & Noble Apple Kobo

Endorsements & Reviews

"This distinctive title gives readers vivid insight into the lives of four fascinating cellists. It also pays homage to the uniqueness of cellos." Library Journal

"Impeccably researched, gracefully written, and full of insight, this book will resonate with musicians and music lovers." Booklist

“Kate Kennedy takes a bird’s-eye view of four lives and five centuries as she turns her own instrument, the cello, into a prism. Part history, biography and auto-biography, with digressions into anthropology, acoustics and aesthetics and an intriguing cast of characters, Cello sings richly.” The Spectator

“It is the cello’s capacity to live materially and biographically that Kate Kennedy explores in this strikingly original book. She organizes her account around four European cellists in the 19th and 20th centuries whose difficult and dangerous lives extended far beyond the good manners of the concert hall.” The Times (London)

"A deeply humane tribute to the partnership between composer, musician and instrument." Gwyneth Lewis, acclaimed Welsh poet and author of Why Mothers Died and How Their Lives Are Saved

"A wonderfully evocative journey of exploration and contemplation." Robin Lustig, author of Is Anything Happening? 

"A love-letter to cellos and cellists, a gripping quest across Europe for lost and sometimes miraculously re-found instruments." Hermione Lee, acclaimed critic and author of Tom Stoppard: A Life

"A beautiful, richly fascinating book – a love song to the cello which, as if a character, lives within the lives of those musicians who play it." Stephen Hough, classical pianist, composer, and author of Enough: Scenes from Childhood

"A rare musical adventure. Brimming with life... and at times heartbreaking." Jenny Uglow, acclaimed biographer and author of The Quentin Blake Book

"An excellently researched, thoroughly absorbing account of a personal voyage of musical discovery." Steven Isserlis, acclaimed cellist and author of The Bach Cello Suites: A Companion