David Soyer Archives

Schools of Cello Playing: Russia and Armenia

Reprinted with permission from Interlude. Karl Davidov Another important school of cello playing was developed in Russia, founded by the brilliant cellist and composer Karl Davidov. Named the “Czar of Cellists” by none other than the composer Tchaikovsky, Davidov was born in Russia, (now Latvia), in 1838. Soon after his birth the family moved to Moscow. Davidov showed great musical talent at a very young age, but his father, a doctor and amateur violinist, insisted Karl not only study cello and piano, but also mathematics. Davidov completed his mathematics degree at St. Petersburg University before he focused on music as a career. Davidov’s first cello lessons were with Henrich Schmidt in Moscow and then Karl Schuberth in St Petersburg. Davidov, whose intentions were to become a composer, had [...]

By Janet Horvath|2024-07-05T20:10:52-04:00March 18th, 2022|Categories: Historical|Tags: German School, Leo Stern, Schools of Cello Playing, Hanus Wihan, Pablo Casals, Friedrich Grützmacher, Alexander Wierzbilowicz, Bernard Greenhouse, Julius Klengel, Alfred von Glehn, Gregor Piatigorsky, Janet Horvath, Joseph Joachim, Feuermann, Karl Davidov, Fournier, David Soyer, Russian School, Enesco, Diran Alexanian, Armenian School, Raya Garbusova, Hugo Becker, Davidov Cello Concerto, Mischa Schneider, Antonio Janigro, Franco-Belgian School, Carl Fuchs|

Objects — by Arnold Steinhardt

Last summer I was once again a participant in the Marlboro Music Festival. As always, the school generously provided my wife, Dorothea, and me with a house off campus. This time we were given the former home of David Soyer, the cellist of our Guarneri String Quartet for thirty-seven of its forty-five-year existence. Dave passed away in 2010, his wife, Janet, in 2011. I knew Dave and Janet’s house rather well, a charming, rustic old place set in the woods, and I looked forward to staying in it. When people asked me whether I wouldn’t feel funny living in their house now that they were gone, I laughed and said no at first without really thinking much about it. But then I began to wonder whether Dave and Janet would [...]

By Arnold Steinhardt|2018-03-18T18:30:07-04:00March 4th, 2014|Categories: Interpersonal Relationships|Tags: remembrance, students, In the Key of Strawberry, Spoleto, teacher, incisiveness, string quartet, intelligence, Italy, posters, Jacqueline du Pré, memories, Marlboro Music Festival, David Soyer, memory-inducing objects, Arnold, musical world, career, Guarneri String Quartet, obituary, cello, Steinhardt, Peter Wiley, cellobello, beauty of phrasing|

Dave — by Arnold Steinhardt

David Soyer, cellist and founding member of the Guarneri String Quartet, passed away on February 26, 2010—one day after his 86th birthday. Michael Tree, violist, and John Dalley and I, violinists, the other founding members, played in the quartet with Dave for almost forty years and we knew him for close to fifty. Peter Wiley, a former cello student of Dave’s and his successor in the Guarneri Quartet, has known him for easily forty years. Given the close musical and personal relationship that we had with Dave stretching over decades, it is hard to believe that he is no longer with us. Dave and I first met at the Marlboro Music School—quite literally at a rehearsal for Brahms B Major Piano Trio. In the course of that two-hour rehearsal, I [...]

By Arnold Steinhardt|2017-09-28T04:16:26-04:00February 24th, 2014|Categories: Artistic Vision, Chamber Music, Interpersonal Relationships|Tags: impeccable intonation, tribute, John Dalley, Travel, David Soyer, Marlboro Music School, musicians, Arnold, Michael Tree, David, bold, Steinhardt, cellist, Brahms B Major piano trio, University of Michigan, Touring, distinctive, writer, Ford Honors, Arnold Steinhardt, Soyer, Ford Motor Company, cello, bow control, Guarneri String Quartet, cellobello, Style, historian, music, artist|

What Makes a Baroque Cellist — by Guy Fishman

I was once accused of playing like a baroque cellist. It was most certainly an accusation, and I don’t know what the coach was hoping to achieve by framing her opinion of my playing in such terms. Suffice it to say I was insulted, and the funny thing is, I don’t even know why. Okay, I was playing Brahms’s F major sonata, on a cello that had an endpin and two steel strings (the other two were wound gut). My partner was playing a Steinway M. Furthermore, and perhaps most revealing, is the fact that by the time I was being coached on this piece, during my second year of doctoral studies at New England Conservatory, I had already won a position with Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society, the nation’s [...]

By Guy Fishman|2021-07-26T15:08:11-04:00October 25th, 2013|Categories: Artistic Vision, Baroque|Tags: interest, cello, academic, Jascha Heifetz, cellobello, Baroque, Matt Haimovitz, cellists, Boccherini, modern playing, Bach Suites, Carter Brey, prominence, performance, critic, Vivaldi, experiments, David Soyer, Yo-Yo Ma, possibility, dual careers, Pablo Casals, Anner Bylsma, endpins, Brahms, curiosity, gut strings, Paul Katz, teachers, historically-informed performance, Beethoven, New York|

I Found my “Dream Quartet” in an Unexpected Industry — by Margo Drakos

My love for string quartets drew me to the cello, or rather, it motivated me to practice. It isn’t just the repertoire—I was hooked by the music the first time I ever heard the early Guarneri recording of the Cavatina and Grosse Fuge. I love the idealist concept of a quartet, and the feeling of playing an individual voice that joins together with three other voices to form a single interdependent expression. I also love the cellist’s role in a quartet, as it requires a multitude of skills. At once the quartet cellist is the anchor, sometimes quietly without notice, sometimes with declarative strength, sometimes a supportive counterpart, yet at other times is the prominent, docile melody. I have taken great pride in seeking the seemingly unattainable perfection of [...]

By Margo Drakos|2017-10-16T03:44:15-04:00April 29th, 2011|Categories: Beyond the Traditional, Chamber Music, Interpersonal Relationships|Tags: Soyer, Quartet, colleagues, strength, goals, support, motivation, respect, sustain, practicing, concepts, David Soyer, repertoire, dreams, inspiration, environment, career, string quartet, influences, cello, David, melody, cellobello, communication, organization, music, experiences, skills, opportunity|