The Adventures of a Cello: Revised Edition, with a New Epilogue

by Carlos Prieto, Elena C. Murray (Translator), Álvaro Mutis (Introduction)

Overview

In 1720, Antonio Stradivari crafted an exquisite work of art—a cello known as the Piatti. Over the next three centuries of its life, the Piatti cello left its birthplace of Cremona, Italy, and resided in Spain, Ireland, England, Italy, Germany, and the United States. In 1978, the Piatti became the musical soul mate of world-renowned cellist Carlos Prieto, with whom it has given concerts around the world.

In this delightful book, Mr. Prieto recounts the adventurous life of his beloved "Cello Prieto," tracing its history through each of its previous owners from Stradivari in 1720 to himself. He then describes his noteworthy experiences of playing the Piatti cello, with which he has premiered some eighty compositions. In this part of their mutual story, Prieto gives a concise summary of his own remarkable career and his relationships with many illustrious personalities, including Igor Stravinsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, Pablo Casals, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriel García Márquez. A new epilogue, in which he describes recent concert tours in Moscow, Siberia, and China and briefer visits to South Korea, Taiwan, and Venezuela, as well as recent recitals with Yo-Yo Ma, brings the story up to 2009.

To make the story of his cello complete, Mr. Prieto also provides a brief history of violin making and a succinct review of cello music from Stradivari to the present. He highlights the work of composers from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal, for whose music he has long been an advocate and principal performer.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781477317860
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	04/01/2018
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	469,740
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.86(d)

About the Author

CARLOS PRIETO is an internationally acclaimed concert cellist who is considered one of Latin America’s premier cellists. His many honors include the National Award for the Arts of Mexico, the French Order of Arts and Letters, the Order of Civil Merit awarded by the King of Spain, the Pushkin Medal from the President of Russia, the Eva Janzer Award (“Chevalier du Violoncelle”) from the University of Indiana, and the Cultural Leadership Citation from the Yale University School of Music. He has recorded over eighty works, including the complete Bach Suites for solo cello, and is the author of seven books.

Table of Contents

• Foreword. The Adventures of a Cello and the Stories and Memories of Its Happy Owner (by Álvaro Mutis)
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction. The Origin and Purpose of This Book
• Part One. A Brief History of Violin Making
  • Chapter 1. Observations on the Origin of Violins and Cellos
  • Chapter 2. Amati, Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù, and the Great Italian Violin Makers
• Part Two. The Adventures of a Stradivari Cello from 1720 to the Present
  • Chapter 3. The Adventures of a Stradivari Cello: From Cremona in 1720 to New York in 1979
  • Chapter 4. A Brief Autobiographical Note
  • Chapter 5. Around the World with the Piatti
  • Chapter 6. My Relationship with the Music and Musicians of Latin America, Spain, and Portugal
• Part Three. A Brief History of Music for Cello from the Time of Stradivari to the Present
  • Chapter 7. The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
  • Chapter 8. From Beethoven to the End of the Nineteenth Century
  • Chapter 9. The Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries: The Cello Comes of Age
• Epilogue
• Appendix 1. Some Principal Works for Cello from the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries (Excluding Ibero-America)
• Appendix 2. Some Principal Works for Cello from the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries (Spain, Portugal, and Latin America)
• Appendix 3. Carlos Prieto's Discography
• Appendix 4. Reviews of Concerts
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index