Davidov, Carl

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Davidov, Carl

Davidov, Carl , outstanding Russian cellist; b. Goldingen, Latvia, March 15, 1838; d. Moscow, Feb. 26, 1889. He studied cello in Moscow with Heinrich Schmidt and in St. Petersburg with K. Schuberth. In 1859 he went to Leipzig, where he studied composition with Hauptmann. In 1860, at the age of 22, he was appointed an instructor at the Leipzig Cons; also played in the Gewandhaus Orch. In 1862 he returned to Russia, and from 1862 to 1887 he was a prof, at the St. Petersburg Cons., and acting director from 1876 to 1887. He made several European tours, during which he played recitals with Anton Rubinstein, Saint-Saens, and Liszt. Davidov was also a reputable composer, numbering among his works 4 cello concertos, a fantasy on Russian songs for Cello and Orch., a symphonic poem, The Gifts of the Terek River, String Quartet, String Sextet, Piano Quintet, and songs. He also publ. a cello method (Leipzig, 1888; Russian ed., supervised by L. Ginsburg, Moscow, 1947).

Bibliography

V. Hutor, C. D. und seine Art das Violoncell zu behandeln (Moscow, 1899); S. Ginsburg, C. D. (Moscow, 1950).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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Davidov, Carl

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