Adolfo Odnoposoff

Adolfo Odnoposoff
(circa 1945)

Adolfo Odnoposoff (Argentine pronunciation — ah-THAWL-fo awd-no-po-SAWF; 22 February 1917 Buenos Aires – 13 March 1992 Denton, Texas) was an Argentine-born-and-raised cellist of Russian ancestry who concertized for 5 decades in South, Central, and North America, the Caribbean, Europe, Israel, and the former USSR.[1] He had performed as principal cellist in the Israel Philharmonic and many of the important orchestras of Latin America. He had soloed with major orchestras under conductors that include Arturo Toscanini, Erich Kleiber, Fritz Busch, Juan José Castro, Rafael Kubelik, Victor Tevah, Luis Herrera de la Fuente, Carlos Chavez, Paul Kletzki, Luis Ximénez Caballero (es), Willem van Otterloo, Sir John Barbirolli, Eduardo Mata, Antal Doráti, Jorge Sarmientos (es), Erich Kleiber, George Singer (1908–1980),[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] and Anshel Brusilow. He also performed a Khachaturian work under the direction of Khachaturian. Odnoposoff was 4 ft 9 in (1.45 m) tall.

Berthe Odnoposoff, née Huberman

Odnoposoff's wife, Berthe (also spelled Berte and Berta; née Huberman born in Paris) is a widely acclaimed piano virtuoso. Since 1941, when they met in Havana, until his retirement in 1988, she had been his accompanist and chief musical collaborator. In concerts and on recordings, they were often billed as a duo. Composers often inscribed dedications to both Adolfo and Berthe. She is also an influential piano pedagogue.[9][10] Since 1976 (for thirty-nine years), she has been a member of the faculty at the University of North Texas College of Music. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences Degree, a Diploma in piano, and a Diploma in theory and harmony from the Ministry of Education, Havana, Cuba. She not only has mentored aspiring performing artists at the conservatory and collegiate levels, she has developed effective pedagogical approaches for gifted pianists at primary and secondary school ages.

Career

Formal education

Beginning around 1930, Odnoposoff studied with Emanuel Feuermann and Paul Grümmer at the Music High School in Berlin (die Hochschule für Musik zu Berlin, which, as of 2001, has been known as Berlin University of the Arts). 1930 coincided with the coup d'état in Argentina. In 1932, he moved to Paris, entering École Normale de Musique, where, in 1935, he earned a concert and teaching diploma. While there, he studied cello with Diran Alexanian, a colleague of Pablo Casals.

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

1936, Odnoposoff, seeking refuge from the Third Reich because he was a Jew,[11] moved to Tel Aviv, where he became a founding member of the Israel Philharmonic for its inaugural 1936–1937 season. He had performed with the orchestra, then called the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, in various roles, including that of principal cellist and soloist. The orchestra was founded by Bronisław Huberman, a cousin once removed of Odnoposoff's future wife, Berthe Huberman.[lower-alpha 1]

The Americas

From 1938 to 1941, Odnoposoff was principal cellist with The National Symphony Orchestra of Peru. In 1940, he was a founding member of the Chile Cuarteto de Cuerdas (Chile String Quartet) — with Willie McDermott (violin), Raúl Martínez (viola), Fredy Wang (Alfredo Wang; 1918–2004) (violin), sponsored by The Institute of Musical Extension at the University of Chile. He held that chair until 1944. From 1944 to 1958, he was principal cellist of the Orquesta Filarmónica de La Habana.[12] In January 1959, Fidel Castro's revolutionaries overtook Havana. Within 6 months, Castro became the new president and restructured Cuba as a communist state. From 1958 to 1961, Odnoposoff was cellist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico. While in Mexico, he taught at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. From 1964 to 1974, Odnoposoff, at the invitation of Pablo Casals, taught at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. For 10 years, he was head of the Cello Department and served as the right-hand man of Casals, director of the conservatory that he founded.[13] Casals died on October 22, 1973.

United States

During the 1975–1976 academic year, Odnoposoff became a visiting professor at the University of North Texas College of Music following an extensive tour of the Soviet Union — while still holding the post as Professor of Cello and Chamber Music at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. He and his wife soon became a full-time professors at North Texas. In 1977, his friend, Eduardo Mata became the conductor of the Dallas Symphony. Odnoposoff remained active teaching and concertizing until his retirement in 1988, whereupon North Texas awarded him Professor Emeritus status. His wife, Berthe, is still a professor of music at North Texas.[14][15]

Legacy in Latin American classical music

Odnoposoff was an influential exponent of Latin classical music, notably works by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Alberto Ginastera, Blas Galindo Dimas, Rodolfo Halffter. He presented numerous lectures, master classes, and concerts throughout the Western Hemisphere on that theme.

Selected discography

Odnoposoff, cello; Elvira Savi (es) (1920–1913)
Odnoposoff, cello; Huberman, piano
Side B
  1. Alberto Ginastera, "Pampeana No. 2" for cello and piano, Op. 21
Odnoposoff, cello; Huberman, piano
Recorded on November 21, 1968
Granados, "Intermezzo" from the opera Goyescas
Odnoposoff, cello; Huberman, piano
Odnoposoff, cello, Huberman, pianist,
  1. José Ardévol, "Sonatina For Cello And Piano"
a)   "Andantino"
b)   "Slow-vivo"
c)   "Alegretto"
  1. Amadeo Roldán: Two Popular Songs
a)   "Cuban Point"
b)   "Vueltabajo Guajira" ("The Babbling Brook")
  1. Aurelio de la Vega, "Legend of Ariel Criollo"
  2. Pedro Menéndez, "Black Canto"
String Orchestra of CMZ Radio, Havana, José Ardévol, conductor
  1. Harold Gramatges, "Serenade For String Orchestra"
a)   "Allegretto"
b)   "Andante Moderato"
c)   "Allegro"
National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba conducted by Jean Constantinesco
Live performance, Auditorium Theatre in 1960
  1. John White, "Elegy"
Unnamed composition of Pablo Casals
Olga Iglesias, soprano; Emilio Belaval, tenor; Odnoposoff, cello; Huberman, piano, Jesús María Sanromá, piano
"Reverie," for cello and piano, Odnoposoff; cello, Huberman, piano
Recorded 1974–1975 at the Ochoa and Echo Sound Studios, Puerto Rico
  • Aurelio de la Vega (de), Legend of the Creole Ariel (audiotape) (no date); Hans Moldenhauer Collection, Harvard University, Call No. MS Mus 261, Item 2091
Odnoposoff, cello; Huberman, piano
Includes also Quintet for winds (1959), with the Westwood Woodwind Quintet
Moldenhauer, Hans, collector. The Moldenhauer Archives at Harvard University
  • Third Music Festival of Caracas, digital files (WAV; 96–kHz, 24 bit)
OCLC 156754147 (works 1–3), OCLC 75376441 (works 4–5), OCLC 6937092 (work 4), OCLC 7052709 (work 5), OCLC 914793156 (work 5)
Live performance, Third Music Festival of Caracas, Venezuela, May 12, 1966
  1. Halffter: "Sonata," Op. 26
a)   "Allegro deciso"
b)   "Tempo de siciliana"
c)   "Rondó: Allegro"
  1. Vega (de): "Legend of Ariel Criollo"
  2. Ginastera, "Pampeana No. 2"
Odnoposoff, cello; Huberman, piano
  1. Sergio Cervetti (es), "Cinco Episodios Para Trio" ("Five Movements For Trio")
  2. Salas, "Trio" Op. 58
José Figueroa, violin; Odnoposoff, cello; Elias López, piano
José Madera, violin; Guillermo Figueroa, viola; Odnoposoff, cello
  1. Luis Antonio Ramírez (1923–1995): "Sonata Elegiaca," for cello and piano
Odnoposoff, cello; Huberman, piano
Recorded July & August 1971 at the Ochoa Sound Studio
  1. Hector Campos Parsi: "Petroglifos," for violin, cello and piano
José Figueroa, violin; Odnoposoff, cello; Jesús María Sanromá, piano
Recorded in concert at the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, October 8, 1967
Side A
  1. Galindo: "Sonata"
  2. Ponce: "Tres preludios"
Side B
  1. Halffter: "Sonata," Op. 26
a)   "Allegro deciso"
b)   "Tempo de siciliana"
c)   "Rondó: Allegro"
  1. Revueltas: two selections from "Siete canciones" ("Seven Children's Songs")
a)   "Cancion de cuna" ("Cradle Song")
b)   "Los cinco horas" ("The Five Hours")
  1. Sandi: "Hoja de albúm" ("Sheet album")
Odnoposoff, cello; Huberman, piano
Odnoposoff, cello; Huberman, piano

Selected dedicated works

Wikipedia
interlanguage
link codes
es = Spanish
de = German
ca = Catalan

Works dedicated to Adolfo and Berthe Odnoposoff

Cuban composers

Premiered by Adolfo and Berthe in Havana in 1954 at a concert of the Sociedad de Conciertos; it was immediately recorded by Panart as an LP that included works by other Cuban composers, such as Amadeo Roldán, Pedro Menéndez, and José Ardévol (see Selected discography above); Vega (de) dedicated the work to the marriage of Odnoposoff and Huberman.[18] The work was published in the Washington, D.C., in 1955 by the Pan American Union

Mexican composers

Argentine composers

Puerto Rican composers

Elsewhere

Notable performances

Notable music festivals

Judges' panel: Blas Galindo, Pablo Casals, Gaspar Cassadó, Adolfo Odnoposoff, Maurice Eisenberg (1900–1972), Rubén Montiel Viveros (1892–1985), André Navarra, Zara Nelsova, Mstislav Rostropovich, Miloš Sádlo, and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Caesar Brero, "Concertino," for cello and small orchestra
Odnoposoff, cello; Rome Symphony Orchestra of Italian Radio, Fernando Previtali, conductor
Judges (selected by Pablo Casals) included: Maurice Eisenberg (1900–1972), Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Zara Nelsova, Adolfo Odnoposoff, Marta Casals

Instrument

Notable former students

Musical family

Adolfo was one of three children born in Buenos Aires to the marriage of Mauricio (altnernate spelling: Moisés) Odnoposoff and Juana (née Veinstien; alternate spelling Weinstien).

Alolfo's brother, Ricardo Odnoposoff (de) (1914–2004), was the former concertmaster of Vienna Philharmonic.

Adolfo's sister, Nélida Odnoposoff (born 1919), was a critically acclaimed Argentine concert pianist[19] whose European debut was in 1935 in Berlin. Growing up in Buenos Aires, she had been a protégée of the Argentine pianist Edmundo Piazzini (es), and in Berlin, she studied with Hansi Freudberg. Nélida concertized until the late 1950s. During the early 1940s, was associated with the Opera and Ballet of Montevideo[23] and had soloed with important orchestras of Latin America.[24][25][26][27][28]

Mauricio Odnoposoff had emigrated from Russia to Argentina with his father. When Ricardo, Adolfo, and Nélida were studying music in Germany, Mauricio and Juana Odnoposoff moved to Germany.

Adolfo met his wife, Berthe (né Huberman; born in Paris) in Cuba in 1941, when he was principal cellist with the Havana Symphony.[29] Berthe was a young aspiring concert pianist. She is a first cousin once removed of the violinist Bronislaw Huberman[lower-alpha 1][30][31] and also the sister-in-law of Mexican poet Angelina Muñiz-Huberman, PhD.

Adolfo, his wife, and his brother performed their final concert together in 1986 — and billed it as a farewell — playing Beethoven's Triple Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra of Guatemala under the direction of Jorge Sarmientos (es).[21]

Adolfo Odnoposoff maintained his Argentine citizenship; although, in 1977 Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe made him an honorary citizen of the State of Texas, and presented him a commemorative plaque.[29]

The surname, Odnoposoff, has various spellings (typically "z" instead of "s" and "v" instead of "ff"). But under this particular spelling, the name faces extinction in the Western Hemisphere. Of the two males born to Mauricio and Juana Odnoposoff, (i) Ricardo Odnoposoff (de) and his wife Hilde had one daughter, Henriette Helene Odnoposoff, who, in 1978, married David Mark Hume (born 1952); (ii) Adolfo and Berthe had one daughter, Alina M. Odnoposoff (born 1954), who married Mark J. Heller (born 1954).

External links

Conciertos Daniel, an artist management agency, managed the concert tours of Adolfo Odnoposoff. Primarily a family business, three generations of family members managed Odnoposoff.

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 Berthe Huberman's grandfather, Avraham Huberman (born 1852), had three brothers, one of whom was Yaakov Huberman (1852–1902); Bronislaw Huberman was Yaakov's son.

  2. Fabio Landa (born 23 March 1924 Villa Clara Province, Cuba) was a Cuban composer, cellist, and conductor who studied piano with Adolfo Odnoposoff and the cello with Ernesto Xancó at the Havana Municipal Conservatory. He also played guitar and clarinet. Landa was a cellist in the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra from 1946 to 1958 and the Cuban Radio and TV Orchestra from 1953 to 1959. He was also a member of two Havana quartets, one of which was the José White String Quartet, named for Cuba's greatest violinist of the 19th and 20th centuries. (Music Online)

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Inline citations
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  2. London Diary for April, by Peter Brown The Musical Times, Vol. 104, No. 1441, March 1963, pg. 231; ISSN 0027-4666
  3. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
    Sixth edition, revised by Nicolas Slonimsky, London: Collier Macmillan Publishers (1978); OCLC 830628576
    Seventh edition, revised by Nicolas Slonimsky, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Schirmer Books (1984); OCLC 52719848
    Eighth edition, revised by Nicolas Slonimsky, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co. (1992); OCLC 24246972
    Ninth edition, edited by Laura Kuhn, New York: Schirmer Books (2001); OCLC 44972043
  4. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Classical Musicians, by Nicolas Slonimsky, New York: Schirmer Books (1997); OCLC 36111932
  5. International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory, 12th Edition, 1990–1991, Cambridge, England: International Who's Who in Music (1990); OCLC 28065697
  6. Who's Who in Music and Musicians' International Directory, Sixth edition, New York: Hafner Publishing Co. (1972); OCLC 9991844
  7. The Penguin Dictionary of Musical Performers, by Arthur Jacobs, London: Viking (1990); OCLC 21080776
  8. The New York Times Biographical Service, Vol. 23, Numbers 1- 12, Ann Arbor, University Microfilms International (1992); ISSN 0161-2433
  9. Who's Who of American Women, 26th edition 2007, New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who (2006); OCLC 429406965, ISSN 0270-2940
  10. Who's Who in the World, 24th edition, 2007, New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who (2006); OCLC 449902472, 182761457 and 427525629, ISSN 0083-9825
  11. Trayectorias musicales judeo-argentinas (Jewish-Argentine musical careers), by Ana Epelbaum Weinstein, Miryam Esther Gover de Nasatsky, and Roberto B. Nasatsky, Buenos Aires: Editorial Milá, AMIA (1998), pps. 178 & 181; OCLC 42706538
  12. Orquesta filarmónica de La Habana: Memoria, 1924–1959, by Maruja Sánchez Cabrera, Ministerio de Cultura: Editorial Orbe (1979); OCLC 10824373
  13. La música en el Caribe, Guayabo, Apunte interior, by Carlos Vázquez, University of Puerto Rico (1992); OCLC 639907055, ISBN 978-0-8477-2505-2
  14. Western Violoncello Art of the 19th and 20th Centuries, Excluding Russian and Soviet Schools, by Lev Ginzburg, Paganiana Publications (1983); OCLC 10734135
  15. Adolfo Odnoposoff, Cellist, 75, The New York Times, March 18, 1992
  16. Record Review: Discos-Radio, Revista Musical Chilena (chronicle] (www.revistamusicalchilena.uchile.cl), Vol. 1, No. 6, October 1945, pg. 41; ISSN 0717-6252
  17. Ginastera: A Discography, Lewis Foreman, Tempo, New Series, No. 118 (Sep., 1976), pp. 17–22
  18. Redescubrir a Aurelio de la Vega, by Roberto Méndez, Palabra Neuva palabranueva.net (magazine of the Archdiocese of Havana), October 2010, No. 200
  19. 1 2 Adolfo Odnoposoff In Recital On Cello, New York Times, January 30, 1947
  20. Concert Life in Puerto Rico, 1957-1992: Views and Reviews, by Donald Thompson and Francis Schwartz, University of Puerto Rico (1998), pg. 36; OCLC 37890534
  21. 1 2 Biography: Adolfo Odnoposoff, by Igor Sarmientos, Cellist Database (Karel Bredenhorst, webhost), 11 June 2007 (retrieved 20 December 2013)
  22. "Landa, Fabio," by Olavo Alén Rodriguez, Oxford Music Online (retrieved August 18, 2015); OCLC 5104829627
  23. The Teatro Solís: 150 Years of Opera, Concert and Ballet in Montevideo, by Susana Salgado, Wesleyan University Press (2003); OCLC 51769151
  24. Exploring the Musical Mind, by Jacob Kwalwasser (1894–1977), Coleman-Ross Co. (1955); OCLC 604744
  25. Gran Enciclopedia Argentina (in vol. 6 of 8 vols.), Diego Abad de Santillán (ed.), Buenos Aires: Ediar (1956–1963); OCLC 1328278, LCCN 56-57422
  26. Músicos exiliados del nazismo en la Argentina (1932–1943), by Josefina Irurzun, Revista Brasileira de História das Religiões (journal), Vol. 5, No. 15, January 2013 ISSN 1983-2850
  27. Cien años de música argentina: precursores, fundadores, contemporáneos, directores, concertistas, escritores, by Oreste Schiuma, Asociación Cristiana de Jóvenes (YMCA) (1956), Page 316; OCLC 16451888
  28. 20,000 Biografías Breves, Eduardo Cárdenas (ed.), Libros de América, (1963), pg. 622; OCLC 425270
  29. 1 2 NTSU Cello-Piano Duo Tours Latin America and Russia, NTSU Notes, September 1977, pps. 11 & 12; OCLC 6810954
  30. Who's Who of American Women, 26th edition, 2007, New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who (2006); ISSN 0083-9841
  31. Who's Who in the World, 24th edition, 2007, New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who (2006); ISSN 0083-9825

profession

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