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

Selected dedicated works

Works dedicated to Adolfo and Berthe Odnoposoff

Cuban composers

• Aurelio de la Vega (de) (Cuba): "Legend of Ariel Criollo" (1953); OCLC 50501494 and 68060070

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

• José Ardévol (Cuba): "Sonatina," for cello and piano, Buenos Aires: Ricordi Americana (publisher) (1955); OCLC 8916551

Mexican composers

• Simón Tapia Colman (ca): "Sonata," for cello and piano, Ediciones Mexicanas de Música (publisher) (1961); OCLC 844449636 and 56190464 (2nd reference is a manuscript copy)
• Rodolfo Halffter: "Sonata," Op. 26, Peer International (publisher) (1962); OCLC 4221521 and 6013060
• Blas Galindo: "Sonata," Ediciones Mexicanas de Música (publisher) (1962); OCLC 5209779, 25094231 and 679420863
• Manuel Enríquez: "Sonatina" (manuscript copy) (1962); OCLC 13272796
• Luis Sandi: "Hoja de Album," for cello and piano, Ediciones Mexicanas de Música (publisher) (1963); OCLC 4221729, 17933546 and 756996988, OCLC 699264931
• Luis Sandi: "Sonatina," for cello and piano, Ediciones Mexicanas de Musica (publisher) (1965); OCLC 14952076 and 699264763
• Eduardo Mata: "Sonata" (1966)

Argentine composers

• Guillermo Graetzer (de): "Concierto para Cello y Orquesta"
• Julio César Brero: "Variaciones sobre un tema italiano"; OCLC 315566810
• Floro Ugarte (es): "Elegia"
• Antonío Tauriello (es): "Diferencias No. 3"

Puerto Rican composers

• Hector Campos Parsi: "Arawak para Cello and Electronic Sounds"
• Luis Antonio Ramírez: "Sonata Elegiaca," for cello and piano (1970)
• Roberto Sierra: "Dialogo No. 1"
• Roberto Sierra: "Salsa on the C String," for cello and piano (1981); OCLC 56020031 and 54789293

Elsewhere

• Paul Csonka (Austria): "Serenata for Cello and Orchestra" (1954); OCLC 45207120
• Roque Cordero (Panama): "Sonata for Violoncello and Piano," Peer International (publisher) (1963) (commissioned by Odnoposoff); OCLC 182106 and 221756947
• Federico Heinlein (es) (Chile): "Sonatina"
• Ninón de Brouwer Lapeiretta (de) (Santo Domingo): "Romanza"
• Martin Mailman (United States): "Clastics: Formations for Solo Cello," Op. 61
• German Borda (Colombia): "Movimiento de Sonata"

Notable performances

• 1947: Odnoposoff debuted in New York at Town Hall, January 29, 1947.^[19]
• 1961: Rodolfo Halffter's "Cello Sonata," Op. 26, was composed between 1959 and 1960 for the second Inter-American Festival, held in Washington in 1961. The composer dedicated it to Adolfo Odnoposoff and his wife, Berthe Huberman. Odnoposoff performed the premiere with Mexican pianist and composer Alicia Urreta on 26 April 1961 in the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium; OCLC 38494922 and 85418923
• 1963–1964 season, Brahms's "Double Concerto," Endre Wolf, violin, and Adolfo Odnoposoff, cello, Palestine Symphony Orchestra, George Singer conducting
• March 1966: Mario Davidovsky's "Synchronisms No. 3" (1964), for cello and electronic sound, San Juan, Puerto Rico^[20]
• 1966: Rházes Hernández-López, "Tres Espacios Para Trio," Third Music Festival of Caracas, Venezuela, performed by Jose Figueroa (violin), Odnoposoff, Héctor Tosar (es) (piano)

Notable music festivals

• January 19–31, 1959, Xalapa, Mexico — Pablo Casals Music Festival; and the Segundo Concurso Internacional de Violonchelo (Second International Cello Competition)

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.

• 1952, Venice Biennale — International Festival of Contemporary Music, La Fenice

Caesar Brero, "Concertino," for cello and small orchestra

Odnoposoff, cello; Rome Symphony Orchestra of Italian Radio, Fernando Previtali, conductor

• 1961, Jerusalem — Inaugural Israel Music Festival (beginning August 18), followed by the Third International Cello Competition (beginning August 23)

Judges (selected by Pablo Casals) included: Maurice Eisenberg (1900–1972), Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Zara Nelsova, Adolfo Odnoposoff, Marta Casals

• November 1976: Concurso Internacional de Violonchelo (International Cello Competition), commemorating the 100th birthday of Pablo Casals, Odnoposoff was an adjudicator and performer during the final night.

Instrument

• Odnoposoff owned and performed on a compound Amati cello, circa 1680.^[21]

Notable former students

• Christopher Adkins (born 1959), principal cellist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (1987–present); former principal cellist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
• Fabio Landa (born 1924), cellist, composer, studied with Odnoposoff in Havana, Cuba^{[22][lower-alpha 2]}

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.

• Adolfo Odnoposoff photo at the Conciertos Daniel website
• Berthe Odnoposoff's bio at the University of North Texas
• Audio sample: Amadeo Roldan (1900–1939), "Punto cubano," Odnoposoff, cello; Huberman, piano

References

Notes

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Inline citations

profession