Artist Spotlight: The Duport Brothers

Although the cello, and the violin family in general had replaced the da gamba family by the mid 17th century in Italy, is was scorned elsewhere in Europe. For France, it was a cellist by the name of Martin Berteau (c. 1700-71) who, along with the Duport brothers, changed all that. Berteau was a gambist who switched to the cello, though he still played the bow underhand.

Jean Pierre Duport (1741-1818) was the older of the Duport brothers who studied with Berteau. Son of a Parisian dance master, Jean Pierre studied cello while his younger brother studied violin. Jean Pierre played for nobility and royalty, including Frederick the Great. He was also tutor to Friedrich Wilhelm II, under whom Jean Pierre became the court cellists and met and influenced both Mozart and Beethoven. The two Beethoven's op. 5 cello sonatas were composed for him to play.

Seeing the success of his older brother Jean Louis Duport (1749-1819) switched from violin to study cello under his brother. Like his older brother he both played in court such as the Royal Chapel in Berlin and toured, going to London where he, like his brother, had great success. Voltaire is known to have exclaimed of Jean Louis playing, "I see that you can turn an ox into a nightingale!" referring to the size of the cello. Later Jean Louis returned to Paris and became professor at the Conservatoire, solo cellist the emperor, etc. It is said that Napolean once damaged the cello that Jean Louis played (later played by Rostropovich).

Jean Louis Duport wrote a treatise on cello playing, and although not the first, it is the foundational work for cello playing: "Essay on the fingering of the violoncello and on the conduct of the bow" (1806). He wrote several pieces for the cello of which his difficult 21 Etudes from his treatise are still part of cello repertoire today.

John Louis Duport [image]. Courtesy of the Internet Cello Society, cello.org. Retrieved on August 19, 2016.