Description

PAULO MESDAG GRUPPE (KATWYK-ANN-ZEE, NETHERLANDS, 1 SEPTEMBER, 1891 – ROCHESTER, USA, 17 AUGUST, 1979)

The son of artist Charles Paul Gruppe, whose other children also became artists (the most famous was Emil Albert Gruppe). He received his middle name in honor of the artist H. V. Mesdag, one of his father’s teachers.

He grew up in the Netherlands. He began playing the violin at the age of seven, switching to the cello a year later. He studied at the Hague Conservatory with Charles van Isterdaal, then in Berlin with Iosif Malkin, in Paris privately with Joseph Salmon and Guilhermina Suggia, and at the Paris Conservatory with Pablo Casals, graduating in 1907. That same year, he made his debut with a solo concert in The Hague. He performed in various European countries, and in 1912 he was part of the group of musicians that accompanied the British performances of the ballerina Anna Pavlova. In 1909, he toured the United States for the first time, then returned there with concert tours every year, until in 1913, together with his entire Gruppe family, he settled in the United States permanently. He toured widely throughout the American provinces as a soloist and as part of Carl Tollefsen’s piano trio. Later he also performed as an orchestral musician: in 1937-1938 he was the cello concertmaster in the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and in 1947-1949 he was in the Utah Symphony Orchestra (he occasionally performed with them as a soloist – in particular, he performed Robert Schumann’s cello concerto with the Utah Symphony Orchestra.

He left several recordings, including the first recording of Antonín Dvořák’s Rondo for Cello and Piano (1913, piano Charles Gilbert Spross) and David Popper ‘s Vito (from the Spanish Dances series, 1918, piano Philip Hauser). He published a textbook, A Reasonable and Practical Approach to the Cello (1964).

He was married to the Belgian-born violinist Camille Plasschaert (French: Camille Louise, Dutch:  Plasschaert; 1892–1975), and performed with her in his younger years.

TRACKLIST

1. Canzonetta (D’Ambrosio) Hans van den Burg (piano) 2412 Edison 8/15/1913
2. Chant sans paroles (Tchaikovsky) 80110 2419 Edison 8/21/1913
3. O wert thou in the cauld blast (Mendelssohn) Eleonora de Cisneros (mezzo-soprano) 28040, BA 28180 Edison 4-min cylinders, New York 1912
4. Rondo (Dvořák) Hans van den Burg (piano) 2420 80326 Edison 8/21/1913
5. Simple aveu (Thomé) Max Herzberg (piano) 2784 80068 Edison 1914
6. Spanische Tänze Op. 54, No. 5 (Vito) Max Herzberg (piano) 28014 Edison 1912
7. Tannhäuser (Wagner) O du mein holder Abendstern Max Herzberg (piano) 2785 80084 Edison 1914
8. Tarantelle (Popper) 3011 80110 Edison 1914
9. The swan (Saint-Saëns) 2410 Edison 8 15 1913
10. Träumerei (Schumann) 3010 80071 Edison 1914