André Navarra
Encyclopedia
André-Nicolas Navarra was a French
cellist and cello
teacher.
of Italian
descent. His parents took steps to prepare him for music before setting him up with an instrument, teaching him scales
and solfège
before he began studying cello at age seven. Two years later, he was accepted as a student at the Toulouse Conservatory, and graduated in 1924 with first prize at age thirteen. He then continued his studies at the Conservatoire de Paris
, learning cello from Jules Leopold-Loeb and chamber music
from Charles Tournemire
. He graduated two years later at age fifteen, again taking first prize.
After the completion of his lessons at the Conservatoire de Paris, Navarra stopped taking lessons entirely—something very unusual for first-rate soloists. Instead, he worked out his own course of study, and practiced at it. This included transcribing many of the violin
technical methods to make up for a lack of decent cello étude
s, including those of Carl Flesch
and Otakar Ševčík
.
Navarra remained in Paris for this period of self-study, and used the opportunity to meet and observe the playing of musicians such as Emanuel Feuermann
, pianist
Alfred Cortot
, and violin
ist Jacques Thibaud
. Navarra also developed friendships with composers Jacques Ibert
, Florent Schmitt
, and Arthur Honegger
. Later on, he was mentored by Pablo Casals
in regard to artistic matters.
, and remained with them for the next seven years. He also helped form an ensemble called the B.B.N. Trio with pianist Joseph Benvenuti and violinist René Benedetti. Two years later, he made his solo debut with Paris's Colonne Orchestra, performing Édouard Lalo
's Cello Concerto in D minor
. In 1933 he became principal cellist of the Paris Opéra Orchestra, in addition to continuing to appear as a soloist with various Europe
an orchestras.
During these years, Navarra was exceptionally athletic. His favorite sport was swimming
, but he also enjoyed boxing
. This led to Navarra developing an extremely strong and stocky physique which he kept for years afterward. He regarded this as ideal for a cellist, allowing him to dominate the relatively large instrument.
Navarra slowly continued to establish his career throughout the 1930s, receiving a major boost in 1937 when he won first prize at the Vienna International Competition. However, his career was abruptly halted by World War II
in 1939. During this time he abandoned his cello and served with the French infantry
.
, and meanwhile toured extensively in the United States
, Europe
, Asia
, and the Soviet Union
, playing with the era's great conductors. His performances included premieres of cello concertos written for him. Among them was one by André Jolivet
, which Navarra recorded for Erato; it received release in the United States on Westminster XWN-19118 (mono) and WST-17118 (stereo). He also recorded a particularly well-received version of Edward Elgar
's Cello Concerto
with Sir John Barbirolli
conducting.
In addition to his position at the Conservatoire de Paris, Navarra taught summer courses at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana
Siena
from 1954, fall courses in Saint-Jean-de-Luz
and accepted an additional professorship at the Hochschule für Musik
Detmold
in 1958. He also taught in London
and Vienna
.
Navarra recorded Antonín Dvořák's 'Cello Concerto in 1954 with the New Symphony Orchestra of London, conducted by Rudolf Schwarz. Capitol Records released it in 1955, catalog number P 8301.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
cellist and cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
teacher.
Early life
He was born into a musical family, his father a bassistBassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
of Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
descent. His parents took steps to prepare him for music before setting him up with an instrument, teaching him scales
Musical scale
In music, a scale is a sequence of musical notes in ascending and descending order. Most commonly, especially in the context of the common practice period, the notes of a scale will belong to a single key, thus providing material for or being used to conveniently represent part or all of a musical...
and solfège
Solfege
In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
before he began studying cello at age seven. Two years later, he was accepted as a student at the Toulouse Conservatory, and graduated in 1924 with first prize at age thirteen. He then continued his studies at the Conservatoire de Paris
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
, learning cello from Jules Leopold-Loeb and chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
from Charles Tournemire
Charles Tournemire
Charles Tournemire was a French composer and organist, notable partly for his improvisations, which were often rooted in the music of Gregorian chant...
. He graduated two years later at age fifteen, again taking first prize.
After the completion of his lessons at the Conservatoire de Paris, Navarra stopped taking lessons entirely—something very unusual for first-rate soloists. Instead, he worked out his own course of study, and practiced at it. This included transcribing many of the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
technical methods to make up for a lack of decent cello étude
Étude
An étude , is an instrumental musical composition, most commonly of considerable difficulty, usually designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular technical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popularity of the piano...
s, including those of Carl Flesch
Carl Flesch
Carl Flesch was a violinist and teacher.Carl Flesch was born in Moson in Hungary in 1873. He began playing the violin at seven years of age. At 10, he was taken to Vienna, and began to study with Jakob Grün. At 17, he left for Paris, and joined the Paris Conservatoire...
and Otakar Ševčík
Otakar Ševcík
Otakar Ševčík was a Czech violinist and influential teacher. He was known as a soloist and an ensemble player, including his occasional performances with Eugène Ysaÿe.-Biography:...
.
Navarra remained in Paris for this period of self-study, and used the opportunity to meet and observe the playing of musicians such as Emanuel Feuermann
Emanuel Feuermann
Emanuel Feuermann was an internationally celebrated cellist in the first half of the 20th century.-Biography:...
, pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...
Alfred Cortot
Alfred Cortot
Alfred Denis Cortot was a Franco-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most renowned 20th-century classical musicians, especially valued for his poetic insight in Romantic period piano works, particularly those of Chopin and Schumann.-Early life and education:Born in Nyon, Vaud, in the...
, and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist Jacques Thibaud
Jacques Thibaud
Jacques Thibaud was a French violinist.Thibaud was born in Bordeaux and studied the violin with his father before entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of thirteen. In 1896 he jointly won the conservatory's violin prize with Pierre Monteux...
. Navarra also developed friendships with composers Jacques Ibert
Jacques Ibert
Jacques François Antoine Ibert was a French composer. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.Ibert pursued a successful composing career,...
, Florent Schmitt
Florent Schmitt
Florent Schmitt was a French composer.-Early life:A Lorrainer, born in Meurthe-et-Moselle, Schmitt originally took music lessons in Nancy with the local composer Gustave Sandré. Subsequently he entered the Paris Conservatoire. There he studied with Gabriel Fauré, Jules Massenet, Théodore Dubois,...
, and Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger
Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
. Later on, he was mentored by Pablo Casals
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló , known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time...
in regard to artistic matters.
Professional career
In 1929, at the age of eighteen, Navarra joined the Krettly QuartetKrettly Quartet
The Krettly Quartet was a French string quartet musical ensemble active during the 1920s and 1930s. Its repertoire included avant-garde and modern works, and the group made early recordings of some of these.- Personnel :1st violin*Robert Krettly2nd violin...
, and remained with them for the next seven years. He also helped form an ensemble called the B.B.N. Trio with pianist Joseph Benvenuti and violinist René Benedetti. Two years later, he made his solo debut with Paris's Colonne Orchestra, performing Édouard Lalo
Édouard Lalo
Édouard-Victoire-Antoine Lalo was a French composer.-Biography:Lalo was born in Lille , in northernmost France. He attended that city's music conservatory in his youth. Then, beginning at age 16, Lalo studied at the Paris Conservatoire under Berlioz's old enemy François Antoine Habeneck...
's Cello Concerto in D minor
Cello Concerto (Lalo)
Édouard Lalo wrote his Cello Concerto in D minor in 1876, in collaboration with Parisian cellist Adolphe Fischer. The work was premiered the following year at the Cirque d'Hiver with Fischer as soloist.-Form:The concerto is written in three movements:...
. In 1933 he became principal cellist of the Paris Opéra Orchestra, in addition to continuing to appear as a soloist with various Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an orchestras.
During these years, Navarra was exceptionally athletic. His favorite sport was swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, but he also enjoyed boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
. This led to Navarra developing an extremely strong and stocky physique which he kept for years afterward. He regarded this as ideal for a cellist, allowing him to dominate the relatively large instrument.
Navarra slowly continued to establish his career throughout the 1930s, receiving a major boost in 1937 when he won first prize at the Vienna International Competition. However, his career was abruptly halted by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in 1939. During this time he abandoned his cello and served with the French infantry
French Army
The French Army, officially the Armée de Terre , is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces.As of 2010, the army employs 123,100 regulars, 18,350 part-time reservists and 7,700 Legionnaires. All soldiers are professionals, following the suspension of conscription, voted in...
.
Navarra after World War II
In 1945, after a period of practice to regain his physical skills, André Navarra resumed his career. In 1949, he accepted a professorship at the Conservatoire de Paris as a successor to Pierre FournierPierre Fournier
Pierre Fournier was a French cellist who was called the "aristocrat of cellists," on account of his elegant musicianship and majestic sound....
, and meanwhile toured extensively in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, playing with the era's great conductors. His performances included premieres of cello concertos written for him. Among them was one by André Jolivet
André Jolivet
André Jolivet was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet's music draws on his interest in acoustics and atonality as well as both ancient and modern influences in music, particularly on instruments used in ancient times...
, which Navarra recorded for Erato; it received release in the United States on Westminster XWN-19118 (mono) and WST-17118 (stereo). He also recorded a particularly well-received version of Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's Cello Concerto
Cello Concerto (Elgar)
Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Elgar composed it in the aftermath of the First World War, by which time his music had gone out of fashion with the concert-going public...
with Sir John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
conducting.
In addition to his position at the Conservatoire de Paris, Navarra taught summer courses at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana
Accademia Musicale Chigiana
The Accademia Musicale Chigiana is a music institute in Siena, Italy. It was founded by Count Guido Chigi Saracini in 1932 as an international centre for advanced musical studies. It organises Master Classes in the major musical instruments as well as singing, conducting and composition...
Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
from 1954, fall courses in Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Saint-Jean-de-Luz
Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France.Saint-Jean-de-Luz is part of the province Basque of Labourd and the Basque Eurocity Bayonne - San Sebastian .-Geography:...
and accepted an additional professorship at the Hochschule für Musik
Hochschule für Musik Detmold
The University of Music Detmold is one of Germany's leading university-level schools of music, situated in Detmold, Germany.- Academics :...
Detmold
Detmold
Detmold is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of about 74,000. It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947...
in 1958. He also taught in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
.
Navarra recorded Antonín Dvořák's 'Cello Concerto in 1954 with the New Symphony Orchestra of London, conducted by Rudolf Schwarz. Capitol Records released it in 1955, catalog number P 8301.