David Popper (1843-1913) was a Bohemian cellist and composer who had a world-famous orchestra and solo career. In addition, his pedagogical work spread his cello legacy well into the 21st century. He founded the Hubay-Popper-Quartet in Budapest with violinist Jenö Hubay, one of the greatest chamber ensembles of its time. Brahms was their regular guest pianist and they performed his Piano Trio no.1 and no.3. Among his students were Arnold Földesy, Jenő Kerpely, Mici Lukács, Ludwig Lebell and Adolf Schiffer.
Hugo Becker (1863-1941),together with Julius Klengel, were the two summits of the German art of the cello. Becker remained more conservative, with his old-style portamento that didn’t changed even by 1930. Edmund van der Straeten characterizes Becker as “a classical player in the same sense in which we apply that term to Joachim and Piatti.” Nevertheless, although they may have been considered conservative for their time, today their playing would be understood as wildly romantic.
In addition to his great work as a cellist, he also stood out as a cello pedagogue. Becker studied cello playing scientifically, in terms of physiological issues.
Becker had a close relationship with many outstanding musicians like Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann, Fanny Davies, Joseph Joachim and Max Reger, for example, as Musgrave reports in Performing Brahms: Early Evidence of Performance Style (2003), Brahms played the Trio Op. 101 with Hugo Becker and Hugo Heerman, according to Ilona Eibenschütz. Brahms admired Becker's conception of music. He also shared stage with Fanny Davies and Arnold Rosé.
Among his many students were Paul Grümmer, Beatrice Harrison, Arnold Földesy, Gregor Piatigorsky, George Enescu, among others.
Robert Hausmann (1852-1909) performed with Brahms and Joachim (Piano Trio no. 3) and can be considered as one of the great chamber-music players of the second half of the 19thcentury. His friendships with Brahms and Joachim undoubtedly marked his artistic path. His pedagogical legacy wasn’t that important, but “he was a stylish player whom Brahms fully trusted and entrusted, and who was above all a faithful servant of good romantic music.” (David Johnstone, http://www.b3classic.com/pagina_nueva_101.htm)
During his studies at the Berlin Hochschule, he met violinist Joseph Joachim, who was the violin professor there, and who took him to London, where the cellist met Alfredo Piatti for the first time.
Hausmann was an excellent soloist and chamber musician, particularly standing out in his role as cellist in the Joachim Quartet, of which he was a member for almost twenty years (1878-1907).
Although he never used an endpin he was known for his powerful sound.
It was he who made Brahms's E-minor sonata widely known and appreciated, through numerous performances of it together with the composer at the piano. Later Brahms dedicated his new F major Sonata Op.99 to him, which they premiered together. He also played together with Joachim in the premiere of the Double Concerto, Op. 102. What’s more, Brahms at the piano, Mühlfeld on clarinet, and Robert Hausmann on cello, was how Brahms’s Trio for clarinet, cello and piano in A minor Op.114 was debuted.
Cellists Percy Such, Ernst Koch, Philipp Roth, Hugo Dechert and Otto Lüdemann were some of his students.
Julius Klengel (1859-1933) was one of the most important German cellists of the Romantic age, and was just as much a fine soloist and chamber musician as he was a great teacher. He continued the historic line of the ‘Dresden school' founded by Friedrich Dotzauer, After his teacher Grützmacher died, Julius Klengel, together with Hugo Becker, were known as representatives of the school of Grützmacher. They shared fully developed interest in teaching and the compilation of teaching aids and editions and similar artistic tastes such as austerity of interpretation, a rather academic style of playing.
Klengel worked closely with Brahms, Anton Rubinstein and Max Reger, among others.
His students included Guilhermina Suggia, Paul Grümmer, Emanuel Feuermann, Gregor Piatigorsky, among others.
