Made to measure

With instrumental technique constantly evolving, writing for the cello required a very high level of knowledge of the instrument: a composer who was not himself a cellist could fail to take full advantage of all its possibilities. Camille Chevillard – whose father was a cellist – undoubtedly had no such limitations, but many other musicians collaborated with virtuosos in order to provide pieces that corresponded as closely as possible to their skills. Such scores are generally dedicated to the cellists: Louis Dumas’s Lamento to Raymonde Marthe (1858-?), Charles Lecocq’s Deux Pièces to Fernand Pollain (1879-1955), and Jean Huré’s Cello Sonata to Pablo Casals (1876-1973). Each piece illustrates not only the style of its composer, but also that of the cellist who first performed it