Evangeline Benedetti gives a master class on Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 1, in C major, second movement.
Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major was composed in the early 1760s as a present for longtime friend Joseph Franz Weigl, then star cellist in the Esterházy court orchestra. After its initial premiere the work went missing until 1961, when a musicologist re-discovered a copy of the score at the Prague National Museum. Some doubts persist about the authenticity of the work, but most experts believe in the work's authenticity. Whatever its history, the concerto has become a standard in the cello repertoire, and many famous artists, including Jacqueline du Pré, Yo-Yo Ma, Julian Lloyd Webber, Pierre Fournier, Truls Mørk, Mstislav Rostropovich, Pieter Wispelwey, Heinrich Schiff, Lynn Harrell, and Sol Gabetta have recorded it.
In 1967 Evangeline Benedetti was invited by Leonard Bernstein himself to become a member of the New York Philharmonic, the first female cellist and the second tenured woman. She remained an active and integral member for more than 40 years, during which time she played nearly 8,000 concerts and participated in countless recordings and television productions including the renowned Young People's Concerts conducted by Bernstein. Mrs. Benedetti served for 20 years on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music and is a sought after master clinician and guest artist. She currently lives in New York, where she teaches, continues to perform and serves on the boards of The Bloomingdale School of Music and The ViolonCello Society of New York. In 2016 her book “Cello, Bow and You: Putting It All Together”, was published by the Oxford University Press.
