Anner Bylsma (born Anne Bijlsma; 17 February 1934 – 25 July 2019) was a Dutch

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

who played on both modern and period instruments in a historically informed style. He took an interest in music from an early age. He studied with Carel van Leeuwen Boomkamp at the

Royal Conservatory of The Hague The Royal Conservatoire (, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Netherlands. Since September 2021, t ...

and won the ''Prix d'excellence'' in 1957. In 1959, he won the first prize in the

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. By 1961, he was using a new spelling of his first and last names for recordings and performances at the suggestion of his manager. For six years, from 1962 to 1968, he was the principal cellist of the

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, established in 1888 at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). It is considered one of the world's leading orchestras. It was known as the Concertgebouw Orchestra u ...

. He became an Erasmus Scholar at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1982. He was the author of the book ''Bach, the Fencing Master'', a stylistic and aesthetic analysis of

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

cello suites The six Cello Suites, BWV 1007–1012, are suites for unaccompanied cello by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). They are some of the most frequently performed solo compositions ever written for cello. Bach most likely composed them during the p ...

. He was one of the pioneers of the "Dutch Baroque School" and rose to fame as a partner of

Frans Brüggen Franciscus ("Frans") Jozef Brüggen (30 October 1934 – 13 August 2014) was a Dutch Conducting, conductor, recorder player and baroque flautist. Biography Born in Amsterdam, Brüggen was the youngest of the nine children of August Brüggen, a t ...

and

Gustav Leonhardt Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments. Leo ...

, who toured extensively together and made many recordings. Bylsma continued to be a towering figure in the baroque cello movement. In 1979, Bylsma recorded the six suites for unaccompanied cello (BWV 1007–1012) by J. S. Bach, the first of its kind on a period instrument. He later went on to recreate the same music in 1992 on the large Servais Stradivarius and on a five-string violoncello piccolo. Bylsma was married to the Dutch violinist Vera Beths (mother of Dutch actress

Katja Herbers Katja Mira Herbers (born 19 October 1980) is a Dutch actress. She is best known for portraying Dr. Helen Prins on the WGN America drama series ''Manhattan'' (2014–2015), Emily Grace in the HBO science fiction drama series ''Westworld'' (2018� ...

). He had a son and a daughter, documentary filmmaker Carine Bijlsma.

References

External links

*
Interview with Anner Bylsma
April 18, 1989 * Anner Bylsma: ''Bach, the fencing master: Reading aloud from the first three cello suites.'' Basel: Bylsma Fencing Mail, 2nd ed., no date. . (Self-published) 1934 births 2019 deaths Harvard University staff Dutch classical cellists Musicians from The Hague Players of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Royal Conservatory of The Hague alumni Dutch performers of early music 20th-century Dutch musicians 20th-century Dutch male musicians 21st-century Dutch musicians 21st-century Dutch male musicians 20th-century Dutch classical musicians {{cellist-stub