Guilhermina Augusta Xavier de Medim Suggia Carteado Mena, known as Guilhermina Suggia (27 June 1885 – 30 July 1950) was a Portuguese cellist. She studied in Paris with
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals,Porto
Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...
to a family of Portuguese and Italian descent. Her father was a competent musician and taught her musical theory and cello. Such was her progress that by the age of 12 she was appointed principal cellist of the local orchestra, the Orpheon Portuense.Obituary, ''
The Manchester Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', 1 August 1950, p. 5Anderson, Robert "Suggia, Guilhermina," ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford Music Online, accessed 26 January 2011 In 1904, under the patronage of Queen Maria Amélia of Portugal, she went to study at
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
under Julius Klengel. Although Klengel was a professor at the Leipzig Conservatoire, Suggia did not enroll there but rather took private lessons from him.Obituary, ''
The Musical Times
''The Musical Times'' was an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom.
It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer's Musical Times and Singing Circular'', but in 1844 he sold it to Alfr ...
'', September 1950, p. 362
Within a year Suggia was asked to appear as a soloist with the
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...
under its conductor,
Arthur Nikisch
Arthur Nikisch (12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungary, Hungarian conducting, conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London, Leipzig and—most importantly—Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter ...
. From 1906 to 1912 she lived and worked in Paris with the cellist
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), known in English as Pablo Casals, She began to tour internationally, building her reputation. She and Casals were rated as "the world's leading cellists". Casals was close friends with composer Donald Tovey, who wrote his ''Sonata for two cellos'' for the pair. On his visiting the couple to present the work in 1912, an unknown event occurred between Suggia and Tovey which caused strain on the relationship between Suggia and Casals, and the friendship between Tovey and Casals. After they separated, Suggia retained her admiration for Casals, describing him as pre-eminent among living cellists. In 1914 she formed a trio with the violinist Jelly d'Arányi and the pianist Fanny Davies.
During the period of her residence in Britain during the 1920s and 1930s, she was a frequent visitor to
Lindisfarne Castle
Lindisfarne Castle is a 16th-century castle located on Lindisfarne, Holy Island, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England, much altered by Sir Edwin Lutyens in 1901. The island is accessible from the mainland at low tide by means of a ca ...
in northern England, where a cello now rests in the Music Room in commemoration of her time spent there. Her "Montagnana" cello rests in Conservatório de Música do Porto, her home town in Portugal.
Edward Hudson, the founder of the British magazine '' Country Life'' is said to have been infatuated by Guilhermina. He was briefly engaged to her and bought her the aforementioned Montagnana cello, which she is shown playing in the portrait by Augustus John referred to below.
In 1927, Suggia married Jose Mena, an X-ray specialist. During World War II, Suggia and her husband returned to Portugal, where she lived in retirement. She visited Britain after the war, giving performances of the
Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
Cello Concerto A cello concerto (sometimes called a violoncello concerto) is a concerto for solo cello with orchestra or, very occasionally, smaller groups of instruments.
These pieces have been written since the Baroque era if not earlier. However, unlike instru ...
in aid of charity.Obituary, ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', 1 August 1950, p. 6 She gave her last concerts at the
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...
in 1949 and in
Bournemouth
Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...
later the same year.
While in Britain in the 1920s she taught various British cellists, and after returning to Portugal she continued to teach, with notable students including Amaryllis Fleming, Thelma Reiss, Sheridan Russell and Peggie Sampson. Russell criticised her as a teacher because she attempted to make students imitate her precise technique.
Suggia died of cancer in Porto at the age of 65, a year after the death of her husband.
Recordings
Suggia made a small number of gramophone recordings. They include
Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
's D major Concerto with John Barbirolli and Saint-Saëns's A minor Concerto with Lawrance Collingwood. They were reissued on compact disc in 1989 (EMI EH761083-1). A compilation CD was released in 2004 with performances of Haydn, Max Bruch and Lalo (Dutton CDBP9748).
Legacy
Suggia bequeathed her
Stradivarius
A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, and guitars, crafted by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona, Italy, during the late 17th ...
cello to the
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...
in London, to be sold to fund a scholarship for young cellists. The Suggia Gift, established in 1955, has since 1995 been administered by the Musicians' Benevolent Fund. The first holder was Derek Simpson, and other winners include Rohan de Saram (1955),
Jacqueline du Pré
Jacqueline may refer to:
People
* Jacqueline (given name), including a list of people with the name
* Jacqueline Moore (born 1964), ring name "Jacqueline", American professional wrestler
Arts and entertainment
* ''Jacqueline'' (1923 film) ...
Steven Isserlis
Steven John Isserlis (born 19 December 1958) is a British cellist. An acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, educator, writer and broadcaster, he is widely regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. He is also noted for his div ...
, Raphael Wallfisch and Julian Lloyd Webber. In 2010 it was announced that the 2011 Suggia Gift would be run in association with the 2011 International Guilhermina Suggia Festival, held in her native city.
The large auditorium at
Casa da Música
The Casa da Música is a concert hall in Porto, Portugal. It was designed by architect Rem Koolhaas and opened in 2005.
Designed to mark the festive year of 2001 in which the city of Porto was designated European Capital of Culture, it was th ...
in Porto is named Sala Suggia in her honour.
TAP Portugal, the national airline, named one of its aeroplanes (an
Airbus A319
The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of . Final ass ...
) after her.
Probably the most famous image of Suggia is the oil portrait by the Welsh artist
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarg ...
, whose daughter Amaryllis Fleming later became a well-known cellist herself. This picture was commissioned initially by Edward Hudson (see above) and begun in 1920 but not finished till 1923. It was shown at the Carnegie Institute in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
in 1924, bought by an American but later returned to England and presented to the Tate Gallery. The painting measures 186 X 165 cm. ''
The Manchester Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' wrote of this work that it "will serve to remind future generations that here was a musician who matched the nobility of her art with that of her presence on the concert platform." Photographs of Suggia by Alvin Langdon Coburn are held in the
George Eastman House
The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as George Eastman House and the International Museum of Photography and Film, is a photography museum in Rochester, New York. Opened to the public in 1949, is the oldest museum dedicated to photography ...
*Mercier, Anita (2008). ''Guilhermina Suggia: Cellist''. Ashgate,
*''Guilhermina Suggia ou o violoncello luxuriante. Or the Luxuriant Violoncello'', Fátima Pombo, Fundação Eng. António de Almeida, Porto (1993). This book is in both Portuguese and in English.
*''la Suggia : l'autre violoncelliste'', Henri Gourdin, Editions de Paris – Max Chaleil, Paris (2015).