The cello is the big, booming baritone of the violin family, and it takes a young and husky man to play it. From 17th-century Italian Domenico Gabrielli to 20th-century Russian Gregor Piatigorsky, successful cellists have been men of brawn. Lesser cellists, like Composer Jacques Offenbach, Composer Victor Herbert, and Conductor Arturo Toscanini, have often become famous for other things than cello playing. But the greatest cellists have usually spent a whole lifetime taming the thick strings and finger-defying dimensions of their instruments. Such were France's owl-faced Jean Louis Duport (1749-1819), Germany's muscular...
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