Editing Paul Tortelier (section)

==Life and work==
===Early years===
Tortelier was born in Paris, the son of Joseph Tortelier and his wife Marguerite, ''née'' Boura. Joseph, who came from a family with [[Bretons|Breton]] roots, was a ''menuisier-ébéniste'' – a carpenter-cabinet-maker – in [[Montmartre]].<ref>Tortelier and Blum, pp. 2–3</ref> Tortelier's mother had a particular love of the cello and he began to play the instrument when he was six.<ref>Tortelier and Blum, p. 130</ref><ref name=times>Obituary, ''The Times'', 19 December 1990, p. 14</ref> His general education was at the École Lucien Lafflessele, and from the age of nine he studied the cello with [[Louis Feuillard]].<ref>Tortelier and Blum, pp. 32 and 76</ref>

At the age of 12 Tortelier entered the [[Conservatoire de Paris]], where he studied the cello with [[Gérard Hekking]]. While a student he earned an income in a trio playing accompaniments to silent films.<ref name=dt>Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 19 December 1990, p. 19</ref> He won the conservatoire's first prize when he was 16, playing the [[Cello Concerto (Elgar)|Elgar Cello Concerto]],<ref name=grove>[[Noël Goodwin|Goodwin, Noël]]. [https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000028193 "Tortelier, Paul"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, 2001 {{subscription required}}</ref> and then he studied [[harmony]] and composition under [[Jean Gallon]].<ref>Tortelier and Blum, p. 49</ref> He made his professional début in 1931 at the age of 17, as soloist in [[Édouard Lalo|Lalo's]] [[Cello Concerto (Lalo)|Cello Concerto]] with the [[Orchestre Lamoureux]].<ref name=grove/>

In 1935 Tortelier joined the [[Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra]] as first cellist and played with them until 1937. He gave performances under [[Bruno Walter]] and [[Arturo Toscanini]],<ref>Tortelier and Blum, p. 56</ref> and played the solo part in [[Richard Strauss]]'s ''[[Don Quixote (Strauss)|Don Quixote]]'' conducted by the composer.<ref name=mart>Martland, p. 292</ref>

In 1937 Tortelier accepted an invitation from [[Serge Koussevitzky]] to join the [[Boston Symphony Orchestra]]. He remained until the 1939–40 season. He was in Paris during the [[Second World War]], teaching at the Conservatoire. He had a short-lived marriage to Madeleine Gaston, which ended in divorce in 1944.<ref name=dt/> After the war he was principal cellist of the [[Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire]] in 1946–47. In 1946 he married a cello pupil, Maud Monique Martin, with whom he had three children, all of whom became musicians: [[Yan Pascal Tortelier|Yan Pascal]], a violinist and subsequently a conductor; Maria de la Pau, a pianist; and Pomona, a cellist.<ref name=grove/>

===International solo career===
In 1947 Tortelier's international career as a soloist began in Berlin and Amsterdam.<ref name=grove/> After a concert in the latter city, conducted by [[Thomas Beecham|Sir Thomas Beecham]], at which Tortelier again played the solo part in ''Don Quixote'', Beecham invited him to reprise his performance with the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]] (RPO) at a festival of Strauss's music in London, in the presence of the composer.<ref>"Dr Strauss in London", ''The Times'', 6 October 1947, p. 8</ref> Within days Tortelier gave a recital with [[Gerald Moore]] at the [[Wigmore Hall]] and recorded the Strauss piece with Beecham and the RPO.<ref name=dt/> After the recital, the music critic of ''[[The Times]]'' wrote that Tortelier showed himself to be "an artist of great distinction, whose playing combined technical mastery with fine musicianship throughout a programme including works by [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]], [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]], [[Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]], [[Claude Debussy|Debussy]], and virtuoso show-pieces".<ref name=wig>"Recitals of the Week", ''The Times'', 13 October 1947, p. 7</ref> He added:
{{blockindent|By virtue of phrasing and variety of tone M. Tortelier made unaccompanied Bach come alive as few cellists succeed in doing, and his animated interpretation of Debussy's frequently abused [[Six sonatas for various instruments#Sonata for cello and piano|sonata]] brought home its real significance in a way that will not quickly be forgotten.<ref name=wig/>|}}
During his subsequent career Tortelier played throughout Europe, the Americas, Australia, North Africa, Israel, the USSR and Japan, but Britain remained central to his career, and most of his recordings over the next four decades were made there. He found the English baffling in their undemonstrative feelings, but he was fond of them: "I cannot speak of the English without emotion. I owe them everything in terms of my career".<ref name=saraband/> He was less at home with Americans, whom he found friendly but lacking in real love.<ref name=saraband/>

In 1950 Tortelier was asked by [[Pablo Casals]] to play as the principal cellist in the Prades Festival Orchestra; out of respect for Casals, Tortelier agreed.{{refn|Other internationally famous soloists who played in Casals's orchestra included [[Isaac Stern]] and [[William Primrose]].<ref>Sackville-West and Shawe-Taylor, p. 475</ref>|group=n}} He later said, "I have played for Toscanini and [[Herbert von Karajan|Karajan]], but I never felt with any conductor what I felt with Casals".<ref name=saraband>"Saraband", ''The Economist'', 25 August 1990, p. 82</ref> More than any other cellist it was Casals who influenced him the most. Tortelier said that there was a spiritual quality in the older man's playing: "one never thought that Casals was playing the cello; he was playing music".<ref name=w97/> Nonetheless, Tortelier gained technical insights from Casals, particularly the latter's flexible use of the left hand on the fingerboard and his assertive phrasing and articulation.<ref name=w97>Wilson, p. 97</ref> He also absorbed Casals's approach to intonation, subtly sharpening or flattening the pitch of notes for the best harmonic effect.<ref name=w97/> Casals said of Tortelier's mastery of the cello, "When you play you make it talk".<ref name=mart/>

Although he was not Jewish (he was an agnostic [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]]) Tortelier was inspired by the ideals of the founders of the [[Israeli Declaration of Independence|newly formed state of Israel]] in 1948, and in 1955–56 he lived with his wife and children in the [[kibbutz]] [[Ma'abarot, Israel|Ma'abarot]], near [[Haifa]].<ref>Wilson, p. 98</ref> During this period he made his début as a conductor, with the [[Israel Philharmonic]].<ref name=who>[https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-169843 "Tortelier, Paul, (21 March 1914–18 Dec. 1990), cellist, composer, conductor"], ''Who's Who & Who Was Who'', Oxford University Press, 2022 {{subscription required}}</ref>

Tortelier's international career continued into his seventies. At a concert to mark his 75th birthday he was joined by colleagues including his friend [[Mstislav Rostropovich]], who conducted the Saint-Saëns [[Cello Concerto No. 1 (Saint-Saëns)|A-minor concerto]] with Tortelier as soloist and later in the concert joined him as fellow soloist in a composition of Tortelier's own, the "Valse, alla Maud".<ref>Pettitt, Stephen. "Celebration in form", ''The Times'', 24 May 1989, p. 16</ref>

Tortelier died of a heart attack on 18 December 1990 at the age of 76 in the [[domaine of Villarceaux]], [[Yvelines]], near Paris.<ref name=grove/> At a concert the following June to celebrate his life and work, [[Yehudi Menuhin]], [[Charles Groves|Sir Charles Groves]] and Yan-Pascal Tortelier conducted, and the cellists included Maud Martin Tortelier, [[János Starker]] and two of Tortelier's former students, [[Arto Noras]] and Raphael Sommer.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/965698 "Barbican Hall"], ''The Musical Times'', May 1991, p. 3 {{subscription required}}</ref>