Pré, Jacqueline du

CELLIST (ENGLAND)
BORN 26 Jan 1945, Oxford - DIED 19 Oct 1987, London: 36/38 Chepstow Villas, Notting Hill
CAUSE OF DEATH multiple sclerosis
GRAVE LOCATION London: Golders Green's Jewish Cemetery, Hoop Lane (On left side of center road )

Jacqueline du Pré learned to play the cello from her mother Iris Greep, a piano teacher at the Royal Academy. Jacqueline was performing in BBC concerts when she was only twelve years old. Her recording with the London Symphony Orchestra of the Elgar Concerto in 1961 made her internationally famous. She played a Stradivarius from 1712 called "The Davidoff" that was given to her by an admirer. On 14 May 1965 she debuted in the United States by playing the Elgar Concerto at the Carnegie Hall in New York.

During Christmas 1966 she met Daniel Barenboim and she converted to judaism and married him the next year. They worked together very successfully, Barenboim accompanying her on piano or conducting the orchestra.

From 1971 to 1972 she had an affair with her sister Hilary's husband, the conductor Christopher Finzi. In 1973 she started losing the sensitivity in her fingers because of multiple sclerosis. She was no longer able to give concerts and worked a few more years as a cello teacher. Her health detoriated further and she died in 1987, aged only 42. She left her Stradivarius "Davidoff" to Yo-Yo Ma.

During her last years Barenboim had affair with Elena Bashkirova, who gave him two children. They married in 1988.

Related persons
• was discovered by Barbirolli, John

Images

The grave of Jacqueline du Pré on Golders Green's Jewish Cemetery, London.
Picture by Androom (17 Mar 2006)

 

The grave of Jacqueline du Pré on Golders Green's Jewish Cemetery, London.
Picture by Androom (17 Mar 2006)

 


Preetorius, Emil

Published: 23 Apr 2006
Last update: 05 Apr 2023