# Hugo Becker

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hugo_Becker
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Hugo_Becker.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Becker
> Source revision: 1322204084
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|German cellist (1863–1941)}}
{{for|the French actor|Hugo Becker (actor)}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| background        = person
| image             = Hugo Becker BNF.jpg
| image_upright     = 
| image_size        = 
| landscape         = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank -->
| alt               = 
| caption           = 
| birth_name        = Jean Otto Eric Hugo Becker
| birth_date        = {{Birth date|1863|02|13}}
| birth_place       = [Strasbourg](/source/Strasbourg)
| death_date        =  {{Death date and age|1941|07|30|1863|02|13}}
| occupation        = {{hlist|Musician|[composer](/source/composer)|teacher}}
| instrument        = [Cello](/source/Cello)
}}
'''Hugo Becker''' (born '''Jean Otto Eric Hugo Becker'''; 13 February 1863 – 30 July 1941) was a German [cellist](/source/cellist), [cello](/source/cello) teacher, and [composer](/source/composer). He studied at a young age with [Alfredo Piatti](/source/Alfredo_Piatti), and later [Friedrich Grützmacher](/source/Friedrich_Gr%C3%BCtzmacher) in [Dresden](/source/Dresden).<ref name="ICS">{{cite web | title = Hugo Becker, Cellist | publisher = Internet Cello Society | url = http://cello.org/cnc/becker.htm | accessdate = 2007-05-26 }}</ref>

==Biography==
He was born in 1863 in [Strasbourg](/source/Strasbourg) (then part of France, but transferred to the German Empire in 1871); his father [Jean Becker](/source/Jean_Becker_(violinist)) was a famous [violin](/source/violin)ist. His father tried teaching him violin at the age of six, but the young Becker loved cello, and switched over at the age of nine. By age fifteen he was touring with a [string quartet](/source/string_quartet) made up of him, his father, sister, and brother. He had also become a leading cellist in the court orchestra in [Mannheim](/source/Mannheim).<ref name="ICS"/>

In 1884, Becker was appointed solo cellist with the [Frankfurt Opera Orchestra](/source/Opern-_und_Schauspielhaus_Frankfurt), and the following year became the leading cello teacher at the [Frankfurt](/source/Frankfurt) [Hoch Conservatory](/source/Hoch_Conservatory). From 1909 to 1929, he was professor of cello at the Hochschule für Musik in [Berlin](/source/Berlin);<ref name=musiker>Artur Schnabel: Musiker 1882-1951, page 19-21, pub: Archives of the Academie der Künste / Wolke Verlag, 2001</ref> among his students was [George Georgescu](/source/George_Georgescu), who would replace him as cellist in the [Marteau](/source/Henri_Marteau) Quartet before forsaking the cello for the conductor's podium on account of a hand injury.<ref name=Contest>[http://www.concursulgeorgegeorgescu.ro/georgegeorgescuen.html Biographical sketch published for Concursul George Georgescu 2008 International Contest for Performing Artists, Tulcea, Romania] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513011615/http://www.concursulgeorgegeorgescu.ro/georgegeorgescuen.html |date=2009-05-13 }}</ref>  Later, Georgescu would remark, "All I know, I learned from Hugo Becker."<ref name=Fani>[https://souvenirsdescarpates.blogspot.com/2007/12/george-georgescu.html Alain Chotil-Fani: ''Danube to Bucharest'']</ref> Becker also gave finishing lessons to [Beatrice Harrison](/source/Beatrice_Harrison).<ref name=prer/>

During this time Becker also toured extensively and played [chamber music](/source/chamber_music) with [Eugène Ysaÿe](/source/Eug%C3%A8ne_Ysa%C3%BFe) and [Ferruccio Busoni](/source/Ferruccio_Busoni) in a [piano trio](/source/piano_trio).,<ref name="ICS"/> and later with [Artur Schnabel](/source/Artur_Schnabel) and [Carl Flesch](/source/Carl_Flesch) as the third Schnabel Trio<ref name=musiker/> between 1914 and 1921.

He died on 30 July 1941.

==Legacy==
He owned two [Stradivarius](/source/Stradivarius) cellos: the 1700 ''[Cristiani](/source/Cristiani_Stradivarius)'' and another one built in 1719 now known as the ''[Becker](/source/Becker_Stradivarius)''.<ref name="ICS"/> Two movements from Becker's composition ''Liebesleben'', Op. 7 (1894) for cello and piano have been recorded by Adrian Bradbury and Andrew West.<ref name=prer>[https://musicwebinternational.com/2024/05/the-pre-raphaelite-cello-somm-recordings/ ''The Pre-Raphaelite Cello''], Somm Recordings SOMMCD0685 (2024), reviewed at ''MusicWeb International''</ref>

==Selected works==
*Andante religioso 
*Three Pieces for Cello with Piano Accompaniment
*''Scènes d'amour'', duo 
*''Deux Morceaux'': Romance, Duo 
*''Deux Morceaux'': Valse gracieuse, Duo 
*Cello Concerto, Op.10 in A major (published by Schott in parts in 1902, piano/cello version ca.1896, in score in 1904)<ref>{{cite web|title=Hofmeisters Monatsberichte - Band 1902|url=http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-buch?apm=0&aid=1000001&bd=0001902&teil=0203&seite=00000423&zoom=2|accessdate=December 7, 2010|language=German}}</ref><ref>{{OCLC|500749076}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-buch?apm=0&aid=1000001&bd=0001904&teil=0203&seite=00000112&zoom=2|year=1904|title=Hofmeisters Monatsberichte.|language=German|accessdate=January 5, 2011}}</ref>
*''Aus dem Leben des Waldschrat'', suite 
*''Mechanik und Ästhetik des Violoncellospiels''

==Sources==
*[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hugo-becker-q481 Allmusic]
*Sadie, S. (ed.) (1980) ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians'', [vol. # 2].

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Hugo}}
Category:1863 births
Category:1941 deaths
Category:Musicians from Strasbourg
Category:German classical cellists
Category:German music educators
Category:German Romantic composers
Category:Alsatian-German people
Category:People from Alsace-Lorraine
Category:German male classical composers
Category:20th-century German male musicians
Category:19th-century German male musicians
Category:20th-century German cellists
{{germany-classical-musician-stub}}
{{Cellist-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hugo Becker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Becker) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Becker?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.