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Jacqueline Du Pre: Her Life, Her Music, Her Legend
Author(s): Elizabeth Wilson (Author)
- Publisher: Arcade Publishing
- Publication Date: March 7, 1999
- Edition: First Edition
- Language: English
- Print length: 480 pages
- ISBN-10: 155970490X
- ISBN-13: 9781559704908
Book Description
A comprehensive chronicle of the career of a brilliant cellist traces du Pre+a7’s quick rise to international stardom, her marriage to Daniel Barenboim, and the subsequent tragedy of her development of the multiple sclerosis that would end her playing and shorten her life. 15,000 first printing.
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
This biography of the cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who died in 1987 after a long struggle against multiple sclerosis, has been written with the full support of her husband, the musician and conductor Daniel Barenboim. At first sight it could be construed as something of a counterweight to books critical of Barenboim written by du Pré’s brother and sister–in particular A Genius in the Family. But while Barenboim does present his side of the story–in relation to both du Pré’s illness and the strains it put upon their marriage–Elizabeth Wilson has in fact presented a balanced portrait of du Pré not only as a woman but also as an artist. And this is the book’s real strength.
Wilson, a cellist herself, knew du Pré in her playing days and has paid as much attention to the music as to the offstage emotional dramas. She burst upon the music scene as a phenomenally talented 16-year-old, and ever since, du Pré’s fame and tragic life story have made the task of stripping the myth from the reality no easy task. In fact, Elizabeth Wilson has done a professional job in unraveling du Pré’s enigmatic life and legacy, but most of all, she reminds us that du Pré became famous in the first place because of her genius as a musician. –Nick Wroe, Amazon.co.uk
From Library Journal
Cellist Jacqueline du Pr? was arguably the most famous British musician of the 20th century. A “golden girl” prodigy, she was part of a dazzling group of musicians that included her husband, pianist-conductor Daniel Barenboim; Itzhak Perlman; Vladimir Ashkenazy; and John Williams. Her gift for communication through music and her imaginative, free-spirited nature caught the attention of the press and the public. Her fame only increased when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 28 and her career was cut tragically short. Wilson, herself a cellist, had access to family papers and the full cooperation of du Pr?’s husband. Her thorough book goes into great detail about du Pr?’s musicianship without slighting her compelling personal story and replaces Carol Easton’s more general Jacqueline du Pr?: A Biography (Summit, 1989. o.p.), which focuses less on du Pr?’s music. This will be of special interest to musicians and music lovers, though the recent release of the biographical film Hilary and Jackie may increase general interest. Highly recommended.AKate McCaffrey, Onondaga Cty. P.L., Syracuse, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
This biography of barrier-smashing cellist du Pr (194587) is the literary equivalent of an tude: important for the lessons it teaches, but dry and decidedly lacking in musicality. No one can quibble with the authors attention to detail. A professional cellist who wrote this biography with the cooperation of du Pr’s widower, pianist/conductor Daniel Barenboim, Wilson gives an exhaustive, nearly day-by-day recounting of her subjects concert life: Elgars Cello Concerto here, followed two days later by a performance of the Bachs C Minor Suite for Unaccompanied Cello there, etc. She relies heavily on contemporary reviews and the comments of today’s classical music stars to explain exactly how du Pr fared in each and every performance. All of this is interesting enough, but it hardly captures the flair of one of the most exciting people to hit the classical music scene in the 20th century, not to mention a woman who almost singlehandedly opened up the predominantly male field of cello playing. An exuberant, musical dynamo known for powerful, evocative, and provocative playing, du Pr deserves more emotional analysis, especially in light of the unorthodox personal life now widely familiar through her brother and sister’s book (A Genius in the Family by Hilary Finzi and Piers du Pr, not reviewed) and the popular new film based on it, Hilary and Jackie. Du Prs open affair with Hilarys husband, for example, receives about three pages here, and the author fails to dwell at length on du Prs battle with multiple sclerosis, which struck her down in the prime of life and career, ultimately killing her at age 42. Wilson would have been better off summarizing du Pr’s irrefutable abilities and spending more time analyzing the human relationships and complexities that made her so able to soar via music. Informative but ultimately unsatisfying. (16 pages b&w photos) — Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
Elizabeth Wilson is aware of the limitations of biography, and for that reason her life of Jacqueline du Pré is satisfying and invaluable. — The New York Times Book Review, Kevin Barry
