Jacqueline du Pré is arguably the greatest talent to ever play the cello. She combined mind, heart, body and soul to produce the most expressive tones ever to emanate from the instrument. Shy and at the same time bold, she was not only expressive, but played with precision, fullness and purity of tone. Here are some of her most inspiring quotes on music and life:
“I’ve never been a career demon. I love playing cello, playing to people, but I’ve never wanted to do it every day and every hour of my life.”
“I began to play it and to love it and I really loved it. … When I put the bow on the strings, it made a beautiful sound. … I got a little older … and wanted to go to play with other children as any normal child would, but practicing was never too much an effort and when I came to Bill Pleeth then I became very studious and worked extremely hard.”
“I have the same feeling when I walk in a very beautiful place that I have when I play and it goes right.”
“Playing lifts you out of yourself into a delirious place.”
“I love the physical thing of being on the earth that bore you. I have the same feeling when I walk in a very beautiful place that I have when I play and it goes right.”
“The intense perfumes of the wild herbs as we trod them underfoot made us feel almost drunk.”
“We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.”
“The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.”
“We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.”
“The greatest thing is, at any moment, to be willing to give up who we are in order to become all that we can be.”
“The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?”
“In some South Pacific cultures, a speaker holds a conch shell as a symbol of temporary position of authority. Leaders must understand who holds the conch that is, who should be listened to and when.”
“I played him the “Swan” … He took me as his pupil and I was very very happy, because I was so small and he was a great cellist. Anyway, from there on we had an enormously relationship for 7 years. He was a marvellous teacher and formed completely the spine of my cello play.”
“Off all the cellists I’ve ever met of this generation you are the most interesting, you can go the farthest – farther than me.” (Mstislav Rostropovitch to Jaqueline Du Pre)
When I heard Elgar’s cello concert for the first it brought tears to my eyes. Who was that marvellous cellist? Jacqueline du Pres. And she had passed away already. After that I have always considered JP to be one of my absolute favorites among cellists.