On this day: 31

André Navarra Died 1988

Cellist André-Nicolas Navarra's family was musical. They took the sensible step of preparing him for music before they gave him an instrument, teaching him the scales and solfège by the age of seven. Once he showed a musical ear and willingness to work, they quickly started him on cello. He entered the Toulouse Conservatoire at the age of nine and graduated at 13 with first prize in cello. He was referred to the Paris Conservatoire where he studied cello with Jules Leopold-Loeb and chamber music with Tournemire, winning first prize there at the age of 15. Very unusually among first-rate soloists, he stopped taking lessons at that point; he worked out his own course of study and practiced at it. He studied violin method books, particularly the Flesch and Sevcik methods, because the student literature for cello was not as abundant.

Other items on this day in history

• Ignacio Cervantes
• Franz Liszt
• Leopold Rostropovich