LETTERof theMONTH

Letters, emails, online comments

ONE IN A MILLION

Jacqueline du Pré

Thank you for the beautiful articles about Jacqueline du Pré in the January 2025 issue. Over 60 years ago I was invited to sell programmes at one of her first public appearances. Arriving at the Goldsmiths’ Hall in London I thought it was a really weird venue for my friend Hilary Finzi’s little kid sister, to give a cello recital in such a grand and spectacular hall. Then I heard Jackie play and was completely bowled over. I had never heard anyone play the cello like that before and had goosebumps listening to her Beethoven and Brahms. After the audience’s standing ovation, Jackie returned to play La Cinquantaine as an encore. By now, her very long hair had lost its moorings from the head and had become entangled with her cello strings. At the end of each rondo section in this piece there is a famous glissando. Her fingers got stuck in her long hair, and she had to jerk her head forward every time it came. It was so funny to watch. But only Jacqueline du Pré could come out of it laughing her head off, as she shook her mane back. What an amazing performing star she was.