Johannes Francis Anton Hekking (7 September 1856 – 18 November 1935)
Education
Anton Hekking was born in
The Hague on 7 September 1856,
to a musical family that also produced other notable cellists, including André Hekking (1866–1925) and Gérard Hekking (1879–1942), both of whom made their careers chiefly in France. Anton was taught first by his father, Gerard Hekking, who was himself a musician,
and then, starting at age 12, by Joseph Giese (1821–1903) at the Hague Conservatory.
At the age of 16 he became the principal cellist of the Utrecht orchestra.
A few years later he moved to Paris to study with cellists Pierre Chevillard and Léon Jacquard at the Paris Conservatoire, where he won the
premier prix for cello in 1878.
Performing career
After a series of concert tours that included performances with the Russian pianist
Anna Yesipova, in 1880 Hekking accepted the position of solo cellist with the Bilseschen Kapelle orchestra led by
Benjamin Bilse in Berlin.
In 1882, he was one of a group of 54 musicians who left Bilse in order to form the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, where Hekking served as the principal cellist from 1882 until 1888.
During this time he also toured Europe for fifteen months with the Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe,
and was awarded the Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau by William III of the Netherlands.
In 1888, Hekking visited North America for the first time. A tour with the Mendelssohn Quintette Club in the winter of 1888–1889 included stops in 134 cities.
In 1896 he joined the faculty of the Stern Conservatory in Berlin,
Chamber ensembles
In addition to his work with orchestras and as a solo artist, Hekking was a member of several notable chamber ensembles. For his American tour in 1888–1889, he joined the historic Mendelssohn Quintette Club, established in 1849.
While serving as principal cellist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1889–1891, he was part of the
Kneisel Quartet, founded in 1885 by
Franz Kneisel, Hekking's former colleague in the Bilse orchestra and now the concertmaster of the Boston Symphony.
When he moved on to the New York Symphony Orchestra in 1891, he and other first-desk players formed the New York Symphony Quartet, led by concertmaster
Adolph Brodsky, who also established the better-known Brodsky Quartets in Leipzig (1884) and Manchester (1895).
In 1896, following his return to Berlin, he replaced cellist Leo Schrattenholz in the Holländer Quartet, originally formed in 1894 by Gustav Holländer (1855–1915), Hekking's colleague at the Stern Conservatory.
In 1902 Hekking formed a trio with two younger musicians, violinist Alfred Wittenberg (1880–1952) and pianist Artur Schnabel (1882–1951).
Notes
Sources
External links
