Leonard Joseph Rose (July 27, 1918 – November 16, 1984) was an American cellist and pedagogue.
Biography
Rose was born in Washington, D.C. His parents were Jewish immigrants, his father from Bragin, Belarus, and his mother from Kyiv, Ukraine.[1] Rose started taking piano lessons when he was eight years old before switching to the cello when he was ten years old at the suggestion of his father. His cello teachers were Walter Grossman, Frank Miller and Felix Salmond. After completing his studies at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music at age 20, he joined Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra, and almost immediately became associate principal. At 21 he was principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra and at 26 became the principal of the New York Philharmonic.
Rose died in White Plains, New York, of leukemia. In November 2009, a memorial marker was placed for Rose in the Mt. Ararat Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York, next to the grave of his first wife, Minnie Knopow Rose, who died in 1964. Minnie and Leonard met at Curtis, where she studied viola. His second wife was Xenia Petschek, whom he married in January 1965.[2] Rose played an Amati cello dated 1662, played today by Gary Hoffman.
Janof, Tim. "Leonard Rose Remembered". Tutti Celli. Internet Cello Society. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
"Leonard Rose". Historical Cellists. Internet Cello Society. Retrieved January 27, 2012.
Further reading
Leonard Rose. America's Golden Age and Its First Cellist, Steven Honigberg, (revised edition 2013), Amazon.com
"With the Artists". World Famed String Players Discuss Their Art, Samuel and Sada Applebaum, John Markert & Co., New York (1955). Pages 203–211 are devoted to Leonard Rose.
Liner notes: "Leonard Rose Live in Recital, 1953–1960" VAI; "Seeking Perfection" by Susan M Anderson