Hanuš Wihan

Hanuš Wihan (5 June 1855 – 1 May 1920) was a renowned Czech cellist, considered the greatest of his time. He was strongly associated with the works of Antonín Dvořák, whose Rondo in G minor, Op. 94, the short piece Silent Woods, Op. 68, and most particularly the Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 were all dedicated to him. He was the founder and later cellist of the Czech String Quartet, which was world-famous throughout its 40-year existence.

Hanuš Wihan was born in Police nad Metují and studied with František Hegenbarth (1881–87) at the Prague Conservatory from the age of 13, finishing his studies with Karl Davydov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He became a teacher at the Mozarteum in Salzburg at 18. He joined the private orchestra of a Russian patron in Nice and Lugano, then went to Benjamin Bilse’s orchestra in Berlin (the forerunner of the Berlin Philharmonic) for a year, where the leader was his compatriot Karel Halíř; then to Prince Schwarzenburg’s orchestra in Sondershausen, where he became a close friend of Franz Liszt, and to the court orchestra in Munich, in which Franz Strauss was the first horn. He remained in Munich for eight years, joining the circles of Hans von Bülow, Richard Wagner (who hired him to play at the Bayreuth Festival) and Franz Strauss's son Richard. Richard Strauss dedicated is String Quartet in A, Op. 2 to Wihan and the other members of the Walter String Quartet (Benno Walter, Michael Steiger and Anton Thoms). who had given it its first performance. Strauss a;so dedicated to Wihan his Cello Sonata in F, Op. 6 (which Wihan premiered in Nuremberg on 8 December 1883). He also wrote the Romance for Cello and Orchestra for Wihan, but did not dedicate it to him; Wihan premiered it on 15 February 1884 in Baden-Baden.

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