Valse en mi mineur de Frédéric Chopin

Belgian cellist Jules de Swert was born on 15.8.1843 in Leuven; he died in Ostend on 24.2.1891. His first cello lessons were with his father in Leuven, then from 1856 to 1858 he studied with Adrien Francois Servais in Brussels. Immediately after completing his studies he embarked on a very successful concert tour across Denmark, Sweden and Germany. He then found employment in Düsseldorf, Weimar – and Berlin, where he was Director of Music at court and teacher at the Academy of Music. In Vienna he was then appointed principal cellist at the Imperial Opera and professor at the Vienna Conservatoire. In 1888 de Sweet returned to Belgium, where besides teaching at Conservatoires in Ghent and Bruges he also worked as a conductor. Despite his busy concert schedule and teaching commitments, Jules de Swert still found time for composition. Alongside original pieces for cello and piano as well as transcriptions (particularly of works by Chopin) he composed two cello concertos, several orchestral works and operas. This transcription of Chopin’s Valse in E minor was published in 1876 (plate no. 22003).