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cello: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As German cello • German violoncello • violoncello • violoncelle

Photos

Illustration of a cello with four strings and an endpin, shown alongside its bow. The wooden body features curved sides and f-shaped sound holes.
Mstislav Rostropovich, wearing glasses and a suit, plays the cello on stage in front of a gold curtain at the White House.
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Related Topics and References

Topics
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Key People

Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
German composer
Painting by Elias Gottlieb Hausmann of Johann Sebastian Bach wearing a dark coat with a white shirt and holding a sheet of music in his left hand.
Johann Sebastian Bach
German composer
Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Austrian composer
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Russian composer
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
German composer
Portrait of composer Sergey Prokofiev, circa 1938, wearing round glasses, a suit, and a tie, looking slightly to the side.
Sergey Prokofiev
Russian composer
Portrait of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak with a beard, wearing a suit jacket, waistcoat, and bow tie.
Antonín Dvořák
Bohemian composer
Dmitry Shostakovich sits at a desk by a window, looking at sheet music, wearing glasses and a suit, with papers and books arranged on the desk.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Russian composer
Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Boccherini
Italian composer
Sergey Rachmaninoff in profile, seated at a piano, playing with both hands on the keys.
Sergey Rachmaninoff
Russian musician
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Brazilian composer
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
American cellist
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Elliott Carter
American composer
Elgar, Sir Edward
Sir Edward Elgar
English composer
Schuller, Gunther
Gunther Schuller
American composer
Paul Hindemith.
Paul Hindemith
German composer
Saint-Saëns, Camille
Camille Saint-Saëns
French composer
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Samuel Barber
American composer
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Ofra Harnoy
Canadian musician
Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari
Italian violin maker

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