James Messeas
James Messeas (1880[1] or 1881[2] – 1955[2]) was a Dutch cellist, member of Verbrugghen String Quartet.
Messeas was born in Amsterdam.[1] His parents were Spanish,[1] the father being the principal double bass in the Paleis voor Volksvlijt Orchestra (Amsterdam).[1] His uncle was violinist in Paris under Hector Berlioz.[1] Both the father and the uncle provided the young Messeas with his initial musical training.[1] In 1890, after studying the cello for only 12 months, he made a public recital of Julius Klengel's Concertino No. 1, Op. 7.[1] The following year the boy went to Scotland. There he met Willy Benda, who gave him a scholarship at the Athenaeum School of Music. He later returned to Germany to finish his studies with Klengel.[1]
In 1902 Messeas came back to Athenaeum and became a professor.[1] He soon joined Henri Verbrugghen's String quartet and became the principal cellist of the Harrogate Symphony Orchestra.[1] In 1915 together with the other members of the quartet he came to Australia, where he got professorship at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music.[1]
In summer 1918 he was the first cellist to give a performance of the complete cycle of Beethoven and Mendelssohn cello sonatas in Sydney (with Myrtle Meggy at the piano).[3]
In early 1920s the whole quartet moved further to Minneapolis. Messeas died in 1955 in that city.[2]
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