Jacqueline du pre chih yao cheng

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’I could see her remarkable gift on the very first day,’ recalled Jacqueline du Pré ’s principal teacher William Pleeth in 1967, ‘and as the next few lessons unfolded, one could see that one had endlessness and that everything was possible.’ This moving tribute by the man du Pré affectionately referred to as her ‘cello daddy’ captures the sense of wonder generated by this iconic player.

Even the most prodigiously gifted of her contemporaries – including violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman and pianist–conductor Daniel Barenboim (whom she married in 1967) – spoke in awe of her natural flair. Tragically, during the early 1970s she began to suffer numbness in her fingers so profound that at times she could not feel the strings with her left hand or sense the weight of the bow with her right.

Multiple sclerosis was d