History
Made by David Tecchler in the year 1712 while he was residing and working in Rome, this cello is one of approximately 50 cellos that Tecchler made between 1699 and 1743 according to Henley. The next certain piece of information appears around 1932, 220 years after its creation when it was purchased by Maurice Eisenberg, a well known student and associate of Pablo Casals at Ecole Normale in Paris. According to the Rembert Wurlitzer letter dated 9 December 1958 accompanying the sales Certificate, “Mr. Eisenberg tells me that he acquired the cello in 1932 or 1933 in Paris from the firm of Caressa & Francais. He is not sure which year, but remembers that it was at the time he was making some trio recordings with Menuhin and his sister, and that it was in these recordings that he first used the cello.” These trio recordings are still available and generally confirm this recollection with recording dates of 1936 in London (Beethoven) and 1939 in Paris (Tchaikovsky).
As was typical with large format cellos of the time, Eisenberg had the instrument modified from its original large size by the much admired Sacconi, arguably the most famous restorer of recent times. In the same sales Certificate letter, Rembert Wurlitzer writes “It was unusually broad in its model, as one sometimes finds with Tecchlers, and at some later date Mr. Eisenberg had Mr. Sacconi slightly reduce the model of the cello by removing a thin strip of wood along the center joint of the top and back. This left the original arching and edges intact, and if one does not know about it, it would scarcely be known to an expert that the model has been reduced in this way.”
The cello remained in Eisenberg's possession until 1958 when he sold it through the Rembert Wurlitzer shop in NYC in order to obtain a Montagnana. At that time, Robert Hladky, a student at Eastman, had been visiting the Wurlitzer shop regularly for some time playing cellos by the great makers including Tecchler, but he had not yet settled on an instrument. When the 1712 Tecchler arrived, it had not been in the Wurlitzer shop long enough to be cleaned up before Hladky returned, played the instrument, and immediately fell in love with it. It was very dark with lots of rosin on it as Sacconi had not had time to clean it up. While Eisenberg took great care of it, he did not bother with removing rosin periodically. Dr. Hladky purchased it and continued to play it throughout his long career as a performer and university professor with the University of Oregon in Eugene. Upon the sale to Dr. Hladky, Rembert Wurlitzer delivered the Tecchler certificate and wrote “We believe you have acquired a concert hall cello of truly exceptional merit, as well as a magnificent example of this great maker’s work.”
In the fall of 1960, the neck was replaced - according to a letter from Rembert Wurlitzer “anything involving judgement, and all the final work or precise shaping of the neck will be done by either Mr. Dario D’Atilli or Mr. Simon Sacconi.” Due to its incredible stability, except for minor work, a minor seam buzz repaired by Hans Weisshaar of Los Angeles and a cleat buzz repaired by Roland Feller of San Francisco, no other work was required during the entire time the Tecchler was owned by Dr. Hladky from 1958 to 2010 and none has been required since.