I will never forget the picture she made when suddenly the door opened and mother appeared after a day’s shopping in London. Ah, what was that instrument in her arms? I took a flying leap- it was a cello! The breath left my body, I felt rather queer. My dearest mother told me not to be an ass but to sit quietly while she undid the case. She had not wanted me to play the cello until I was big enough to hold such a large instrument and until then I had been learning the violin in order to prepare my fingers for the cello. /I gazed at the cello, I touched the strings; yes, it was the same tone that had penetrated my soul at eighteen months of age. << less