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Composer Information: Karl Davidoff

Karl Juljewitsch Davydov [Davidoff] (Russian: Карл Юльевич Давыдов), (15 March 1838 - 26 February 1889) was a Russian cellist of great renown during his time, and described by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as the "tsar of cellists".

In his youth he studied mathematics at St. Petersburg University, and then pursued a career as a composer, studying with Moritz Hauptmann at the Leipzig Conservatory. He became a full-time cellist in 1850 while continuing to compose in his spare time. He later became head of the St Petersburg Conservatory. In 1870 Count Wilhorsky, a patron of the arts, presented Davidoff with a Stradivarius cello constructed in 1712. This cello, now known as the Davidoff Stradivarius, is currently on loan to cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

He intended to write an opera on the subject of Mazeppa. Viktor Burenin wrote a libretto for this purpose in 1880, but when Davidoff proved unable to find the time to compose, Burenin offered to libretto to Tchaikovsky.

Although closely associated with Tchaikovsky, Karl Davidoff was not related to the Davidoff clan into which Tchaikovsky's sister Alexandra, and the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov married. Davidoff died in Moscow on February 26, 1889

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