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Listen to my performance of Bergner’s Reverie. Best known as the first cellist of the New Philharmonic Society for 47 seasons, Frederick (Frederic, Fred) Bergner was born in Donaueschingen, near Baden in the Black Forest region of Germany, on January 31, 1827.
He studied with C. L. Böhm and Johann Kalliwoda (Jan Kalivoda). Bergner joined the New York Philharmonic as first cellist in the fall of 1850, taking over from the orchestra’s founding first cellist (and occasional conductor), Alfred Boucher. After his 70th birthday in 1897, Bergner stepped down from the principal position, playing in the section for another four seasons (usually fourth or fifth chair) before his final retirement. From the 1860s he also served on the orchestra’s board of directors, with responsibilities that included deciding what works would be performed and negotiating with guest soloists.
The earliest documented Bergner solo performances in the US were on miscellaneous concerts with various individual vocal and instrumental soloists. His early US solos included fantasies by Kummer and Servais, and he may have played similar works of his own composition. His first solo performances on Philharmonic concerts appear to have been in 1860, when he played Kummer’s Grande Fantaisie Russe in New York, and Servais’ Souvenir de Spa in Brooklyn. Of Bergner’s Souvenir de Spa performance, a reviewer commented, “the power this gentleman wields over a somewhat unwieldy instrument is wonderful, and was very much relished by the audience.”
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