STEPHEN SENSBACH:STEPHEN SENSBACH, who has died aged 56, was a cellist with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra (NSO).
He also wrote about music and was the author of French Cello Sonatas1891-1939, a pioneering 2001 study of some 130 French cello sonatas and their composers, featuring biographies, technical data, reviews and photographs. It involved extensive research in the major libraries of the world, corresponding with dozens of publishers and wading through the secondary literature on the subject.
Sensbach contributed articles to Stradmagazine in the UK, and, most recently, while already ill with throat cancer, wrote the sleeve notes for the EMI recording Fleur de Paris, a CD of French music played by the 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic.
He was born in Utica, New York in 1954, the oldest son of Werner Sensbach (originally from Mannheim in Germany), and Gladys Frederiksen (of Danish and Baltic origin). In 1966 he moved with his parents and younger brother Jon to Charlottesville, Virginia.
Having graduated from Lane High School, he studied at the University of Virginia. His first degree was in history, after which he worked as an archaeologist.
His love of the cello, which he began playing at the age of nine, prompted him to rethink his career choices. He took a degree at the music academy in Detmold, Germany, studying with Andre Navarra and Marcio Carneiro. He later received an MA and doctorate in music from the University of Texas at Austin.
His passion for music was all-encompassing, and he always enjoyed rock and country and western.
He worked as a cellist with the orchestra in Bremerhaven, Germany, playing mostly opera, and spent four years touring the world with the European Community Chamber Orchestra. He joined the NSO in 1997.
He formed several impromptu quartets and twice performed solo cello at readings by his wife, poet Katie Donovan, at literary festivals in Bangor and Listowel.
Sensbach spoke French, German, Italian and Spanish and was a keen marathon runner and cyclist. He completed the Wicklow 200 several times.
His physical strength and optimistic nature stood him in good stead during his long and courageous battle with cancer, but he eventually succumbed to the disease at the Blackrock hospice, where he received excellent care.
His friend from college days, Jonathan Rudin, remembered him as a “Renaissance man – knowledgeable about music, art, architecture, history, languages and literature”. In his funeral eulogy, fellow cellist Niall O’Loughlin spoke of Sensbach’s “deep curiosity and passion for life”, terming him as “an inspiration, a hero”.
He is survived by his wife Katie, their children Phoebe and Felix, his mother Gladys and father Werner and his brother Jon.
Stephen Sensbach: born October 1st, 1954; died January 3rd, 2011