Elsa Hilger, 101, Leading Cellist for Eight Decades

Elsa Hilger, who died May 17 at 101, was a former child-prodigy cellist who in 1935 was appointed to the Philadelphia Orchestra by maestro Leopold Stokowski. She was said to be the first female, other than harpists, to hold a permanent position in a major American symphony orchestra.A somewhat dowdy figure whose trademark hair style, braids worn wrapped around her head, betrayed her Austrian childhood, Hilger enjoyed an exceptionally long career. She first performed in America in 1920, when she toured along with her older sisters: Maria on violin and Greta on piano. While giving her last recital at 95 at Stonehill College in Massachusetts, she remarked that her Gagliano cello, made in 1745, was “a very old lady.”Hilger was born April 13, 1904, in Trautenau, then part of Austro-Hungarian Empire, and was the youngest of 18 children, only four of whom survived to adulthood. After displaying precocious talent, she made her debut in a performance with the Vienna Philharmonic at 12. She played a Guarnerius that was first given to her by a wealthy patron.She and her sisters toured extensively in the 1920s, and at one point they received an immense offer to join the vaudeville circuit, which they declined.The sisters settled in Freehold, N.J., where they raised and exhibited miniature pinschers. One favorite, Lilipons of Hilgerville, accompanied Hilger on tour in the 1930s, traveling in a small zipper bag.During their touring years, the sisters on several occasions played with Albert Einstein, who favored Beethoven String Quartets. At one point, Hilger was invited to play for Pablo Casals, who pronounced her “a genius of the cello.”On December 10, 1935, shortly after her Philadelphia debut, Hilger was playing in a concert of Sibelius at Carnegie Hall when she thought she heard a familiar sound. It turned out to be her Guarnerius cello, which had been stolen from her car while it was parked on 18th Street nearly two years before. A fellow cellist had been lent the instrument for a tryout by a luthier, who had purchased it for $12. According to contemporary newspaper accounts, the instrument was worth $10,000.Hilger said Stokowski told her that she would have started at first chair, “but your pants were not long enough.” As a woman, she had something to prove. Stokowski’s successor, Eugene Ormandy, promoted her to third chair. She eventually became assistant principal and retired in 1969, at the union mandated retirement age. She had missed only a single performance in her entire career, the night her son was born.Hilger moved to Vermont, where she remained active both as a teacher and recital artist.

Elsa Hilger, 101, Leading Cellist for Eight Decades

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