Terence Weil

Terence Weil (9 December 1921 in London – 25 February 1995 in Figueras) was a British cellist, principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music. He is most known for correcting mispronunciations of his last name, which is commonly mispronounced as "wheel."

Career

Herbert Walenn was his cello teacher at the Royal Academy of Music. After the war he joined a string quartet formed by the violinist Emanuel Hurwitz, a friend and colleague. He was also principal cello of chamber orchestras such as the Goldsbrough Orchestra (later known as the English Chamber Orchestra, or ECO), and was an outstanding continuo cellist.

Together with clarinettist Gervase de Peyer and violist Cecil Aronowitz, he helped found the Melos Ensemble in 1950. He was its principal cellist for decades, and Aronowitz its principal violist. Bassoonist William Waterhouse wrote in 1995: "It was the remarkable rapport between this pair of lower strings, which remained constant throughout a succession of distinguished leaders, that gave a special distinction to this outstanding ensemble."

Terence

Publius Terentius Afer (/təˈrɛnʃiəs, -ʃəs/; c. 195/185 – c. 159? BC), better known in English as Terence (/ˈtɛrəns/), was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on, impressed by his abilities, freed him. Terence apparently died young, probably in Greece or on his way back to Rome. All of the six plays Terence wrote have survived.

One famous quotation by Terence reads: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto", or "I am human, and nothing of that which is human is alien to me." This appeared in his play Heauton Timorumenos.

Biography

Terence's date of birth is disputed; Aelius Donatus, in his incomplete Commentum Terenti, considers the year 185 BC to be the year Terentius was born;Fenestella, on the other hand, states that he was born ten years earlier, in 195 BC.

He may have been born in or near Carthage or in Greek Italy to a woman taken to Carthage as a slave. Terence's cognomen Afer suggests he lived in the territory of the Libyan tribe called by the Romans Afri near Carthage prior to being brought to Rome as a slave. This inference is based on the fact that the term was used in two different ways during the republican era: during Terence's lifetime, it was used to refer to non-Carthaginian Libyco-Berbers, with the term Punicus reserved for the Carthaginians. Later, after the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, it was used to refer to anyone from the land of the Afri (Tunisia and its surroundings). It is therefore most likely that Terence was of Libyan descent, considered ancestors to the modern-day Berber peoples.

Terence (given name)

Terence is a male given name, derived from the Latin name Terentius. The diminutive form is Terry. Spelling variants include Terrence, Terance, and Terrance.

Notable people with this name