Erling Blöndal Bengtsson

Cellist Erling Blöndal Bengtsson was born to a musical family. His father was a Danish violinist and his mother was an Icelandic pianist. His father started him on violin lessons when the boy was three. The youngster flatly refused to hold the violin in the traditional manner under the chin; instead he attempted to play it in an upright position, like a cello. The father fitted an end-piece to a viola so that it could be played like a cello, and started him on lessons with that instrument. Later an old violin maker friend of the family made the boy a genuine mini-cello, probab...