SIPRUTINI, EMANUEL

SIPRUTINI, EMANUEL (18th century), cellist. The son of a Dutch Jew, Siprutini is known to have traveled in Italy and Spain. Leopold Mozart, father of the great composer, met him in London in 1764 and mentioned him as a great virtuoso on the cello. He also tried to convert him to Catholicism, but although Siprutini had by this time abandoned Jewish observances there is no evidence that he ever left Judaism. He dedicated his Six Solos for a Violoncello (1775?) to the English Jewish communal leader, Moses Franks (1719–89). At a later date Siprutini lived in Belgium as a wine-merchant. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: R. Eitner, Quellen Lexikon, 9 (reprint 1959), 183–4; 11 (1960), 171; W.A. Bauer and O.E. Deutsch (eds.), Mozart, Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, 1 (1962), 164–5; British Union Catalogue of Early Music, 2 (1957). (Cecil Roth)