Her musical development was further enhanced by advanced studies with prominent cellists such as Paul Tortelier, Pablo Casals, and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Du Pré gained early recognition, winning Britain's most prestigious cello award at age 11 and making her official debut at Wigmore Hall at 16.

She began with lessons from her mother, who composed little pieces accompanied by illustrations, before enrolling at the London Violoncello School at age five, studying with Alison Dalrymple.

50  The Suggia award paid for du Pré's tuition at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and for private lessons with the celebrated cellist William Pleeth.

In late 1958, the family moved to London, where Derek du Pré took the job of Secretary of the Institute of Cost and Works Accounting.

In 1960 du Pré won the Gold Medal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the same year participated in a Pablo Casals masterclass in Zermatt, Switzerland.

In 1965, at age 20, du Pré recorded the Elgar Concerto for EMI with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir John Barbirolli, which brought her international recognition.

Du Pré also performed the Elgar with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Antal Doráti for her United States début, at Carnegie Hall on 14 May 1965.

In 1966 du Pré studied in Russia with Mstislav Rostropovich, who was so impressed with his pupil that at the end of his tutorship he declared her "the only cellist of the younger generation that could equal and overtake [his] own achievement.

From 1969 to 1970 she (like Casals before her) played on a Francesco Goffriller cello, and in 1970 acquired a modern instrument from the Philadelphia violin maker Sergio Peresson.

Her friendship with musicians Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta and Pinchas Zukerman, and marriage to Daniel Barenboim led to many memorable chamber-music performances.

Barenboim and du Pré were highly regarded as a "golden couple" in the music industry during the late 1960s and early 1970s, with their extensive performing and recording collaborations being ranked as some of the finest of their time.

Both the book and the film have been criticised for sensationalising Jacqueline du Pré's personal life, although the general claim of an affair was supported by others.

[12] The memoir's actual description of events is ambiguous, and describes Jacqueline's sudden request for sexual "therapy sessions" as occurring within a period of extreme mental depression.

The unusual depression (deemed an early symptom of multiple sclerosis)[13] also coincided with a long period in which Finzi took the initiative in verbally comforting Jacqueline.

The posthumous allegation of an affair, combined with Hilary's claim to be victimised, inevitably generated a controversy over Jacqueline du Pré's personal life.

[15] The film Hilary and Jackie differs from the memoir on several key factual points,[13] and has been criticised by some for imposing a scandal on Jacqueline's personal life.

[13] The director, Anand Tucker, defends the film's portrayal of an affair by arguing that extant alternatives amount to canonisation or hagiography, and that he was "deeply moved [by] Hilary's sacrifice".

The film and book were also defended for their emotional power and broad authenticity, despite fictional content regarding aspects of Jacqueline's personality and the specifics of events.

Others, such as Christopher Nupen, took a different view, holding that Jacqueline's struggle with multiple sclerosis was more complex, with sustained periods of normality even to the very end.

The ballet premiered in 2020 at the Royal Opera House, with Lauren Cuthbertson as "The Cellist", Matthew Ball as "The Conductor" and Marcelino Sambé as "The Instrument".

[21] Jacqueline, by Luna Pearl Woolf (music) and Royce Vavrek (libretto) had its world premiere at Canada's National Ballet School's Betty Oliphant Theatre in Toronto, in a production by Tapestry Opera, on 19 February 2020.