The French cello virtuoso Jean-Louis Duport (1749-1819) was one of the most important cellists of his time and worked as a solo cellist at the Paris Opera and professor at the Paris Conservatoire among others. His cello method 'Essai sur le doigter du violoncelle et la conduite de l'archet' (1770) contained an appendix with the present 21 studies which spread very quickly because of their completely new fingering (thumb position). Today, Duport's studies form part of the standard repertoire of t...