As was the case with Servais and Piatti, the violin was Popper’s first instrument. At the
age of twelve he switched to the cello and entered the class of Julius Goltermann at the Prague
Conservatory. Showing remarkable talent, the young cellist quickly advanced in technique and
when Popper was eighteen, the German pianist and conductor Hans von Bülow (1830-1894)
recommended him for the position of Chamber Virtuoso in Löwenberg. The natural flair of the
young cellist was so impressive that the German composer Robert Volkmann