Vol. 13 No.2

JOURNALofthe

AMERICAN ViOLA SOCIETY

Section ofTHE INTERNATIONAL VIOLA SOCIETY

Association for the Promotion of Viola Performance and Research

1997

OFFICERS

Thomas TattonPresident7511 Park WoodsStockton, CA 95207(209) 952-9367

Pamela GoldsmithVice-President11640 Amanda DriveStudio City, CA 91604

Donna Lively ClarkSecretaryjCFA, Butler University4600 SunsetIndianapolis, IN 46208

Mary I ArlinTreasurerSchool ofMusicIthaca CollegeIthaca, NY 14850

Alan de VeritchPast PresidentSchool ofMusicIndiana UniversityBloomington, IN 47405

BOARD

Atar AradVictoria ChiangRalph Fieldingjohn GrahamLisa Hirschmugljerzy Kosmalajeffrey IrvinePatricia McCartyPaul NeubauerKaren RitscherChristine RutledgePamela RyanWilliam Schoen

EDITOR, ]AVS

David DaltonBrigham }Dung UniversityProvo, UT 84602

PAST PRESIDENTS

Myron Rosenblum (1971-81)Maurice W Riley (1981-86)David Dalton (1986-91)

HONORARY PRESIDENT

William Primrose (deceased)

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~wSection of the Internationale Viola-Gesellschaft

The Journal ofthe American Viola Society is a peer-reviewed publication of that organizationand is produced at

Brigham Young University, ©1985, ISSN 0898-5987.JAVSwelcomes letters and articles from its readers.

Editorial Office:School of Music

Harris Fine Arts CenterBrigham Young University

Provo, UT 84602(801) 378-4953

Fax: (801) 378-5973david_dalton@byu.edu

Editor: David DaltonAssociate Editor: David Day

Assistant Editor for Viola Pedagogy: Jeffrey IrvineAssistant Editorfor Interviews: Thomas Tatton

Production: Bryce KnudsenAdvertising: Jeanette Anderson

Advertising Office:Crandall House West (CRWH)

'Brigham Young UniversityProvo, UT 84602(801) 378-4455

linda_adams@byu.edu

JAVS appears three times yearly. Deadlines for copy and artwork are March 1, July 1,and November 1; submissions should be sent to the editorial office.

Ad rates: $100 full page, $65 half page, $35 one-fourth page.Classifieds: $25 for 30 words including address; $40 for 31-60 words.

Advertisers will be billed after the ad has appeared.Payment to the American Viola Society should be remitted to the advertising office.

Margin graphics courtesy of Nouveau Manuel Complet du Luthier

par MM. Maugin et Maigne, L.V.D.V. Inter-livres, Paris, and

Le Violon et La Lutherie par Francine Cabos, Librairie Grund, Paris.

FROr-·/l THE PRESIDENT

"'\VJhat a wonderful time to be a violist; what anW exciting time to be a member of the American

Viola Society. Our membership is the largest it has everbeen and we just celebrated our 25th silver anniversarycongress at the University ofTexas at Austin-anextraordinary event, one that will resonate beautifullyfOt years.

Do you remember my call to action, printed in1994 jAVS Vol. 10 No.2? The major points were

• Double our membership by 1998• Raise the attendance at our congresses to 600• Double our Primrose Memorial Scholarship

Fund by 1998• Activate the committee structure• Have rwenty healthy and functioning chapters

by 1998.We are well on our way in accomplishing each of

those goals. Kudos to all! Friends, there is much yet to be accomplished. This is my continuingcall to action. Winston Churchill said, "There are those who make things happen, there arethose who watch things happen and there are those who wonder what happened." Let's youand me together make things happen!

• Strive for excellence at all levels of your viola teaching, performing, making, andcomposition

• Help build strong grassroots AVS organizations in your local community• Remember that repetition is a powerful tool

Continue to promote the value, power, and beauty of the viola through performanceand demonstration. See your local elementary/middle school music teacher and volunteer todemonstrate your love of and skill on the viola to school children.

Promote the AVS by continuing to distribute our membership brochure and extol the valueof our organization to non-AVS violists.

As musicians and as violists we have an important job to do, and, for me, it has to do withmusic education and Americas musical future. We can join hands and create our future together.

With my experience as president over the past three years, my vision has broadened to include• Working to revitalize our parent organization, the International Viola Society, so that it

becomes a truly international organization that is responsive to violists in all countries• Collaborating with organizations including the Music Educators National Conference,

the American String Teachers Association, Chamber Music America, and the SuzukiAssociation ofAmerica in projects of mutual interest

• Connecting with the professional orchestral violist to create a mutually beneficialrelationship.

I love my viola as you love yours. Remember that our relationship with our instrument isan affair of the soul, and the American Viola Society represents a unity of our hearts.

AVS President's Change ofAddress:Dr. Thomas Tatton, 7511 Park Woods, Stockton, CA 95207

tel. (209) 952-9367 fax (209) 473-8042

3

BIDDULPH RECORDINGSin cooperation with

THE PRIMROSE INTERNATIONAL VIOLA ARCHIVE

presents

WILLIAM PRIMROSE

FIRST AND LAST VIOLA RECORDINGS

]. S. Bach: Solo Suites for Viola (Cello). New release, recorded in 1978.

Bach: Komm susser Tod. Brahms: Two Songs. Massenet: Elegie. Rachmaninoff: When Night Descends (with Marian Anderson).Dvorak: Humoresque. Nevin: The Rosary. Paganini: Caprices nos. 5, 13, 17; La Campanella. Kreisler: Liebesfreud. Schubert: AveMaria; Litany for All-Soul's Day. Tchaikovsky: None but the Lonely Heart. Londonderry Air (traditional).

This two-CD set is a special limited offer to members ofthe American Viola Society.Proceeds willgo to PIVA and the new Primrose Room in the Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University.

$29.95 (including packaging and mailing within the U.S.)Please make check payable to Primrose International Viola Archive (PIVA)

Total number of sets Amount of check: $ _

Name _

Address _

City State ZIP _

Telephone (__) _

Mail toDr. David DaltonBYU Music-HFACProvo, UT 84602

(Please allow 60 days for delivery.)

ANNOUNCEMENTS

5

PIVA is the official archive of the Inter­national and the American Viola societies. Itwishes to be user friendly and aid you in yourneeds regarding viola repertoire.

Holdings of PIVA now consist of approxi­mately 5,000 scores that feature the viola.Some of the older editions and manuscriptscores can be photocopied for a modest fee.Although many scores are protected by copy­right and may not be photocopied, PIVA isable to loan these materials through inter­library loan. The process of interlibrary loanis simple. Inquire at your local public or acad­emic library. Ask them to send your request tothe following address:

Interlibrary LoanAttn.: Maria ChildersHarold B. Lee LibraryBrigham Young UniversityProvo, UT 84602

TEL: (801) 378-4155FAX: (801) 378-6347e-n1ail: maria_childers@byu.edu

If the request is sent by regular mail, pleaseask your library to use their official libraryletterhead. The response time for these re­quests varies depending mostly on how quick­ly your library can process the request. Thereis no charge for loans from our library.

At present, other materials collected byPIVA such as sound recordings and archivaldocuments cannot be loaned. If you haveresearch needs or other inquiries related tothese materials, please contact David Day atthe following address:

DavidA. DayCuratorThe Primrose International Viola ArchiveBrigham Young UniversityProvo, UT 84602

TEL: (801) 378-6119FAX: (801) 378-6708e-mail: david_day@byu.edu

For general information concerning PIVAvisit our web site at:http://www.lib.byu.edu/ ,-J music/PIVN~html

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XXVI InternationalViola Congress

16-19 July 1998

at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama100 Renfrew Street, Glasgow G2 3DB

Host Chairman: John White FRAMCoordinator: Michael Calder Consultant: James Durrant MBE

The 1998 Congress is to be given as a tribute to the memory ofthe

great viola player William Primrose who was born on

23 August 1904, at 18, Wilton Drive, Glasgow.

The programme willfeature a number ofScottish-born and

Scottish-based viola players, some who have studied and taught at

the RSAMD, plus maJ·orfigures in the viola world There will be an

emphasis on musicfeaturing the viola by Scottish and British com­

posers and also works associated with the late William Primrose.

A maJ·or exhibition, a civic reception for delegates, broadcasts, record­

ings, talks, lectures, and master classes are planned and the organisers

intend to commission new worksfrom Scottish composers.

For further information please send s.a.e. toThe Secretariat

XXVI International Viola Congress36, Seeleys

Harlow, EssexCM170ADENGLAND

BEACONTRIBUTOR TO ORBENEFACTOR OF THE AVS.

Your contributions are tax deductibleand are greatly appreciated.

(SEE MEMBERSHIP ENROLLMENT FORM IN THIS ISSUE.)

IF You LOVE THE VIOLA AND FEEL WARMLY

TOWARD THE SOCIETY OF VIOLISTS, WHO WOULD You NAME

AS A BENEFICIARY OF YOUR ESTATE?

The AVS Endowment? orThe Primrose International Viola Archive? orThe Primrose Memorial Scholarship Fund?

AVS Nears 1000 MembersDuring 1997, our society probably will welcome its 1000th member.

That person will be recognized in a special way.

RANKED NO. 11 in the 1997 U.S. News and World Report survey of the

nation's best graduate schools, the Eastman School's comprehensive

program, featuring John Graham and George Taylor, provides outstand-

ing performanc'e ,and academic faculty, diverse and continuous perfor­

mance opportunities, and innovative approaches to career preparation.

Our groundbreaking Arts Leadership Program prepares stu-

dents for careers as audience builders, imaginative educators,

compelling advocates, and inventive performers. No matter

what career in music our graduates choose, they are well pre-

pared to meet the ch~lIenge. The Eastman School of Music.

Mor. than a conservatory - education for a lifetime.

String faculty:

Lynn Blakeslee, violin

Kathleen Bride, harp

Charles Castleman, violin

Steven Doane, cello

Pamela Frame, cello

Nicholas Goluses, guitar

John Graham, viola

Allan Harris, cello (part-time)

Charles Haupt, violin (part-time)

Margery Hwang, chamber music (part-time)

Oleh Krysa, violin

Melissa Micciche, viola (part-time)

Stefan Reuss, cello (part-time)

Mitchell Stern, violin

George Taylor, viola

James VanDemark, double bass

Zvi Zeitlin, violin

Quartet in Residence: The Ying Quartet­

Timothy Ying, Janet Ying, Phillip Ying, David Ying

For further information, contact the

Eastman School of Music Admissions Office:

1-800-388-9695.

EASTMANSCHOOL OF MUSICUNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS'S SUITE FOR

VIOLA AND ORCHESTRA

9

by William E. Everett

The eminent English composer RalphVaughan Williams (1872-1958) was no

stranger to the viola. He began to play theinstrument during his student days at Charter­house.! Wilfred Mellers refers to the viola as"an instrument which Vaughan Williamsenjoyed playing, and for which he had a deepaffection, not unconnected with its being atonce the most ethereal and the most volup­tuous of the string family." 2 This special affin­ity for the instrument is apparent in the Suitefor Viola and Orchestra (1934), a collectionof miniatures which displays the viola's versa­tility and personality.3

Vaughan Williams wrote several majorworks featuring the viola in a solo capacitybefore he embarked on the Suite. Most im­portant of these are Fantasia on a Theme byThomas Tallis (1910, rev. 1913 and 1919),with its prominent viola solo in the concer­tante string quartet; Phantasy Quintet (1912),scored with two viola parts; Four Hymns(1914) for tenor and piano with viola obli­gato; and, most importantly, Flos Campi(1925) for solo viola, mixed chorus, and smallorchestra.

Lionel Tertis was the performer mostclosely associated with the creation of theSuite. He not only commissioned the workfrom Vaughan Williams but also was its dedi­catee and the soloist at its first performanceon 12 November 1934. During the decadebefore he premiered the Suite, Tertis gave firstperformances of Vaughan Williams's FlosCampi (10 October 1925), his own arrange­ment of Elgar's Cello Concerto (21 March1930), and Holst's Lyric Movement (18March 1934). In Vaughan Williams's Suite,therefore, we see the coming together of twogreat English artists whose careers intersectedin the early 1930s: Vaughan Williams as anexperienced composer for the viola and Tertisas a champion of new British music for theinstrument.

Vaughan Williams's Suite for Viola andOrchestra is a collection of eight miniatures,each of which demonstrates a particular musi­cal atmosphere. Each movement is cast in abasic ternary design (ABA) or simple variantthereof These musical postcards hold a specialplace in Vaughan Williams's oeuvre since,although they constitute a work for soloinstrument and orchestra, they do not havethe pretentiousness or grandeur of a concerto.Frank Howes said of the Suite, "The Suite forViola represents quite another scale of values:colour and virtuosity replace logic and force."4James Day described the Suite as a composi­tion which

is easy to listen to and requires a true vir­tuoso soloist, and the work stands inrelation to Vaughan Williams's more im­pressive compositions as Beethoven'sBagatelles do to his; that is to say, its smallscale indicates a great mind relaxingrather than a little mind saying elegantnothings.5

This study will address several aspects ofVaughan Williams's Suite. First, the work'sformal organization and n1usical style will bediscussed. This will be followed by briefcommentary on the manuscript of the Suite,housed at the British Library. The final sec­tion will discuss critical reception of the Suiteat its first performance in 1934. A survey ofthese various aspects of the Suite will illumi­nate features of it not only as it is today butalso as it was over sixty years ago.

Formal Organization and Musical Style

The Suite consists of eight movementsarranged into three groups.6 A commontheme of Christmas unifies the three move­ments of Group I ("Prelude," "Carol," and"Christmas Dance"). Two character piecesconstitute Group II ("Ballad" and "Moto

d·

10

Perpetuo"), while dances provide the basis forGroup III ("Musette," "Polka Melancolique,"and "Galop"). The Suite is flexible in its pos­sibilities for performance: it can be played as acomplete unit; each Group may be performedindependently; or single movements can beused as individual pieces.7

Group I

Group I of the Suite consists of threemovements which share the common themeof the Christmas season: "Prelude," "Carol,"and "Christmas Dance." It is not only theprogrammatic titles of the second and thirdmovements but also distinctive musical ele­ments which suggest the association. Musi­cally, evocations of Christmas include the pas­toral atmosphere of the middle section of the"Prelude," the strophic form of the "Carol,"and the jubilant mood of the "ChristmasDance."

The opening movement, "Prelude," is, asthe title suggests, a quasi-improvisatory fanta­sia in a baroque manner. Frank Howes said ofthe movement:

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The Prelude, superficially recalling Bach'sFirst from the Forty-Eight and Debussy'sDr. Gradus ad Parnassum, is not so cooland formal an affair as either.8

It is the arpeggiated opening which in­vites the comparison with Bach. The middlepart of the movement, however, also evokesimages of the Baroque. This section, in a pas­toral 9/8, provides the movement's connec­tion with the Christmas theme. The pastoralmeter is often associated with the Christmasseason, as is evident in works such as Handel'sMessiah and Corelli's Christmas Concerto.Without having to refer to the season in verbalterms, Vaughan Williams evokes it throughmusical means.

The "Carol" is the movement which hasdrawn special attention from several com­mentators on the Suite. Even in the review ofthe first performance which appeared in theMusical Times, this movement stood out tothe critic:

. . . it is only the leisured simple thingsthat were remembered. One of themcame in the Carol, where the viola had asweet and simple tune and the flute fol­lowed it about, a bar or so behind, withfleece as snow.9

(Actually, the flute leads the canon, with theviola entering one measure later.) Percy Youngdescribed the movement as demonstrating"the illimitable possibilities thrown openby melodic symbiosis." 10 This prominence ofmelody is one of the elements which con­tributes to the movement's particular charm.

The relaxed and lyrical nature of themelodic line is enhanced through its metrictreatment. Measures alternate between 4/4and 5/4 virtually the entire movement. Thisuse of meter gives the theme a somewhatimprovisatory feel: it is not forced into ametric straight jacket but is allowed the free­dom of ebb and flow in its forward motion.

"Christmas Dance," with its metric alter­nations between 6/8 and 3/4, effectivelyconcludes Group I. Passages which evokeimages of a rustic fiddler are complementedby sections of broad lyricism. In the orches­tral version of the Suite, Vaughan Williamsadds to the radiant atmosphere of the

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Group III

present: this is the dark foreboding world ofVaughan Williams's Fourth Symphony (com­posed 1931-34, first performed 1935), awork contemporary with the Suite.

Taken as a pair, the "Ballad" and the"Moto Perpetuo" display two differentapproaches of Vaughan Williams's depictionof seriousness and austerity. The "Ballad"takes a lyrical approach: played at a slowtempo, the spaciousness of the principalmelody is enhanced through the contrast of afast central section. The "Moto Perpetuo," onthe other hand, relies on tonality and theminor second for its evocation of pathos.

Group III contains three dance move­ments: "Musette," "Polka Melancolique," and"Galop." The arrangement of the dances issomewhat curious, for the slowest of the threemovements is not in the middle of the set (itstypical place), but rather at the beginning.Furthermore, each dance contains unusualfeatures for a work of its particular type. The"Musette" does not have the identifiabledrone of open fifths as its most salient fea­ture; the usual vivacious polka is set in the

Group II

"Christn1as Dance" by including trumpetsand percussion for the first time in the work.This increase in the size of the orchestraalong with the brilliance of the added instru­ments accentuates this movement and gives itspecial significance in the overall design ofthe Suite as the end of Group I.

The three movements of Group I are allrelatively extroverted in nature. The majormode dominates all three movements, andeach contains aspects of metric interest. Thefirst two movements both are directed towardthe "Christmas Dance," although each ofthem can exist independently. In the manu­script score, the indication "attacca no. 3"appears at the end of the "Carol," thus sug­gesting greater unity between the final twon10vements.

Whereas the three movements of Group Iare focused outward, those of Group II,"Ballad" and "Moto Perpetuo," look inward.The two movements are linked by a commontonal center, C. The "Ballad" is in C majorwhile the "Moto Perpetuo" is in C minor.

The "Ballad" is the central slow move­ment of the Suite and occurs at its midpoint.The principal melody is pentatonic, with thefourth and seventh scale degrees not present.The rich harmonic accompaniment with itsfrequent use of parallel fifths (reminiscent ofa bagpipe drone) contributes to its solemntone. A fast middle section in 6/8 providescontrast to the slower outer sections of themovement. This passage begins with an oboesolo (a pastoral instrument) and is in a pas­toral meter (6/8). Taken with the pentatonicmelody and the parallel and open fifths of theouter sections, elements of the pastoral tradi­tion dominate this movement.

The "Moto Perpetuo" which followsmaintains the introverted atmosphere estab­lished in the "Ballad." Although it containsonly sixteenth notes played at a very fasttempo, the minor tonality and frequentappearance of the interval of the minor sec­ond (an interval frequently associated withtragedy) give this movement its ominouscharacter. The movement is certainly themost virtuosic and technically challenging ofany in the Suite. The pastoral element is not

Example. "Moto Perpetuo," mm. 5-6, manuscript version

Manuscripts at the British Library (Add. Ms.50386). Even though it was presumably thebasis for the published version of the Suitebecause it had been the property of OxfordUniversity Press, several discrepancies existbetween the manuscript and published ver­sions. Apparently, the solo part was extractedfrom the score and given to Lionel Tertis,who subsequently added fingerings and bow­ings. When Tertis received the solo part, itmost likely contained inconsistencies with themanuscript.

Most of the differences between the manu­uscript and printed versions of the Suite con­cern articulations, dynamics, and bowings.There are several instances of different pitches.The most important of these occurs in theopening measures of the "Moto Perpetuo."The treble clef sign in the sixth measureshould be after the third note, rather thanbefore it. Therefore, the third note of themeasure should be dl, rather than c2. It thusfollows the pattern established in the preced­ing measure of having an open string fol­lowed by the three note pattern Bb eBb,with the pattern occurring an octave highereach time.

A detailed description of each discrepancybetween the manuscript and printed versionsof the Suite is beyond the scope of this study;however, some comments on tempo indica­tions and titles of movements will be of inter­est. Six of the eight movements demonstratedifferences in either the tempo indication orsuggested metronome marking (see Table).While neither tempo nor metronome markings

Movement Manuscript Printed Version"Prelude" j = 60 and j == 66 j == 66

(both metronome markings are present in different hands)

"Carol" j == 66 j = 70"Ballad" Andante tranquillo Lento non troppo ""Mota Perpetuo" Presto J = 88 Allegro J = 80"Musette" Andante sostenuto Lento"Galop" j = 184 j = 160

The Manuscript Score

It may be compared with the cafe musicof the Flemish Farm suite. Before the finalcadenza the minor third, which has previ­ously appeared, stands preceded by themajor third, while the last chord is third­less, both tokens of con1miseration. 12

minor mode; and the "Galop," a dance typi­cally in 2/4, has a middle section in 6/8.

The "Musette," played con sordino,reestablishes the pastoral character of the open­ing Group. The gentle ostinato in the harpand the muted string sound create an orches­tral atmosphere reminiscent of Ravel, 11 whilethe frequent modulations in the middle sec­tion provide distinctive tonal interest.

The "Polka Melancolique" lives up to theoxymoron of its title. A polka is thrust intothe minor mode and with some curiousmelodic twists is transformed from a livelyfolk dance into a mournful caricature. PercyM. Young said of the movement, in refer­ence to the dichotomy between the minormode and the polka character and VaughanWilliams's use of tonality:

Table. Differences in tempo indications and metronome markings between manuscriptand printed versions.

The "Galop," although in the minormode, nonetheless provides a virtuoso endingfor the Suite. As mentioned above, a galop istypically in 2/4; however, in this movement,the central section is in 6/8. The tune, scoredfor solo viola and piccolo, is not pastoral likethe 6/8 sections of the "Prelude" and "Ballad"but rather suggests a theme that one mightfind in a score for a western film. The themeis transformed into a saloon dance through anincrease in orchestration and rhythmic em­phasis on the second beat of each measure.

The three movements of Group III alloffer creative and atypical interpretationsof traditional dance forms on the part ofVaughan Williams. These movements areamong the most original of the Suite and,after the pastoral nature of Group Iand the austerity of Group II, providean effective set of movements to con­clude the work.

The manuscript orchestral scorefor the Suite for Viola and Orches­tra is housed in the Department of

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should be taken as absolutely definitive, aninvestigation of these markings as they appearin the manuscript augments their appearancein the printed version.

Only the "Christmas Dance" and "PolkaMelancholique" have the same markings inboth versions.l 3 As far as metronome mark­ings are concerned, lyrical movements areindicated to be played slightly slower, accord­ing to the manuscript, while virtuoso move­ments are to be played faster, especially the"Galop," whose metronome indication inthe manuscript is 24 beats quicker thanin the printed version.

The manuscript also reveals informationregarding the titles of two of the movements:"Ballad" and "Polka Melancolique." "Ballad"was originally called "Romance." The title"Romance" was marked out and replacedwith "Ballad." A work for viola and pianoentitled "Romance" by Vaughan Williams wasdiscovered among his manuscripts after hisdeath and published posthumously in1962. 14 The manuscript, which is at theBritish Library, is, according to a notation byUrsula Vaughan Williams (second wife of thecomposer), in the hand of Adeline VaughanWilliams, Ralph's first wife. Adeline died in1951, so Vaughan Williams obviously com­pleted the "Romance" before that time. Sinceit is not known more precisely when VaughanWilliams wrote the "Romance," as no dateappears on the manuscript, it could have beenenvisioned at the time of the composition ofthe Suite. This could be one possibility as towhy the title of the movement in the Suitewas changed, since Vaughan Williams did notwant to use the same title for two solo worksfor viola. Another possible reason for thechange may be that Vaughan Williamsthought "Ballad" was simply a more appropri­ate title for the movement.

Regarding "Polka Melancolique," the move­ment's title appears only as "Polka" on themanuscript. Even though each of the move­ments contained in Group III is an atypicalversion of a dance, perhaps the title "Polka"without further description was thought to besomewhat misleading. The program for thepremiere performance of the Suite also liststhe movement with the single-word title"Polka." Therefore, the qualifier "melan-

cholique" was apparently added sometimeafter the first performance of the Suite andbefore it was published in 1936 by OxfordUniversity Press.

The First Performance

The first performance of the Suite tookplace on 12 November 1934 with LionelTertis as soloist and the London Philhar­monic Orchestra conducted by Sir MalcolmSargent. The concert was part of one of themore important series of the time-theCourtauld-Sargent Concerts. 15 Both the workand the performance were well received bythe critics. The lead article in the December1934 issue of Strad, "Violinists at Home andAbroad," began with commentary on theSuite:

The first important novelty of the presentseason has duly made its appearance, thesuite for viola and orchestra ... byVaughan Williams. This was produced ata Courtauld-Sargent concert, the conduc­tor receiving a special welcome on mak­ing his reappearance after his illness.LIONEL TERTIS was the soloist, and Ihear that the composer has given himsome delightfully effective music to play,of which, it need hardly be said, he madethe most. The work consists of eightshort pieces of varying character andrhythm and were the viola a more popu­lar instrument would doubtless be fre­quently heard.l 6

The positive remarks about both theSuite and Tertis were amplified in the MusicalTimes review, along with some less than flat-tering remarks about the viola:

Vaughan Williams has not exhausted hiscapacity to spring surprises. His Suite forviola and orchestra ... , played byMr. Tertis at the concert on November 12,could no more have been prefigured thanthe "Pastoral" Symphony or "FlosCampi." Mter the event one can perceivethe composer's train of thought and agreewith it. In the "Concerto accademico" forviolin, Vaughan Willian1s' contrapuntalpuzzles were in the fashion. Still more so

B

15

The writer for Musical Opinion commentedon folk and dance influences in the Suite:

The review for the Times offered a briefdescription of each movement (omitted here)and placed the work in relation to the work

reviews in all three of these publications werequite enthusiastic in tone. The unnamedreviewer for the Monthly Musical Recordwrote:

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It betokens no new departure for its com­poser: his work never lacks spontaneitywhen meditating on rural and pastoralsubjects. The various short dance move­ments do not lack development, whilethe Suite is cast in that diatonic mouldpeculiar to Vaughan Williams whichdelights the ear. I9

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The new suite contains delightful things.There are eight movements, diversified incharacter, yet unified by the poetic spirit­pensive and yet virile. This music springsfrom the same England as the poetry ofHardy and Bridges. IS

was the percussiveness of the PianoforteConcerto. In the work for viola, however,he corrects fashion-rebukes it if youlike-for treating the instrument in anunsuitable way.... The viola's dusky toneand fit of plaintiveness do not necessarilycast it for tragic parts: they are part of itshomely nature and are fit for homelythoughts. Its voice, unlike that of thearistocratic violin, is the voice of lowlyhumanity, with its simplicities and hum­ours as well as its dumps. Its candle-lightis that of the cottage. So Vaughan Williamsdoes not write a three-movement con­certo with poignant subjects, burden­some developments, and punctiliousdesigns. He writes a set of short pieces,lively, peaceful, jocular, wistful-any­thing but portentous-with the voice offolk-song slipping in, as if by right, atevery other breath. The lowering ofthe brow does not in the least lower themusical style. In fact, Vaughan Williamshas never written a work more crowdedwith points of musical interest, suddengleams of beauty, inspired simplicities,and telling subtleties. Sometimes he is soquick-witted that his meaning loses itselfin performance-Vaughan Williamsbecoming too rapid for St. Cecilia, or herservants.... Mr. Tertis enthusiasticallybacked up the composer in this process ofputting the viola in countenance.Debunking is too ugly a word. I?

It seems that the reviewer, "McN," wasmuch more impressed with musical attributesof the work and its performance than he waswith the instrument for which it was written.It is even in this review of the first perfor­mance that we observe one of the problemswhich has befallen the Suite: it is not a large­scale concerto but rather a collection ofminiatures. When expected to be a concerto,the work fails miserably. It cannot be some­thing which it is not. When viewed as a suite,the collection of small pieces which it is,Vaughan Williams's work for viola andorchestra succeeds.

Commentary about the Suite alsoappeared in the Monthly Musical Record,Musical Opinion, and the London Times. The

18

of Holst and Elgar, both of whom were alsorepresented on the program in Ballet Musicfrom "The Perfect Fool" and CockaigneOverture respectively.

The program . . . has the distinction ofintroducing a new work by VaughanWilliams, a suite for viola and smallorchestra written, it seems scarcely neces­sary to say, for Mr. Lionel Tertis, who inturning the viola into a virtuoso's instru­ment has reconciled English composers toinstrumental virtuosity. The new suiteis very much Tertis's own and his instru­ment's (it would be unthinkable trans­ferred to violin or violoncello), yet it isalso the composer's own in every detail ofits design and phraseology....

Seven short movements follow theprelude, and recall various phases of hisfolk-lore and folk-dance interests....The whole is a most engaging set ofminiatures, and throughout, though thecharacter of the viola seems the chiefmotive, the delicate colouring of theorchestral background contributes essen­tial and subtle beauties. It is music towhich one must listen for every jot andtittle of its expression. It does not hurlitself at one's ears as Holt's [sic] balletmusic does, or as Elgar's ever young"Cockaigne" overture (the final piece onthis programme) does. It is well that it getstwo performances on consecutive nightsstraight away. Mr. Tertis will no doubt seeto it that it gets many more.20

It has been not only Lionel Tertis but alsonumerous other violists who have playedVaughan Williams's Suite since its first perfor­mance in 1934. With its variety of musicalatmospheres, technical challenges, and accessi­bility for both performers and audience, ithas become a staple of the viola repertoire.Whether performed in its entirety or asselected movements, the work ably demon­strates many facets of Vaughan Williams'sstyle and is certainly deserving of its continuedpopularity.

William A. Everett is assistant professor ofmusicat Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas,where he teaches music history, music theory, andapplied viola. He holds degrees from theUniversity of Kansas (Ph.D.), SouthernMethodist Universtiy (M.M.), and Texas TechUniversity (B.M). His articles have appeared inAmerican Music, Sonneck Society Bulletin,and Opera Quarterly. His viola teachers includeSusan Schoenfield and Barbra Hustis. He is amember of the Washburn University FacultyString Quartet and is associate principal violistofthe Topeka Symphony Orchestra.

NOTES

1Hugh Ottaway, Vaughan Williams (London: Novelloand Company, 1966),7.2Wilfred Mellers, Vaughan Williams and the Vision ofAlbion (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1989), 107.30xford University Press published a viola-piano vet;­sion of the Suite in 1936 and a full orchestral score in

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1963. It is these editions that will be cited in this study.4Prank Howes, The Later U70rks ofR. Vaughan Williams(London: Oxford University Press, 1937),85.5]ames Day, Vaughan Williams (London: ]. M. Dent &Sons, 1961), 174.6Por a detailed analysis of the Suite, see chapter 3,"Background, Analysis, and Significance of Suite forViola and Small Orchestra," of Christine W. Treter's"The Significance of Selected Compositions by RalphVaughan Williams which Peature the Viola" (DA disser­tation, Ball State University, 1993).7When the Suite was first published in a version for violaand piano (Oxford University Press, 1936), each Groupwas issued as a separate publication. This arrangementenhanced the distinctive nature of each Group. In 1989,Oxford University Press published the Suite in a one­volume edition. The movements are not divided intogroups on the contents page, but on the following page,which appeared in each volume of the earlier edition, thegroups and movements contained therein are listed, as isthe instrumentation for the orchestral version.8Prank Howes, The Music ofRalph Vaughan Williams(London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1954),111.9"London Concerts, Courtauld-Sargent Concert,"Musical Times 75. 1102 (Dec. 1934): 1128.10percy M. Young, Vaughan Williams (London: DennisDobson, 1953), 187.11Vaughan Williams studied orchestration with Ravelfor three months in 1908. (Michael Kennedy, The U70rksofRalph Vaughan Williams, 2nd edition [London andNew York: Oxford University Press, 1980],90.)12Young, 135.13"Christmas Dance" is marked Allegro pesante in boththe manuscript and the published orchestral score. Thetempo marking is given only as Allegro in the solo violarart and the piano reduction.

4Ralph Vaughan Williams, Romance for Viola andPiano, ed. Bernard Shore and Eric Gritton (London andNew York: Oxford University Press, 1962).15The Courtauld-Sargent Concerts were founded in1928 by Mrs. Samuel Courtauld and Malcolm Sargentwith the purpose of providing high-quality music ataffordable prices. The Concerts included six programseach winter season at the Queen's Hall. The series wasquite successful, and the concerts, which took place onMonday evenings, were repeated the following evening.In 1932, the newly formed London PhilharmonicOrchestra began its association with the Concerts. TheCourtauld-Sargent Concerts lasted until 1958, spon­sored for its last eleven seasons by the New Era ConcertSociety. (New Grove Dictionary ofMusic and Musicians,S.v. "London: Concert Life Organizations" by HenryRaynor).16"Violinists at Home and Abroad," Strad 45.536 (Dec.1934): 341.17"London Concerts, Courtauld-Sargent Concert,"Musical Times75.1102 (Dec. 1934): 1128.18"Concerts and Opera," Monthly Musical Record 64.762 (Dec. 1934): 228.19"London Concerts, Courtauld-Sargent Concert,"Musical Opinion 58.687 (Dec. 1934): 234.20"Courtauld-Sargent Concerts, Vaughan Williams'sSuite," Times (London) 12 November 1934.

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ROMANTIC WORKS FOR THE YOUNG VIOLIST

21

by Patricia McCarty

As a child browsing through viola music atthe music store in Wichita, Kansas, I

used to lament the small size of the violadrawer compared to those of the violin andcello. I consoled myself with the assumptionthat it was a manageable amount of music tolearn and that it would at least be possibleto learn everything written for my instru­ment. This belief was shattered when I beganstudying with Joshua Missal at Wichita StateUniversity as a high school student and wasintroduced to his lifelong collection of rareviola works already out of print at that time.The success of his teaching was largely due tohis ability to find the right work for eachstudent's technical and musical development,thereby opening the door to achievement ofnew heights of both technical and expressiveaccomplishments. How intellectually andemotionally stimulating it was to study such avariety of works as the Antiufeyev Concerto,Hovhaness's Chahagir, Ravel's Piece en formede Habanera, the Cecil Forsyth Concerto,Vieux's Etudes sur les intervalles, the BachSuites, and the Bloch Suite Htbrai'que all inone winter-and all prior to encountering theso-called standard repertoire by Brahms,Schubert, Hindemith, Walton, Bartok, etc.The following year found those big threetwentieth-century concerti further postponedby University of Michigan teacher FrancisBundra's insistence on laying importantgroundwork in the concerti by Serly, Porter,Piston, and Gyula Divid.

While these lesser known works are notusually prescribed today in the auditionrequirements for high school All-State or col­lege entry, many of them sound far betterwith less frustration in young hands than themore famous contemporaneous repertoire.Offering alternatives to prolonged study ofbaroque and classical era works, they helpbuild the technique and musicianship neces­sary for enhanced finesse when returning tothose styles, and for successful performance ofthe standard Romantic and twentieth-centuryrepertoire. If we as teachers rely on the

expediency of assigning students only musicwhich is readily available in the stock of ourlocal music store, we encounter great gaps inthe continuum of gradually and ever-more­challenging repertoire. All too frequently theyoung viola student completes the Telemannand Handel/Casadesus concerti, then suddenlyfaces the chromaticism of the J. C. Bach andthe classical style articulation of Stamitzand Hoffmeister-concerti quite difficult foreven the artist performer to make sound aspolished as a beautifully played Mozart violinconcerto. Then after perhaps learning worksby Vaughan Williams or Bloch, this studenttypically tackles our beloved standardRomantic repertoire-the Bruch Romanze,Schumann's Miirchenbilder, the SchubertArpeggione and Brahms Sonatas-often with­out ever having developed the technical andmusical skills to manage these pieces withfinesse, guaranteeing frustration for the studentand his future teachers as he tries to unlearningrained hang-ups.

The Teacher's Role

It is as much a teacher's responsibility tonurture a student's development of musician­ship as it is to teach the n1echanics of playing,and it is possible to find repertoire in alleras and styles of music at beginning, inter­mediate, and advanced levels of technicaldevelopment. We violists have been condi­tioned by others to believe that we have littleRomantic repertoire, and while concerti maybe lacking, the recital repertoire from thatperiod is bountiful. The Guide (see pages24-25) which I have compiled arranges mostof the viola's Romantic repertoire into fourcategories of difficul ty, wi th suggestedpreparatory studies before embarking on thefirst group and with companion technicalstudies for all. These works are both originaland transcribed; the transcriptions representboth those done in the last century by thecomposers themselves and the most peda­gogically useful ones of recent years. The

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BACHBouree in C minorChromatic Fantasy & Fugue

BEETHOVENFur Elise

BENJAMINJamaican Rhumba

BOCCHERINIMusic Box Minuet

BOHMSarabande

BOROWSKIAdoration

BRAHMSScherzo

CHOPINNocturne for Viola

CORELLISarabanda, Giga, & BadinerieSonata #12 Folia con Variazioni

DANCLACarnival of Venice

DeBERIOTScene de Ballet

DEBUSSYClaire de LuneGirl With the Flaxen HairLa Plus Que Lente

DVORAKRomance Ope 11Sonatina Ope 100

FAUREFantasy

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HUBAYHejre Kati

IBERTThe Little White Donkey

JENKINSONElfentanz

JOPLINPineapple RagSolace

KREISLERLeibesfreudLeibesleidPraeludium & AllegroRecitativo & Scherzo CapriceSicilenne & Rigaudon

KUCHLERConcertino in Style of Vivaldi

MASSENETMeditation from "Thais"

MATTHEWSFantasy

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MOZARTAdagio K.261Menuetto Divertimento K.334Rondo K.250Serenata Cantabile K.283

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RIMSKY-KORSAKOFFFlight of the Bumble Bee

SCHMIDTAlIa Turka

SCHUBERTThe Bee

TARTINISonata AngeliqueThe Devil's Trill

TCHAIKOWSKICanzonettaJune BarcarolleMelodieSeranade MelancholiqueValse Sentimentale

THEOBALDScherzo Agitato

VITALEChaconne

VIVALDISonata in G

VON WEBERAndante & Hungarian Rondo

WIENIAWSKILegendeScherzo-Tarantella

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Beethoven Romances are included becausethey seem more romantic than classical innature, but the Mendelssohn Sonata and theNotturno are omitted as belonging more tothe Classical era. Works by Bloch, Clarke,Bliss, Berkeley, Vaughan Williams, and Baxhave been omitted for their more twentieth­century harmonies. Many of the works inGroups A-B-C offer musical satisfaction foradvanced and professional players, but moreimportantly, this repertoire provides suitablematerial for the developing violist to confrontissues of technique and musicianship crucialto successful performance of Group 0, issuessuch as sustaining sound throughout thelength of the bow, phrasing, bow distribution,varying bow speeds and weights, vibrato,tonal colors, dynamic gradations, articulationvariety, intonation in chromatic harmoniesand complex key signatures, and interactionwith a piano part which is more than mere

accompaniment. Most of this music IS Inprint, available through the Primrose Inter­national Viola Archive or inter-library loan.

Patricia McCarty won the First Silver Medalprize in the Geneva International Competitionat the age of eighteen and since then has per-formed throughout the U.S., Europe, andJapan, appearing as soloist with such orchestrasas the Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony,and the Boston Pops. She was associated withthe Boston Symphony as assistant principalviolist and currently teaches at the BostonConservatory. McCarty is keenly interested inviola repertoire and has been awarded twoNational Endowment for the Arts Solo RecitalistGrants that have allowed her to explore andper-form contemporary American and lesser knownworks for the viola. She serves as a board memberofthe AVS.

23

THE

DAVID DALTON studied atthe Vienna Academy, theMunich Hochschule, andtook degrees at the Eastman

School and Indiana University, where he earned hisdoctorate in viola under William Primrose. He collabo­rated with his teacher in producing the Primrose mem­oirs Walk on the North Side and Playing the Viola. Heserved as president of the American Viola Society.

VIOLA

CLYN BARRUS is a graduateof the Curtis Institute, theVienna Academy, and theUniversity of Michigan, wherehe earned his doctorate in viola. He was principC!-I of theVienna Symphony and for thirteen years occupied thatsame position in the Minnesota Orchestra. He has beenheard frequently as a soloist and recording artist, and isnow director of orchestras at BYU.

The Primrose International Viola Archive, the largest repository of materials related to the viola, is housed in the Harold B. Lee Library. BYU graduates find them­

selves in professional orchestras and as teachers at institutes of higher learning. B.M., B.A., and M.M. degrees in performance are offered to viola students.

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24

Guide to Romantic Viola Repertoirecompiled by Patricia McCarty

PREPARATORY STUDIES (in progressiveorder): Ross, Violinist's Guide to ExquisiteIntonation; Bomoff, Techno-MelodicStudies, Part 1; Salter, Starters; Palaschko,Old Masters for Young Players; Maganini,Ancient Greek Melody & Song of ChineseFisherman; studies by Carse, Wohlfahrt,Flor, The Positions; Whisder, Introducingthe Positions; Mackay, Position Changing;Bornoff, Pure Technique, Book 1; Bornoff,Viva la Viola, Book 1; Boetje, Viola Musicfor Concert Church; solos comparable toTelemann Concerto

GROUP A(short, slow, lyric, 3rd-4th position)

Works by Czech Composers; Russ. S.M.l?Albeniz, LAutomne; LeducBorodin & Cui, Russ. S.M.l?Bridge, Four Pieces; FaberDavidoff, Romanze; (rare)Gedike, Khachaturian, etc; Russ. S.M.l?Glazunov, Three Pieces; Russ. S.M.l?Ilyinsky-Forbes, Berceuse; ChesterKalliwoda, Nocturnes; InternationalKreisler, Sicilienne & Rigaudon; Viola WorldLiszt, Romance oubliee; SikorskiRebikoff-Forbes, Berceuse & Danse; ChesterSaint-Saens, The Swan; various editionsSchumann, Adagio & Allegro; International

Fantasy Pieces; InternationalThree Romances; Belwin Mills

Sitt, AlbumbHitter; InternationalBarcarole; (rare)Drei Fantasiestiicke; (rare)

Skryabin, Prelude; InternationalTchaikovsky, Valse Sentimentale; Viola WorldVierne, Deux Pieces; (rare)

A-B COMPANION STUDIES(in progressive order)

Bornoff, Pure Technique, Book 2; F.A.S.E.or Lifschey, Scales & Arpeggios;Schirmer

Dont-Sve~enski, 20 Prog. Exercises, withaccompaniment of a second viola;Schirmer

Kayser, Etudes; various editionsMazas, Etudes Speciales; International

Etudes Brillantes; InternationalSchradieck, Book 1; InternationalSevak, Opus 8, Shifting; Elkan-Vogel

GROUPB(more difficult short, lyric pieces, with some six­teenth notes, higherpositions, doublestops, com-

plex key signatures)

Beethoven, Romances; InternationalBliss, Intermezzo; OxfordBridge, Allegretto; ThamesBrun, Melodie; (rare)Faure, Elegy; InternationalGlazunov, Elegie; Master's MusicHubay, Un Conte; (rare)

Maggiolata; (rare)d'Indy, Lied; HamelleJoachim, Hebrew Melodies; Musica RaraMaganini, Night Piece; Ed. MusicusMarteau, Feuillet d'Album; (rare)Popper, Romance; (rare)Raff, Cavatina; (rare)Riffaud, Impromptu; (rare)Sitt, Romance; Amadeus

GROUPC(multi-mvt., slow fast, mixed rhythms &- articu­

lations, higherpositions, some doublestops, inter­action with piano part)

Works by Polish composers; Polskie WM.Brahms, Sonatensatz; InternationalFuchs, Phantasiestiicke; WollenweberGlinka, Sonata in D minor; Musica RaraGrieg, Lyrische Stiicke; Leipzig Peters (rare)Herzogenberg, Legenden; PetersJuon, Sonata, Ope 15; International, KalmusKiel, Drei Romanzen; AmadeusMiaskovsky, Sonata No.2; Russ. S.M.l?Reinecke, Phantasiestiicke; AmadeusRubinstein, Characterstiicke; (rare)Vieuxtemps, Etude; SchirmerWinkler, Deux Morceaux; (rare)

C-DCOMPANION STUDIESCampagnoli, Caprices; various editionsDont, Etudes, Ope 35; various editionsDounis, Ope 12; Fischer

Fiorillo. 31 Studies; InternationalFlesch, Scalesystem; FischerGavinies, Etudes; InternationalKreutzer, 42 Studies; SchirmerPalaschko, Etudes, Ope 77; LeducRode, Caprices; various editionsSev~ik, Ope 1, parts 1-2; Bosworth

Ope 9, doublestops; variousOpe 1, part 4; Bosworth

Vieux, 20 Etudes; Leduc10 Etudes sur les Intervalles; Leduc10 Etudes sur des traits d)orchestre;Leduc

GROUPD(difficult concertpieces & sonatas, requiringfacility, articulation variety, musical maturity)

Bant6k, Sonata in F major; ChesterBowen, Sonata No. 1 in C minor; Kalmus

Sonata No.2 in F major; Schott (rare)Brahms, Sonata No. 1 in F minor; several

Sonata No.2 in E flat major; severalBridge, Pensiero, Allegro; Stainer & BellBruch, Romanze; Schott

Dale, Suite, Ope 2; (rare)Phantasy, Ope 4; Schott

Foote, Sonata; (rare)Forsyth, Concerto; SchottFuchs, Sonate; AmadeusGade, Sonata in D major; BreitkopfGaigerova, Suite; Russ. S.M.~ (rare)Ivanov-Radkevich, Sonata; Russ. S.M.~ (rare)Joachim, Variations; BaronJuon, Sonata Ope 82; Schlesinger (rare)Medtner, Fairy TaleOp. 15, no. 3 (rare)Naumann, Sonate; AmadeusRadnai, Sonata; Simrock (rare)Ramsoe, Romance; (rare)Rubinstein, Sonata; MockbaScharwenka, Sonate; AmadeusSchubert, Sonata Arpeggione; variousSitt, Konzertstiick Ope 46; International, etc.Stanford, Sonata; (rare)Vieuxtemps, Capriccio; Schott

Elegie; SikorskiSonata; Amadeus

Winkler, Sonata; (rare)plus many transcriptions pub. by

Viola World

25

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IMPRESSIONS OF THE 1997 CONGRESS

by julian Fisher

27

T here was something special about thisCongress. In the past, I would receive an

invitation to the Viola Congress, and I wouldthink to myself: How can I find a way toattend this? I was merely hopeful. This time,however, my wife ordered me to go! Theregistration was very easily done, over theInternet, and many events along the way gaveme the conviction that this was a guideddecision. The plane fare was a gift, forstarters. At the airport, I expected a hasslebecause I was taking an instrument thatwould not fit under the seat. In the past,as an examiner for the Royal Conserva­tory of Music, I had been given troublewith a violin. However, the officials hadno trouble with a viola! This was an indi­cation of good taste on their part. In fact,they asked me if I was any good at "thatthing." Thinking quickly, I assured themthat I was and was on my way to Austin.

The weather in Austin was hot andhumid, and I was dressed in a suit. UntilI got to my room, I sweltered stoically. Imet several acquaintances at the airportand was very kindly given a ride to theUniversity of Texas campus along withDwight Pounds, Tom Tatton, and AnnFrederking. I savored the moment whenone of the employees at the registration deskasked a distinguished teacher if he was intown for the "Viola Camp." Once settled, Imet another violist, a singer, and a composer.I was impressed by the fact that people otherthan violists were at our Congress. Havingcome so far, I was really happy to make newfriends. Many of these people were acknowl­edged leaders in their branch of the musicprofession, bur they were all so approachable.We had lots of worthwhile conversations andvery little talk indeed about "shop matters."

The week was chock full of interestingevents, and I was hard pressed to decide whatnot to attend, since it all looked so interest­ing. My experience at Viola Congresses in thepast had taught me that to go to everythingtakes one to the point of diminishing returns.

The fatigue of travel and concentrated listen­ing takes its toll on the body. Still, I wishedthat I had missed nothing. Everything had itsrelevance.

I attended a technique workshop byHeidi Castleman on rhythm and scales: "APath to Musical Vitality." Ms. Castleman wasassisted by Ya-Chin Pan, a student at the

Sandra Robbins and Elmar Oliviera with the Martinu Madrigals

Peabody Conservatory. I found it fascinating,and could tell from the eight-page handoutthat the subject had been well thought outand that it could give the dedicated player animaginative way of correlating the musicalchallenges of repertoire with the structure ofscales and arpeggios. I am sure that many ofthe attendees would agree with me that scaletechnique is absolutely a given in terms ofknowing the fingerboard and that there aremany bowing articulations that can be em­ployed. This class went further than that,with demonstrations of how specific prob­lems in the standard repertoire could be prac­tised within a scale. I left thinking that notonly was this an important thing to keep inmind-during practice-but that I needed topractice more. My thinking now is to have

Panel of rhe "New" Bart6k Viola Concerto. L-R, Elliorr Anrokolerz, Donald Maurice, DavidDalton, Paul Neubauer, Csaba Erdelyi, Malcom Gillies

28

more of an architecture in terms of what I dowith my practice time.

We were treated to a recital by LarsAnders Tomter. I had never before heard ofthis artist and was glad that I was familiarwith four of the five pieces on the program.

What I heard was truly outstanding, a greatstart to the Congress. The playing was won­derful. I think with remorse of how manyperformers back in Toronto I hadn't gone tohear for the poor excuse that I had not heardof them before! The performance showedabundant virtuosity beyond any debate, butalso a thoughtful and soulful approach. Ina world dominated by loudness and speed,it was a balm to [he soul to hear the Langsam(last movement) of the Schumann Marchen­bilder played as if nothing else in the worldmattered.

Mixed Recitals

I found the mixed recitals to be veryinteresting. Not only did I hear a variety ofworks, I heard a variety of performers andinstruments. I heard my longtime friend andcolleague Jonathan Craig perform a workcalled Steps for Viola and Piano, by MalcolmForsyth. Although John was an excellent playerwhen we were in school together, I could nothelp but be impressed at the improvementthat was the result of several years of intelli­gently sustained work. The variety of works

presented ranged from the familiar Sonata inF minor by Brahms to a world premiere ofa Suite for Viola and Piano by OttoFreudenthal. In the fourth Mixed Recital,I heard an excellent performance of theGordon Jacob Suite for Eight Violas: In

Memoriam Lionel Tertis. It was per-formed by high school competition win­ners. You need not be famous to beoutstanding.

I thoroughly enjoyed a recital byJoseph de Pasquale. The concert was acelebration of the fifty years that Mr. dePasquale spent as principal viola with theBoston Symphony and the Philadel­phia Orchestra. It was preceded by aslide show retrospective given by DavidDalton. There were many informativeaspects to this, but most of all, I enjoyedthe gentle humor. I think that violists areblessed with many wonderful attributes,and a sense of humor is one of them! Asfor the concert, it was more that of a solo

artist than of a career orchestral player.The first and longest work was the

Premiere Sonate by Darius Milhaud. I feltthat the concert was played from the heart bya great man whose powers were undimin­ished. There were two transcriptions byWilliam Primrose on the program: From SanDomingo by Benjamin, and the Litany fOr AllSouls' Day by Schubert. In Primrose's mem-

L-R, Joseph de Pasquale, Congress dedicatee andAngelin Chang, accompaniest

oirs, he mentions de Pasquale with a lot ofadmiration but says that he didn't owe himvery much. I beg to differ. I heard things inde Pasquale's playing that I had heard in thePrimrose recordings. First of all, de Pasqualeplayed from the heart. The bow control wasimpeccable, and the tone was absolutelyrefined and full of allure. I never felt that the

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When I think of what I, personally,wanted most out of the Congress, I think firstof all that I wanted to get inspired in my ownplaying. I wanted to sustain the inspiration

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played by Sabina Thatcher was a great oppor­tunity ro hear Lillian Fuchs in her role as acomposer; and what a forward-thinking per­

son she was! The performance ofThe Paganini Sonata for theGrand Viola, performed by Geral­dine Walther, showed withoutany doubt that you can write inthe grand virtuoso manner forthe viola, and the right performercan play it convincingly. ElmarOliveira was a special guest on theprogram, joining Sandra Robbinsto perform the Three Madrigalsby Martinu, a work written forJoseph and Lillian Fuchs. Beforeperforming, Mr. Oliviera thankedthe audience for their warm wel­come, saying that he could notimagine feeling as safe in a roomfull of violinists.

Sabina Thatcher. principal, Sr. PaulChamber Orchestra

playing was lacking in emotion. "There wasalways a srory," ro paraphrase my teacher,Stanley Solomon (former principal viola ofthe Toromo Symphony),who journeyed all theway co Austin to hear hislongtime friend and col­league and this Congress'sdedicatee.

The Primrose Scho­larship Competition Win­ners' Recital was a greatdisplay of viola virtuosity.The performances byCathy Basrak (winner,1995) and ChristinaCastelli (1997) wouldhave gladdened the heartof the man after whomthe competition is named.The musicality was con­vincing, and the virtuositywas quite breathtaking. I am convinced thatthe recorded legacy of Primrose has givenboth of these performers a wonderful startingpoint. Christina's biography in the primedprogram memions that she is also studyingchemistry at Oberlin College. I am sure thatthe diversity of her study comributes ro therichness of her imerpretation. (Speaking ofPrimrose, I would like to see a represemationof the Primrose Imernational Viola Archive atfuture congresses.)

Csaba Erdelyi opened the EveningRecital on Thursday evening with two veryskilled and musically effective arrangememsof works by Bela Bart6k, a Hungarian Suite,and the Suite from El Amor Brujo, by Manuelde Falla. I recall reading about Csaba inThe Strad magazine and have followed hiscolorful career over the years. There was anenlightening discussion of the "New" Bart6kConcerto on two different mornings, and hiscommems were well informed and conduciveco discussion.

Lillian Fuchs has been a hero figure forme ever since a dear friend, Everett Gates,gave me a recording of her performing theBach Sixth Suite on the viola. It doesn't sur­prise me at all that her studems saw fit to payher tribute in the form of a memorial concert.Hearing the Sonata Pasrorale for solo viola

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L-R, Jeffrey Irvine, AVS Awards Chair, and KarenTuttle, recipient of Lifetime

Acruevemenr Award

struments, starting and endingwith his own Amati. Severalothers besides myself had thefeeling that with the exceptionof two or three instruments,they all had very fine qualitiesand deserved to be on anyone'sshorr list of preferred instru­ments. Even the more unusualpatterns had a distinct and high­quality viola sound. We allthought it remarkable how Paulwas able to adjust to each instru­ment, not only for intonation,but also for the idiosyncrasies ofcharacter. It was in some ways acontrast to the Luthiet's Panel

Discussion, which was more cautious.I had never participated in a play-in for

multiple violas, although my experiences withSuzuki had exposed me to

violin and cello groups.This was quite special. Iwas apprehensive abouthow the Brandenburg 6thmight sound but in factfound the outer move­men ts joyful and thesecond movement mov­ing in terms of sensitivity.

Although each per­son at the Congress hadhis or her most favorite

activity, I would haveto say that the con­cluding recital byPaul Neubauer wasmy personal choice.The recital was fullof musical and tech­nical challenges, but itseemed natural in itsexecution. Mr. Neubauer was assisted by aclarinettist, twO singers, !:\vo pianists, anda string quartet. After a week of feastingon solo viola music, it really felt good to

hear the viola in what is debatably its idealmedium: chamber music. The programwas entertaining, and the audience wasappreciative, both in terms of applauseand poignant silence before applauding,depending on the music.

L-R, Gregg Al£ Paul Neubauer, and Eric Chapman

with some clear strategies and mental tools. Ifound Karen Tuttle's master class to be thetonic that I was looking for. 1 found myselfagreeing again and again with Ms. Tuttle'sassertion that much of the instrumental play­ing today, viola playing included, is roomechanical and technical. We have to con­nect to our emotions. Mr. de Pasquale wasmentioned as a classic example of someonewho plays from the heart. Recalling Karen'svisit to Toronto in the spring, I was remindedof the five emotions that we can feel when weapproach a piece of music, or a particular sec­tion: Love, Anger, Joy, Fear, and Sorrow. Thebest kind of outlet for a musician is practic­ing! Along with the holistic philosophy, wewere advised totake care of our­selves. Her AVSLifetime Achieve­ment Award wasmost deserved.(Harry Danks wasalso honored inabsentia.)

Many violistsas welJ as violamakers turned outto a Luthier's dem­onstration featur­ing Paul Neubauer,who played a brief"eclectic improvi­sation" on twenry­five different in- Dwight Pounds and Viola Congress's

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I profited a great deal from this Con­gress and will certainly try to go t:O the nextone! It seems right that we will hold one, atlast, in Scotland.

julian Fisher is a ftculry member and examinerfOr the Royal Conservatory of1l1usic. He is theconductor of the RCM junior String Ensembleand the McMaster Hall Strings, an adult groupofstring players. He is the violist and arrangerfOr the Fisher Quartet. In addition to serving as

an adjudicator in various music festivals, he isactive as a board member for the AlliancefOr New Canadian Music Projects (ACNMP)at the Canadian Music Centre. Fisher is amember of the Canadian Viola Society,the Ontario Registered Music Teachers, and theOntario Suzuki Association.

Congress photos by Dwight PoWlds, Kevin ]agoe, and

Donna Dalton

35

Primrose MemorialScholarship Competitionat the XXV International Viola Congress

Primrose Memorial Scholarship Competition finalists: L-R, Misha Galaganov; Karin Brown, 3rd place;

Boris Tonkov; Rira Porfiris, 2nd place; Tornasz SzlubowskJ; and Chrisuna Castelli, 1st place.

Preliminaries:There were thirty-seven candidates who sub­mitted taped entries for the preliminaryround, representing fifteen states and threeforeign countries.

Judges for the preliminary round were EvanWilson (principal violist, Los AngelesPhilharmonic); Roland Kato (principalviolist, Los Angeles ChamberOrchestra); and David Schwartz(retired principle violist, MGM andParamount Studio orchestras).

Finals:Six entrants were selected for the finalround through anonymous screeningof the taped entries. They were­Christina Castelli, age 19, Oberlin,OhioRepertoire: Bach G Major Suite;Rochberg Sonata; Bartok Concerto;Paganini: 24th Caprice.Thomasz Szlubowski, age 27, BatonRouge, LouisianaRepertoire: Bach Sonata for ViolinNo.1; Rochberg Sonata; BartokConcerto, and Paganini/Primrose: LaCampanella.Boris Tonkov, age 24, Baton Rouge,LouisianaRepertoire: Hindemith Sonata Op. 25,No.1; Rochberg Sonata; Bartok Concerto;Sarasate/Zimbalist: Tango from "Sarasateana."

Misha Galaganov, age 22, Houston, TexasRepertoire: Reger Suite No.1; RochbergSonata; Bartok Concerto; Sarasate/Zimbalisr:Zapateado.Karin Brown, age 18, Oberlin, OhioRepertoire: Bach D Minor Suite; RochbergSonata; Hindemith Der Schwanendreher;Paganini/Primrose: La Campanella.

Rita Porfiris, age 26, Houston, TexasRepertoire: Bach D Minor Suite; RochbergSonata; Hindemith Der Schwanendreher;Benjamin: Jamaican Rhumba.

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Judges for the final round:Karen Tuttle (Juilliard and Curtis schools)Alan de Veritch (Indiana University)David Holland (Interlochen Arts Academy)Karen Ritscher (Mannes, Manhattan, andRice University)

Winners:First Prize: Christina Castelli, $2,000, aminirecital at this year's Congress, and aninvitation to make a featured appearance atthe XXVII International Viola Congress.Second Prize: Rita Porfiris, $1,000 and amaster class performance at this year'sCongress.Third Prize: Karin Brown, $500 and a masterclass performance at this year's Congress.

Christina Castelli, 18, of U7estern Springs,Illinois, began studying the violin at age 3.Christina has been a first-place winner innumerous competitions. In 1995, she wasa finalist in both the Yehudi MenuhinInternational Violin Competition in England

and the Montreal International ViolinCompetition in Canada. Christina was awardedthe Bach prize in the 1996 KingsvilleInternational Young Performers Competition inTexas. She was named a 1996 PresidentialScholar in the Arts by the White HouseCommission on Presidential Scholars and per-formed at the John F. Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts. Christina is currently a studentofAlmita and Roland Vamos at OberlinConservatory, where she is a double degree stu­dent in music performance and chemistry(Oberlin College).

Rita Porfiris is a member of the HoustonSymphony.

Karin Brown is a student ofthe Mtmoses at theOberlin Conservatory.

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1997 Honorary Member Award

Harry Danks, voted unanimously as therecipient of the 1997 AVS HonoraryMembership Award, is shown here withThomas Tarton (L) and John White (R).Mr. Danks was unable to attend our recemXXV Congress to accept his award; thus, theplaque was presented to him in his home inWembley, England. The distinguished careerof Me. Danks began in 1935 with theBirmingham Symphony in 1935 and con-

tinued umil his retirement in 1946 as princi­pal violisr of the BBC Symphony. His manyperformances of major concenos, the count­less recital and concert appearances, and hispromotion of the viola d' amore in perfor­mance and through his exhaustive researchculminating in his book The Viola d'amore(1975, 1979) attest to his position as one ofthis century's leading violists and one em­inently wotthy ofAVS recognition.

by Ronn Andrusco*

1997 REpORT ON THE SURVEY OF THE JOURNAL

OF THE AMERICAN ViOLA SOCIETY READERSHIP

Editor's Note: The results of the survey in theirentirety are not printed here. Rather, that infor­mation judged ofmost interest to AVS membersappears. In the next issue ofJAVS, the editor,Dr. David Dalton, will reply to comments andinquiries that were submitted by respondents.

Executive Summary820/0 of the respondents rated ]AVS as very

good or excellent.83% of the respondents rated ]AVS informa­

tion at very valuable or valuable.420/0 of respondents feel the primary function

of ]AVS is to inform, stimulate, and en­lighten, while communication and asense of unity and community are sec­ondary functions.

84% of respondents keep ]AVS for reference.84% of respondents thoroughly read each

issue or read some articles in detail.89% of respondents indicated they would

subscribe to ]AVS if articles were availableon the Internet.

Respondents desire more feature articles andinterviews and more coverage ofviola peda­gogy, and about violists.

Feature articles and pedagogy are the top fea­tures enjoyed by respondents.

About 500/0 of respondents suggested somechanges to ]AVS.

Viola and bow maker articles and regularpedagogy articles were the most frequentlysuggested additions to ]AVS.

76% of respondents refer to ]AVS when seek­ing a service or product.

670/0 of respondents have made contact with a]AVS advertiser.

45% of the respondents are both teachers andprofessional musicians.

Findings/Results/LimitationsThere were 159 completed questionnairesreceived. This represents about a 20% re­sponse rate from the AVS membership. Theresults presented reflect the collective answersgiven by those respondents to the question­naire. It is not possible to project findingsfrom the survey onto the total AVS men1ber­ship with any degree of confidence since therewas no attempt to follow up with nonrespon­dents. However, analysis of the results indi­cates direction that is applicable to the futureplanning of ]AVS in order to better serve theAVS membership.

]AVS RATING SCALE

82% of respondents rated ]AVS as excellent orvery good, 140/0 percent as average, andonly 1% as fair.

At least 500/0 of respondents wanted moreinformation in ]AVS content areas ofFeature Articles, Viola Pedagogy, AboutViolists, and Interviews. About 330/0 ofrespondents wanted more informa­tion in New Works, Recordings, andAnnouncements.

360/0 of respondents wanted less informationin the Minutes of AVS Board Meetings,200/0 wanted less information on NewAcquisitions in PIVA, and 130/0 wantedless information on From the President andChapters.

830/0 of respondents rated ]AVS informa­tion as Very Valuable or Valuable, 150/0rated it as Slightly Valuable and less than1% rated it as Of Little Value.

The top two ]AVS areas mentioned the mostby respondents were Feature Articles andPedagogy.

39

*The findings and opinions expressed in this study are solely those ofthe author. This report, therefore, does not necessarily

represent the editorialpolicies orpositions ofthe Journal of the American Viola Society, and no official endorsement

should be inferred.

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25% of respondents who answered this ques­tionnaire suggested that a status quo be main­tained. Changes requested were the placementof ads, the cover logo, and the use of colorand type of paper.

More than one-third of JAVS respondentsthoroughly read each issue while a further530/0 read some articles in detail and skimthe rest.

The combination Teacher and ProfessionalMusician comprised the largest single groupof respondents with 450/0. A further 17%indicated Amateur Musician, 11 % indicatedProfessional Musician, and 50/0 indicatedStudent.

SUGGESTIONS

Comments fronl respondents relating to thechanges, additions, and general commentsareas of the jAVS survey have been combinedand grouped under the following headings:

-Endorsement of Present JAVS-Qualified Endorsement-Critical Comments-Specific Administrative/Aesthetic Suggestions-Specific Content Suggestions-Nonspecific General Suggestions to JAVS-Specific Content Areas to Reduce

ENDORSEMENT OF PRESENT jAVS27 different comments were made by 80respondents that clearly endorsed the currentofferings of jAVS, for example:

41

570/0 of JAVS readers also read Strings, 52%also read Strad, 33% also read Chamber MusicAmerica, and 240/0 also read ASTA.

AnalysisThe level of satisfaction with JAVS and itscontent is outstanding; respondents wrotenumerous positive comments.

'I{pre and•Over 7,00• Classical• Pree~

NothingProfessionally PresentedGlad JAVS ExistsAttractive FormatReader FriendlyEssential ReadingJAVS Becomes Daily ToolRemains Voice of Inspiration

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The publication contains full-size color reproductions ofthe sixteen manuscript pages (two are blank) of the sketch; anengraved easy-to-read fair copy, commentary by Laszl6 Somfaiand explanatory notes by Nelson Dellamaggiore, who preparedthe fair copy. Texts are in English, Hungarian, German, Spanish,and Japanese. Total 92 pages, 15 1/2 x 12 inches (39 x 30 cm),hard cover.

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SPECIFIC CONTENT SUGGESTIONS

39 suggestions were made by 78 respondents:

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NONSPECIFIC GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

To]AVS57 respondents made 41 general suggestions,for example:

Taking into account the multiple readers of]AVS, one finds an average of 1.72 peoplereading one copy of ]AVS, or 600 ]AVS are

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Okay NowCover Well NowGetting BetterImproves Issue to IssueTotal Respondents

QUALIFIED ENDORSEMENT

4 comments were made by 7 respondents thatindicated a qualified endorsement of ]AVS.From these comments, it would appear thatfor some readers, ]AVS has been improvingover time.

More Substance 3Too Academic 2Not Enough Article Scholarship 1Amateur Writing 1Padded/Pretentious 1

CRITICAL COMMENTS

11 comments of this nature were received, forexample:

SPECIFIC ADMINISTRATIVE/AESTHETIC

SUGGESTIONS

27 specific suggestions were made by 62respondents. These suggestions related to thephysical attributes of ]AVS and editorialdecision-making. Some suggestions wereopposites, namely, more/less artwork, like/dislike graphics, and member list yes/no.Selected general examples:

Place Ads at Back Together 7Color, Paper 6am~C~tl~~ 5Real Table of Contents 5More Photos/Pictures 3Earlier/Postal Lag 2Tel#/E-mail/Internet Addresses w/Member List 4Increase Frequency/More Editions 4Graphics (Positive Comments) 4Graphics (Negative Comments) 2Less Ad Space/Less Commercial 2New Acquisitions on Web Page 2

More Articles on Instrument/Bow Makers 11More/Regular Pedagogy Articles 11More Viola Music/Excerpts/Inserts 7College Program Information/Teaching Staff 3A Question & Answer Column 3New Product Evaluation 3Music/Record Sources & Costs 2Auction Price Information 2Audition/Job Opportunities 2Instruments Played by Great Violists 2

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Table 3Rating of Information inJAVS

by 1997 JAVSReadership Respondents

CumulativeFrequency Percent Percent

read by 1034 people, using three readers for three ormore. Some teachers leave their ]AVS for students toread while waiting. This should be encouraged by allteachers.

For most AVS members, the ]AVS appears to be theirconnection to the AVS, since 430/0 of respondents havenot attended a Viola Congress. To inform, stimulate,and enlighten is what most ]AVS readers perceive as themost important function of]AVS. This suggests a morecomplex expectation of the reader for ]AVS as a "one­stop" center and not just a communication vehicle.

TABLES

Very ValuableValuableSlightly ValuableOf Little ValueOf No ValueNo Response

Total

508224

1o2

159

31.451.615.10.60.01.3

100.0

31.483.098.198.798.7100.0

45

Table 1 Table 4Overall Rating ofJAVS Features ofJAVS Most Enjoyed

by 1997 JAVSReadership Respondent by 1997 JAVSReadership Respondents

Cumulative Frequency ofFrequency Percent Percent Occurrence

Excellent 59 37.1 37.1 Features Articles 41Very Good 72 45.3 82.4 Pedagogy 40Average 23 14.5 96.9 New Works Descriptions 26Fair 2 1.3 98.2 Personal Stories 23Poor 0 0.0 98.2 About Violists 22Response 3 1.9 100.0 Recording Reviews 19

Total 159 100.0 Interviews 13Concert Reports 10Library Information-PIVA 9All 8

Table 2 Advertisements 7Changes in Amount of Information in JAVS Announcements 7

by 1997 JAVS Readership Respondents Forum 5Artistic Format 4

JAVS Content More Less Same Missing Of Interest 4

Feature Articles 61.6 0.6 30.8 6.9 General Information 3

Viola Pedagogy 61.0 4.4 31.4 3.1 Current News 3

About Violists 57.2 1.3 32.7 8.8 Varies Issue to Issue 3

Interviews 50.9 6.3 37.1 5.7 Colleagues Working/Earning 2

New Works 39.0 3.8 49.7 7.5 Instrument Features 2

Recordings 37.1 3.1 50.3 9.4 Membership List 2

Announcements 30.8 1.9 58.5 8.8 Viola Connotations 1

Of Interest 23.3 0.0 57.9 18.9 Variety 1

Competitions 22.0 8.8 60.4 8.8 Viola Promotion 1

Forum 18.2 5.7 64.2 11.9 Easy to Read 1

Chapters 14.5 13.8 59.1 12.6 Music Reprin 1

Advertisements 13.8 9.4 67.3 9.4 Composers 1

New Acquisitions Rare Works Articles 1

in PIVA 11.3 19.5 62.9 6.3 Historical Discoveries 1

From the Education 1

President 5.7 13.2 73.6 7.5 Competitions 1

Minutes ofAVS Open to Comment from Anyone 1

Board Meetings 3.8 35.8 49.1 11.3 Early Violists 1

Total Respondents 159 Total Respondents 138

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Table 5Most Important Function of]AVS as Indicated

by 1997 ]AVSReadership Respondents

Frequency ofOccurrence

Glance Through it, Possibly Skiman Article or Two 4 2.5 99.3

Have No Time to Read ]AVS 0 0.0 99.3Have No Interest in Reading]AVS 0 0.0 99.3No Response 1 0.6 100.0

Total 159 100.0

47

Table 6Journal Reading Habits of

1997 ]AVS Readership Respondents

Inform, Stimulate, EnlightenCommunity, Sense of UnityCommunicationAdvocacy/PromotionProvide a ForumEducationConnectionDistribution/Dissemination CenterNot Just PIVANew MusicEncouragement

Total Respondents

56343114653211

1

132

Table 7Current Status of 1997 ]AVS Readership Respondents

CumulativeFrequency Percent Percent

Teacher and ProfessionalMusician 72 45.3 45.3Amateur Musician 27 17.0 62.3Professional Musician 18 11.3 73.6Student 8 5.0 78.6Teacher 6 3.8 82.4Retired 6 3.8 86.2Retired/Amateur 6 3.8 90.0Other 16 10.2 100.0

Total 159 100.0

CumulativeFrequency Percent Percent

Thoroughly Read Each Issue 55 34.6 34.6Read Some Articles in Detail,

Skim the Rest 84 52.8 87.4Usually Skim, Occasionally

Read an Article 15 9.4 96.8

Ronn Andrusco is a professional violist living in TOrontoand also active in Edmonton, Alberta. His analyticalsurveys in behalfof the AVS have appeared previously inJAVS: Vol. 6 No.1, Spring 1990, on the XVII Inter­national Viola Congress (Redlands), and Vol. 7 No.2,Fall 1991, regarding a Comparison ofAVS Membership.

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I I

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NEW ACQUISITIONS IN PIVA

Editor's Note: This continues the series ofinstallments that will update the, holdings ofthe PrimroseInternational Viola Archive. (PIVA is the official archive of music for the viola of both theInternational and the American Viola societies.) Viola scores in PIVA up to 1985 are identified inFranz Zeyringer's Literatur fur Viola (Verlag Julius Schonwetter Jun., Hartberg, Austria, 1985),where they are marked with a +. This present series ofinstallments will eventually make the listingcurrent, after which a new acquisitions list will be published annually in JAVS. The entries are listedaccording to the Zeyringer classification ofinstrumentation. A fUture compilation under one cover ofall the annual lists is planned as a sequel to the Zeyringer lexicon.

1993 Acquisitions

49

Viola-Solo

Cherny, Brian. Sekhinah: alto seul = solo viola =Bratsche Solo. Que, Canada: Doberman-Yppan,c1992.

Gardner, Maurice. Tricinium: sonata for soloviola. New York: Staff Music, c1978.

Giner, Bruno. Premices: pour alto seu!. Paris:Durand, c1991.

Grims-land, Ebbe. Impromptu russo: tonbroderii "Vit natt" ("Beloj notchi"). Leningrad: violon­cell-eller viola-solo: verk III, 1981. Stockholm:Stirn, [1989?].

Perle, George. Sonata para viola solo. Montevideo:Editorial Cooperativa Interamericana de Comp­ositores, c1944.

Rubbra, Edmund. Meditations on a Byzantinehymn, ceQ quando in cruce": for unaccompaniedviola; op. 117. London: A. Lengnick; New York:sole agent, USA and South America: Mills Music,c1964.

Three compositions for viola solo. Hillsdale, N.Y.:Boelke-Bomart, c1975.

Wellesz, Egon. Prceludium flir Viola; op. 112.Wien: Doblinger, c1975.

Viola-Solo (arr.)

Minsky, Aaron. Three American pieces: for unac­companied viola: from ten American cello etudes;transcribed by David Dalton. New York: OxfordUniversity Press, c1991.

Violine und Viola

Essner, Walther. Spielbuch flir 2 bis 4 Streich­instrumente. Leipzig: Fr. Portius, c1937.

Jansa, Leopold. Three duets for violin and viola;op. 70; edited by F. Hermann. Miami Lakes, Fla.:Master's Music Publications, [1989].

Neubauer, Franz Christoph. Three duets; op. 10,for violin and viola; edited by Wilhelm Altmann.Miami Lakes, Fla.: Master's Music Publications,[1989] .

Spohr, Louis. Duo flir violine und viola; op. 13.Leipzig: C. F. Peters, [1953?].

Starer, Robert. Duo for violin and viola. NewYork: Southern Music, c1960.

Zwei Violen

Dechiffrage du manuscrit. Paris: H. Lemoine,[l90-?].

Stamitz, Karl. Sechs Duette fur zwei Violen; erst­mals hrsg. von Walter Lebermann. Mainz: B.Shott's Sohne; New York: Schott Music Corp.,c1968.

Violoncello und Viola

Knorr, Ernst-Lothar von. Duo flir Viola undVioloncello. Zlirich: Amadeus, 1978.

Van Appledorn, Mary Jeanne. Four duos; editedby Arthur Follows. Washington, D.C.: Arsis Press,c1989.

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Heiden, Bernhard. Sonata for viola and piano.New York: Associated Music Publishers, c1968.

Ishii, Kan. Sonata for viola and piano. Rev. ed.Tokyo: Ongaku no Torno Edition, [1991].

Joachim, Joseph. Hebrew melodies: for viola andpiano; op. 9. Boca Raton, Fla.: Master's MusicPublications, [198-?].

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Menasce, Jacques de. Sonate pour alto et piano enun mouvemem. Paris: Durand, 1956.

Ridout, Alan. Seascapes: six easy pieces, with pianoaccompaniment for viola or cello. London:Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music,c1991.

Rosell, Lars-Erik. Sonat for viola och piano.Stockholm: Svensk Musik, c1989.

Schumann, Robert. Mdrchenbilder: 4 Stucke furPianoforte und Viola (Violine ad libitum) = Fairytales: 4 pieces for pianoforte and alto (violin adlibitum) = Contes de fees: 4 pieces pour piano etalto (violon ad libitum); op. 113. Leipzig:Breitkopf & Hartel, [l91-?].

ContrabOlS$ und Viola

Tsoupaki, Calliope. When I was 27 for viola anddouble bass, 1990. Amsterdam: Donemus, c1991.

Klavier und Viola

Bliss, Arthur, Sir. Sonata for viola and pianoforte;[edited by Lionel Tertis]. London: OxfordUniversity Press, c1934.

Etler, Alvin Derald. Sonata for viola and harpsi­chord. New York: Associated Music Publishers,c1%1.

Erler, Alvin Derald. Sonata for viola and harpsi­chord. [U.S.]: Cominuo Music Press; [New York]:sale selling agem, A. Broude, c1973.

Giampieri, Alamiro. Fantasia per viola epianoforte = Fantasie pour viole et piano =

Famasia for viola and piano = Fantasie fUr Violaund Klavier = Fantasia para viola y piano. Milanoand New York: G. Ricordi, 1953, c1939.

Glazunov, Aleksandr Konstaminovich. Elegie forviola and piano; op. 44. Boca Raton, Fla.: Well­Tempered Press; distributed exclusively byMaster's Music, [1989?].

Schumann, Robert. Pictures from Fairyland:Mdrchenbilder: for viola (or violin) and piano;op. 113; edited by Henry Schradieck. Boca Raton,Fla.: Master's Music Publications, [1989].

Tsimsadze, Sulkhan. Romans = Romansi. [s.l.: s.m.,1949?] .

Vardi, Emanuel. Suite for viola and piano, basedon American folk songs. N[ew] Y[ork]: EmvarMusic Publishing, c1977.

Walker, George. Viola sonata (1989): viola andpiano. St. Louis: MMB Music, c1989.

Klavier und Viola (arr.)

Arne, Thomas Augustine. Sonata in B-flat Majorfor violin (or cello, viola, B-flat clarinet) andpiano; transcribed by Harold Craxton; [edited forviola by Watson Forbes]. London: OxfordUniversity Press, c1959.

Baltin, Aleksandr Alesdandrovich. Letni i den:poema dlia al'ta s orkestrom = Summer day: poemfor viola and orchestra; [prelozhenie dlia al'tafortepiano autora]. Koavir = piano score. Moskva:Sov. kompozitor, 1992.

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Fur Elise; [transcribed forviola by Alan H. Arnold]. Huntington Station,N.Y.: Viola World, 1987.

Corelli, Arcangelo. Sonata no. 12: Follia con vari­azioni; op. 5; transcribed for viola by Alan H.Arnold. Huntington Station, N.Y.: Viola World,c1983.

David, Gyula. Braesaverseny (braesa - zongo­rakivonat) = Konzert fur Viola und Orchester =

Concerto for viola and orchestra. Budapest:Zenemukiad6 VaIlalat, 1953.

Dvorak, Antonin. Romance; op. 11; edited byWilliam Lincer; transcribed by Alan H . Arnold.Huntington Station, N. Y.: Viola WorldPublications, c1980.

Hummel, Johann Nepomuk. Fantasie for violaand string orchestra with two clarinets; arrangedfor viola and piano by H. Truscott. London:Musica Rara, c1973.

Jongen, Joseph. Suite pour orchestre et alto princi­pal; op. 48; reduction pour piano par l'auteur.Paris: H. Lemoine, c1928.

Kreisler, Fritz. Liebesfreud; [transcribed for violaby Alan Arnold]. Huntington Station, N.Y.: ViolaWorld, c1990.

Kreisler, Fritz. Pr;eludium and allegro; transcribedfor viola by Alan H. Arnold. Huntington Station,N.Y.: Viola World, c1986.

Kreisler, Fritz. Sicilienne; and, Rigaudon; [arrangedfor viola by Alan H. Arnold]. Huntington Station,N.Y.: Viola World, c1986.

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Symphonie con­certante: Es Dur fur Violine und Viola mitOrchester; revidiert und mit Vowort versehenvon Rudolf Gerber. London: E. Eulenburg,[1935].

Rachmaninoff, Sergei. Vocalise; transcribed forviola by Alan H. Arnold. Huntington Station,N.Y.: Viola World, c1977.

Reger, Max. Romanze fur Violine und Klavier, GDur; ausg. fur Viola und Klavier; [bearb von](Hans Sitt). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Hartel,[1989?] .

A

51

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Bass-Blockflote, Viola und Cembalo

Flote, Viola und Harfe

Pleyel, Ignaz. 3 concertante Trios; op. 10; hrsg.von Bernhard Pauler. Zurich, Edition Eulenburg,c1971.

Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel. Trio in F major forbass recorder, viola (or two violas) and harpsichordor pianoforte (with violoncello ad lib.); [editedand arranged by] Hans Brandts-Buys. London:Schott, c1951.

Devienne, Franc;ois. Sechs konzertante Trios furFlote, Viola und Violoncello = Six trios for flute,viola and violoncello; hersg. von Bernhard Pauler.Winterthur, Schweiz: Amadeus, 1985.

Violine, Viola und Violoncello

Flothuis, Marius. Trio serio: for viola, cello, andpianoforte; op. 38 no. 2. Amsterdam, Donemus,c1951.

Flote, Viola und Violoncello

Viola, Violoncello und Klavier

Wieniawski, Henri. Scherzo-tarantella; op. 16;edited by William Lincer; transcribed by Alan H.Arnold. Huntington Station, N.¥.: Viola WorldPublications, c1980.

Albin, Roger. Sonate a trois pour flute, alto etharpe. Paris: Editions Musicales Hortensia, c1974.

Reher, Sven. Music for viola (in the first position)with piano accompaniment: a collection of musicbased on the classics as well as folk music.; tran­scribed, arranged, and edited by Sven Reher.[U.S.?]: Sven H. Reher, 1988, c1980.

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RBP is pleased to announce a unique new line ofexceptional arrangements for viola, transcribed and editedby ROBERT BRIDGES This collection has been thoughtfullycrafted to fully exploit the special strengths and sonorities ofthe viola, We're confident these arrangements will beeffective and useful additions to any violist's recital library

Sbornik p'es russkikh i sovetskikh kompozitorov;perelozhenie dlia arta i fortepiano E. Strakhova.Moskva: Gos. muzo izd-vo, 1952.

Telemann, Georg Philipp. Concerto in G majorfor viola and orchestra; [edited by WilliamPrimrose]. New York: G. Schirmer; Milwaukee:Distributed by H. Leonard, c1991.

Flote, Viola und Gitarre

Ansink, Caroline. Kymata: for flute (alto flute),viola, and guitar: 1989. Amsterdam, Donemus,c1990.

Oboe, Viola und Klavier

Vaughan Williams, Ralph. Six studies in Englishfolksong: for violoncello and piano: (alternativeversions for violin, viola, or clarinet). [London]:Stainer & Bell; New York: American agents,Galaxy Music, c1927.

Vivaldi, Antonio. Sonata in B-flat major for violaand piano; revision and realization of the figuredbass by Luigi Dallapiccola; transcribed and editedby William Primrose. New York: InternationalMusic, c1955.

Jordan, Paul. Trio for oboe, viola and piano:chamber music from a new German Chorale.[U.S.?]: s.m., [1974?].

Oboe, Viola und Cembalo

Telemann, Georg Philipp. 30. Triosonate inC-Moll fur Oboe (Violine), Viola und Bassocontinuo = 30. sonata a tre in C minor for oboe(violin), viola, and basso continuo; hrsg. vonBernhard Pauler; Continuo-Aussetzung von WillyHess. Winterthur, Schweiz: Amadeus, c1989.

Klarinette. Viola und Violoncello

Jacob, Werner. Giuoco a tre: per clarinette/clar.basso, viola e violoncello. Bad Schwalback:Edition Gravis, c1992.

Gesang, Viola und Klavier

Janacek, Leos. Rikadla: vy-rah pro solovy zpev sestaz sedm solove hlasy s ppnivodem klaviru a violynebo housli = Kinderreime: Auszug fur eineSingstimme oder sechs bis sieben Soli mit Klavierund Viola oder Violine.; slozil S obrazy podle kre­seb Lady, O. Sekory a L. Haly: deutsche Dbertra­gung von R. St. Hoffman. Wien: Universal­Edition, c1928.

Oboe, Viola, Contrabass und Klavier(Quartette mit Viola)

Ohana, Maurice. Kypris: pour hatubois (et haut­bois d'amour ad lib.), alto, contrebasse et piano.Paris: Jobert; Bryn Mawr, Pa.: Sole agent for USA,Canada, Mexico, T. Presser, c1988.

Quartette mit drei Violen (arr.)

Pachelbel, Johann. Canon for three violas andpiano; [transcribed by Alan H. Arnold; edited by

William Lincer]. Huntington Station, N.Y.: ViolaWorld Publications, c1980.

Werke mit vier und mehr Violen

Fouillaud, Patrice. Crepusculaire: 7 altos. [Paris]:Durand, [1989?].

Etiiden, Capricen, Studien, Obungen

Chetyre p'esy klassicheskikh masterov; perelozhe­nie dlia al'ta solo, v kachestve etiudov, V. Borisov­skiT. Moskva: Gos. muzo izd-vo, 1939.

Palaschko, Johannes. 24 melodicheskikh etiuda:Sredneii trudnosti dlia al'ta; soch. 77.; redaktsiiaE. Strakhova. Moskva: Gos. muzo izd-vo, 1951.

This concludes the 1993 PIVA acquuisitions. The1994 acquisitions will begin next issue. Addressinquiries about loaningprocedures from PIVA to

David Day, Music Librarian PIVAHBLL5222Brigham }Dung UniversityProvo, UT 84602Tel (801) 378-6119; fax 378-6708e-mail: david_day@byu.edu

53

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, I

II

55

L()R' ,,, ..{' \.;\1

L-R, Lars Anders Tomter, Alan de Verilch.and David Dalton

My First Viola Congress

of music to creating a sculpture. He explainedthat when sculpting, you take away the excessclay until the desired object emerges. How­ever, adding clay to the work is also necessaryat times. I compare that to ironing out thetechnical "wrinkles," but when necessaryapplying something extra that clarifies andbetter defines the entire presentation. It gaveme a new idea of how to take a piece of musicand actively shape it to make it speak andmove the audience. "[The piece] has a receiver

because it has a subject... a giver." The musicmust be presented, notsimply heard. I left themaster class that daywith a renewed desireto create a relationshipwith the audience andto stir their emotions.Here are a few more ofmy favorite quotes.

"The first noteshould not be produced;it should be born."

"Try to keep theinterest [of the audi­ence: without doingthings."

"It's too sweet, toobeautiful ... avoid

. "excesSive sweetness."The greatest art is to playa piano that

makes sense.""A piano shouldn't be tensionless.""Playing piano is not the same as playing

small.""[Technique] is also something that doesn't

stop with the hands.""If you play three fones you might be

heard."The next master class was with Karen

Tuttle, someone who definitely knows music.Tills class probably had the greatest effect onme overall, which, incidentally, was also quite

T his past June it was my great pleasure toattend the XXV International Viola

Congress at the University of Texas in Austin.What an experience! In no other place couldone hear such a brilliant collection of world­class violists perform such a variety of works,share their special insights, and simply cele­brate the glory of music.

I am a sophomore studying the violawith Dr. David Dalton at Brigham YoungUniversity. I started playing the violin when Iwas three years old atthe "request" of my par­ents. For most of my lifeI wasn't really interestedin being a musician. Iwas occupied with thetypical cares of youth,such as sports, videogames, friends, and mis­chief. However, whengiven the opporrunity toquit playing, somethingwouldn't let me. As Igrew into a teenager myparents, along with thecoaxing of a few teach­ers, convinced me toswitch to the viola. Thisdecision has openedmany doors for me.

At the viola congressI was introduced to many new aspects ofmusicianship, viola playing, and how to be abetter performer. Overall, the events I enjoyedthe most, and incidentally learned the mostfrom, were the master classes. In the first oneLars Anders Tomter gave us excellent technicaland musical advice.

"Don't focus on being flawless, focus onsaying something."

"Do I play to be flawless or give people anexperience ... and myself an experience?

"You have to take risks"He compared the preparation of a piece

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humorous. She reminded me that music isemotion and that you must "feel." I willexplain, recounting and using quotes.

"To become a performer you must havepassion."

"You can't move an audience withoutfeeling it yourself."

"What, are you unhappy yourself?"There were several small conversations

that also portrayed the need to be more emo­tionally involved with our music and to forgetabout being nervous. One of my favorite ex­amples occurred as a young man finishedplaying. Ms. Tuttle told him that he lookedunhappy and asked him what his dream was.He said that it was to play better viola andshe immediately asked him if he also wantedto play better quartet and chamber music, towhich he responded affirmatively. She quicklytold him in a very loving and cheerful way,"Okay, I would lighten up. I don't think youbreathed throughout the whole thing." Thishelped me understand that we need to berelaxed as we perform so that our emotionshave room to operate. When many of us pre­pare for competitions or performances, weexperience nervousness, which is natural.What I learned from Ms. Tuttle was thatmusic itself has a greater purpose, a greaterfunction, and if all that we focus on is gettingthrough the piece flawlessly, we miss the bigpicture. The music becomes nothing more

than a combination of notes in rhythm. Ispecifically remember feeling something dif­ferent etched in my soul when I left that mas­ter class. I wanted to access my emotionsmuch more than I ever had before so as toperform the music from my heart and makeit possible for others to feel it. I think thatwhen we successfully do this, music becomesa living, breathing entity in our lives that weliterally cannot live without it.

I also enjoyed the presentations by JeffIrvine and Tom Heimberg on practicing.They helped me realize that practicing doesn'thave to hurt or be mentally painful if one pre­pares correctly and goes into it with a goodattitude. Sound practice, mental preparation,and a passion for the music enable us to playconfidently and to reach into the rich sea ofemotions that lie in the heart. Music thenbegins to breathe, dance, weep, charm, andconsole and becomes a wonderful showcase ofall that the human heart can feel.

This, I have taken with me from theViola Congress. I express my gratitude to theorganizers, performers, lecturers, and all whomade it possible. My concept of and motiva­tion towards music and performance waschanged and my heart was opened a littlemore.

Chris Lewis, sophomore viola major,Brigham Young University

57

I enjoyed reading the recent issue ofJAVS andthe interview with Joseph de Pasquale. How­ever, his memory of Rebecca Clarke as"a frail little English woman" is inaccuarate.She was nearly five feet ten inches tall withlarge hands that must have been well suited to

playing the viola. She retained a passionateinterest in people and music until she died atthe age of ninety-three.

Veronica JacobsNew York, New York

;8

:~, ~

I 1

I

June 3, 1997 Pres. Tatton called meetingto order at 3:30 PM.

Officers present: Tatton (President), Goldsmith(Vice-President), Clark (Secretary), Dalton (PastPresident) ,de Veritch (Past President)Officers absent: Arlin (Treasurer), Riley (PastPresident) Rosenblum (Past President)

Board members present: Chiang, Fielding,Graham, Hirschmugl, Irvine, Ritscher, Rutledge,Ryan, Pounds (Special Consultant to the Board)Board members absent: Arad, Kosmala, Neubauer,McCarty, Schoen

Guests: Laura Kuennen-Poper (Chair, PrimroseCompetition), Allan Lee (Internet VIa Soc), AnneFrederking & Henry Jansen (Canadian Via Soc),Gunter Ojstersek (Inernational Via Soc), OttoFreudenthal (Swedish Via Soc), David Day (PIVACurator), and Roger Myers (Host of the 25thViola Congress)

I. Greetings by Pres. Tatton

II. Allan Lee discussed the Internet ViolaSociety.

III. Corrections to the 1996 minutes. Moved(Graham) and seconded to accept the min­utes from the 1996 Board Meeting atUniversity ofTexas.

IV. Kuennen-Poper reported on the 1997Primrose Competition (37 applicants, 6 final­ists, 3 winners, 20 new members).

V. Introduction and presentations of otherguests. Jansen announces the 1996 Congresswill be hosted by]utta Puchhammer-Sedillotat University of Montreal and will include thePrimrose Competition. Moved (Goldsmith)and seconded that we now appoint the 1999Competition Committee (Kuennen-Poper,chair).

VI. Dalton reported on ]AVS cost analysisand results of the reader survey as well as theconstruction progress of the new housing forPIVA and the campaign to raise $100,000to complete the Primrose Room. Moved

(Goldsmith) and seconded that the AVS rec­ognize with a gift Ron Andrusco for produc­ing a very valuable survey and also to recog­nize Jennette Anderson for increasing ]AVSadvertising.

VII. Myers reponed on Congress registration(235 with expected walk-ins of 10-12) andshared observations for future Congresses.

VIII. Ojstersek reported on and broughtgreetings from the 400 members of theEuropean Section of the International ViolaSociety.

Meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM.

June 4, 1997 Pres. Tatton called meeting toorder at 11:45 AM.

Officers present: Same as 6-3-97Officers absent: Same as 6-3-97

Board members present: Same as 6-3-97Board members absent: Same as 6-3-97

Guests: Utta Puchhammer-Sedillot (Host for

1999 North America Congress), Henry Jansen, &

Anne Frederking

I. Clark reported a total of 952 members withnumber growing daily and presented othermembership matters. Moved (Clark) andseconded that we publicize and implementthe emeritus membership policy from theby-laws and raise the International Studentdues to $20.

II. Fielding appointed Nominations Com­mittee Chair for up-coming election.

III. Tatton presented Treasurer's repon fromArlin.

IV. Pounds reponed on the Photo Exhibit hearranged for the Congress.

Meeting adjourned at 1:05 PM.

June 6, 1997 Pres. Tatton called meetingto order at 11:50 AM.

Officers present: Same as 6-3-97Officers absent: Same as 6-3-97

Board members present: Chiang, Fielding,Graham, Hirschmugl, Irvine, Neubauer, Pounds,Rutledge, RyanBoard members absent: Arad, Kosmala, McCarty,Ritscher, Schoen

Guest: Frederking

I. Announcement of 1998 Board Meetings inProvo, Utah

II. Goldsmith reported on negoiations withthe NY VIa Society. Moved (Graham) andseconded to fund Goldsmith trip to NY toparticipate in a NY VIa Soc activity and final­ize negotiations.

III. Tatton: Budget issues. Moved (Graham)and seconded that the Finance Committee

make a recommendation regarding officers'expenses and board member honorariumsafter we know the financial results of thisCongress. Moved (de Veritch) and secondedthat the Finance Committee revisit the '97and '98 proposed budgets to take into consid­eration the added costs of increased member­ship. Moved (de Veritch) and seconded thatas part of that revisit, we build in an increasefor the ]AVS editor from $500 to $700.Moved (de Veritch) and seconded that as partof the reassessment both endowment funds bereexamined and the purposes be restated withresults brought to the next Board Meeting.Moved (Goldsmith) and seconded that theFinance Committee examine supporting thenew Primose Room at PIVA .

IV: General business summary

Tatton thanked the Board and adjournedmeeting at 1:00 PM.

59

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Endowment InterestInterest (CD)

Domestic CongressProgram CommitteeCongress Manual (Printing)

EXPENSES

Board MeetingMealsHotel (Austin)Transportation

SecretaryAssistantSuppliesKinko'sPostage & EnvelopesPhotocopying

AVS: H &RPostage reimbursed

toWKU

Bank ChargesChecks Returned

(dues & journal ads)Bank Service Charge

for NSF checks

President (Tatton)TelephonePostageMiscellaneous

1997 Primrose Competition(TCTC Savings)Ad in Strad for1997 competition

submitted by Mary I. Arlin, AVS Treasurer

JournalPrintingBYU Agency AccountDavid Dalton (Vol. 12)Ad ManagerPostageTelephoneMiscellaneous

TOTAL EXPENDITURES

23,016.56

17,356.42

992.62

2,148.122,519.40

15,640.004,900.50

32.96

25.00310.00335.00528.50

45.22975.83

1,020.83

17,350.19

59,979.57

15,093.25274.01

1,982.93

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Tompkins County Trust Co.-Operating Account

Indiana Federal Credit Union-Holding Account

Indiana Federal Credit Union-Savings Account

First ofAmerica Bank, Indiana

Includes Endowment (see below)

ASSETS

TOTAL OPERATING FUND ASSETS

RECEIPTS

AVS: H &RPrimrose

Interest on TCTCInterest-Bonds

TOTAL ENDOWMENT FUND ASSETS(inc. Riley) 19,612.82

PrimroseFirst Albany Corp

-Government Bonds& Money Market

TCTC-Savings

GeneralDuesJournal Advertising and SalesIndiana Federal Credit

Union (Interest)Contributions

EndowmentPrimrose Scholarship Fund

TOTAL PRIMROSE ASSETS

TOTAL RESTRICTED FUND ASSETS36,963.01

TOTAL FUND ASSETS

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ABOUT VIOLISTS

Maurice w: Riley Remembered

by Dwight Pounds

63

T here is a folder upstairs in my filingcabinet which I highly treasure. It is

labeled "Correspondence with MauriceRiley" 'and is abour three-quarters of aninch thick. The first entry was in 1981,the last in 1997. It consists primarily ofone-page letters between Or. Riley andmyself. There was good reason for thisactive correspondence-during the yearshe was the AVS President (1981-1986), itwas my honor to serve him and theSociety as Vice President. The unlikelyfact that I was vice president in only mysixth year of membership was his doingentirely. Well, perhaps not entirely ... Ivolunteered for something, breaking arule learned years earlier in the Air Force.

Following Congress VII in 1979,many congress participants were riding abus from Provo to Salt Lake City to makeairline connections. Myron Rosenblumand Maurice Riley shared a seat and werediscussing both the congress and thefuture of the Society. During a lull in theirconversation I turned co them and said,"Although by no means an artist violist, Ihave some organizational skills whichmight be of use to the Society," expectingperhaps a committee assignment or suggestionfor an article. Or. Riley looked at me with aface any poker player would have coveted andsaid, "Good. You can be vice president!"

There were several facts to which I wasnot privy at that point: (l) The AmericanViola Society and its Newsletter were runfrom the living room of Myron Rosenblum'shome. An Executive Board did exist, but itwas more honorary than functional. (2) Anew slate of officers would assume duries in1981. Dr. Rosenblum, the Society's founder,had decided not to run for another term aspresident, and Maurice Riley was the mostlikely candidate to succeed him. (3) A dead­pan wit, without equal in my experience, was

Dr. Maurice Wimon RileyNov. 24, 191 I-June 27, 1997

part of his persona and would lead me downthe Primrose path more than once. Despitewhat initially appeared to be a preposterousresponse (" ... be vice president!") to my offer,Dr. Riley was serious. Two years later MauriceRiley and Dwight Pounds were elected,respectively, President and Vice President ofthe American Viola Society. Although some­what baffled at my new position, there was nodoubt in my mind that the gentleman whohosted the very first North American ViolaCongress at Ypsilanti in 1975 was exactly theman to succeed Myron Rosenblum as AVSPresidem.

Maurice Riley in some respects stumbledupon international viola organization. He

64

traveled extensively, visiting libraries andarchives as he assembled and organized bits ofdata pertinent to the viola's history. Whenone of Rosenblum's early articles on the ViolaResearch Society (VRS) (which later becamethe International Viola Society) and theKassel Viola Archive came into his possession,he determined to inquire further about theorganization. He began corresponding withDietrich Bauer, VRS Secretary and ViolaArchive custodian, and traveled to Kassel,Germany, in 1971 to meet with Bauer andexamine the archive. It is important to re­member that at that time there were (1) noindependent American or other internationalsections of the VRS and (2) no viola congresseshad ever been held. During a discussion ofthe concept of "viola congresses," Riley askedhis host why such a meeting could not beheld in the United States. Bauer answered,"Because we have never been invited." Rileyreplied, "Well, in that case I am inviting youto have a viola congress in the United States."He told me years later that this invitation wasentirely spontaneous but that he saw enor­mous potential in an international viola con­gress. Bauer was obviously impressed andtook the proposal to the VRS Presidium. Theminutes of the next meeting read: "Prof. Rileyfrom the USA was in the archive and ex­tended an invitation for an international violacongress to be held in the United States."Four years later Dr. Maurice Riley hostedInternational Viola Congress III at EasternMichigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan,and established many of the precedents, for­mats, and traditions which are still followedboth in Europe and North America twenty­two congresses later.

Somewhat intimidated to be workingin close association with such a renownedscholar, I was ever reluctant to address him as"Maurice." Using "Dr. Riley" seemed stiffand formal for a man of obvious congeniality,therefore I opted for "Professor." After severalletters from me which began, "Dear Pro­fessor," the following rejoinder arrived fromYpsilanti:

"You always address me in your letters as'Professor.' I can assure you that I am unwor­thy of this title by either chosen instrumentor locale of performance. I am sure that you

know that the term 'Professor' applies only tofellows who play the piano in brothels."

Intent on continuing my education, Rileyattached to official correspondence master­pieces as: A Dog Named "Sex"; EnglishSchoolteacher Rents Room for SummerVacation; Petey the Snake (tongue twister);and the Nathan Hale Aptitude Test, as well ascountless cartoons, jokes, and one-liners. Still,Maurice and I formed a close professionaland personal relationship which lasted farbeyond our terms in office. Dinner with theRiley family at congresses was always a won­derful experience. Since Maurice Riley spokevery little German and IVS President FranzZeyringer was not conversant in English, Ifunctioned as their translator. Those six yearsof sometimes weekly contact with Riley andZeyringer changed the course of my profes­sional life. At the behest of each, I begangathering and organizing data and materialsfor a history of the American Viola Society.This work was dedicated to Maurice Riley,Myron Rosenblum, David Dalton, and FranzZeyringer.

During President Riley's term of office,several noteworthy developments took place.The AVS By-Laws, written by Maurice, BobOppelt, and myself in 1980, were expanded.AVS Executive Board membership movedfrom being an honorary position to one ofhands-on activity and involvement. WilliamPrimrose died. International Viola congresseswere held in Toronto, Stuttgart, Houston, Isleof Man, and Boston; Dr. Riley attended each.AVS membership increased. The History ofthe Viola was translated into Italian. Dr. Rileywas recipient of the International Viola Soci­ety Silver Key in 1985, the InternationalViola Society Honorary Membership in1986, and American Viola Society HonoraryMembership in 1991. Following his presidency,Congress XXI in Evanston, Illinois, 1993,was dedicated to the collective members ofthe Riley family. The Maurice W. Riley ViolaAward, inaugurated by Rosemary Glyde,became the highest AVS award for scholar­ship, teaching, and service to the Society.Inconsistent health did not preclude hisparticipation in viola congresses. DuringCongress XIX at Ithaca, New York (1991),he presented a lecture, sat on a panel, and

received honors. At great personal effort heattended AVS Board meetings as an interestedobserver, advisor, and mentor. While plan­ning the latest congress, Roger Myers, host ofCongress XXV at the University of Texas,sought Dr. Riley's advice only weeks beforehis passing.

Just as we pay him homage today, he didthe same to those who had labored in behalfof the viola before him. Concluding his chap­ter on "The Future of the Viola" in History ofthe Viola, Volume 1, Maurice Riley wrote:

Tertis and Primrose succeeded as concert

artists because of their dedication to the

instrument, their love of it, their ability to

convince others of the viola's potential, and

above all, their great artistry. Others, lacking

their artistry and charisma, can do, and are

doing, much for the instrument and for

themselves by developing and spreading a

faith in its unique qualities, and by con­

stantly promoting, publicizing, and propa­

gandizing the salient virtues of this magnifi­

cent voice.

At no point would it have occurred tothis tireless scholar that, more than any otherperson, he was describing himself.

There is a folder upstairs in my filingcabinet which I highly treasure. It is labeled"Correspondence with Maurice Riley" and isabout three-quarters of an inch thick. Itis quite small compared to what is stored inthe hearts and minds of violists and scholarswho ever knew Maurice Winton Riley.

65

Volute

fond

Chevalet---------- Arne

T hroughout my life I always felt very for­tunate because I had a man I could look

up to. He was my father. I knew what good­ness was all about. I knew this because I wit­nessed it in the nicest, gentlest, strongest manI've ever met, my dad. He taught me andshowed me so much. But Dad, it was you­what you were as our father, and how youlived your life-that always meant so muchto me, my brothers, and our whole family.You were our leader and our role model. Youalways showed us how much unending loveyou had for us. That love was there all thetime. And we always felt it.

And love radiates equally from our dearmother, Leila, because you and she werealways one and inseparable. The two of youhad the greatest bond and union two peoplecould possibly have. Your love for one an­other was awesome to behold and no paircould have been closer than you two. All ofthe Viola congresses and viola books that mydad wrote were the product of the two ofthem working together. Everything they did,they did as a team.

I'm not alone in the way I look up to mydad because people allover the world look upto him. There are students of all types in­structed throughout his teaching career. They

would not be enjoying the fruits of theirlabors as much if it were not for him. Andtheir whole lives would not be quite as great ifit was not for what he did for these people.And they know it because they have honoredhim on many occasions.

When he retired from Eastern Michigan,he did not retire at all because he single­handedly created a new world that no onehad discovered and he promoted the violaworld by organizing the first InternationalViola Congress in this country. It was aninstant success. His books on the history ofthe viola are not only popular, they havebroken sales records for books of this type.But more than that, they have actuallybrought a message of peace to this world.Think about it. People have been gettingtogether and making music at these Violacongresses where they would not be doingthis if it were not for Maurice Riley-work­ing together in peace and brotherhoodthrough music-making. What more wonder­fullegacy could anyone leave than that?

Ben Riley, sonMember of the cello sectionUS Air Force Orchestra

66

W riting a eulogy seems so impossiblewhen it is for my father. I know that

my words cannot be adequate. But as difficultas this is, I can think of nothing but wonder­ful thoughts-his many accomplishments andhis incredible sense of humor. I have alwaysbeen influenced by his positive attitude, hisgratitude, respect, humor, and love. Now as, Ireflect, he will continue to have the same deci­sive impact on my life, and on my family, ason many others.

He touched so many people because hewas the consummate parent, teacher and men­tor. He had a way of making people believethat they and their activities were the mostimportant things in the world. He helpeddevelop and perpetuate many musicians'careers without expecting any credit for him­self As a result, Dad and his tremendous workin music will always live on.

I initiated my study of music because ofDad. Music surrounded my life and was madeenjoyable by his undeniable love for and devo­tion to it. As a small child, listening to himpractice violin and viola, I knew that playingviolin and viola was what I wanted to do.Once I began violin lessons he made sure thatI always had the best instruction. The bestinstrument. The best school. The best sup­port. At the age of five he allowed me to joinin with his high school band. I was a sort ofmascot, with a little snare drum. It was tre­mendous fun.

Our family activities always revolvedaround music. I will continue to strive to meetthe standards he demonstrated to me by con­tinuing to be involved with string music as away of life for me and my family. Both of mychildren, Jessica and Shawn, are studyingmusIC.

George Riley, sonFormer member of the violin section,US Air Force Orchestra

Editor's Note: Maurice Riley was the best ofcolleagues. I reflect on one seemingly smalldecision he made in my regard, a virtualunknown to him at the time, and the farreaching effect it had. I was impressed andsurprised when in 1975 I received a mailingannouncing an International Viola Congress

at Ypsilanti, Michigan, hosted by anunknown, to me, Dr. Riley. Primrose, withwhom I was in contact, said that EasternMichigan University was going to give him a"little notice" on the occasion: an honorarydoctorate. Riley must be behind this, Ithought, and how did he do what no othereducational institution had yet done to honorthe great violist?

I wrote Dr. Riley congratulating him onthis accomplishment and also adding that Ihad been collaborating with Primrose in thewriting of his memoir, to be published in acouple of years. And would he be in need ofanyone to pay a tribute to Primrose when hewas being feted? If so, I was a most willingvolunteer. Maurice decided to take a chanceon a brash violist from out West who mustnot have seemed to lack in chutzpah.

Having then been invited, I was intro­duced through Ypsilanti to the Viola Society,the species "Viola Congresses" (to which overfour-hundred violists congregated probably asmuch as anything to gawk in amazement atthis unprecedented colony of middlemen), tothe Rileys, Dr. Rosenblum, and to Prof FranzZeyringer, then president of the IVS.

Directly out of these introductions even­tuated Congress VII at Provo and Zeyringer'staking mental inventory on the spot of themodest Primrose Viola Library at BYU. Franzwent to work and in several years, the IVSArchive was joined with the Primrose Libraryto form PIVA and the largest collection ofmaterials related to the viola in the world.

I wonder how differently things mighthave come out if Maurice hadn't taken achance. I found that to be his nature: he wasalways encouraging and supportive of others'aspirations. His attitude and his efforts didindeed make a difference. His was an exem­plary model of collegiality to all of us.

David Dalton

As an expression ofsympathy, contributions can be

made in behalfofMaurice W; Riley to:

Daisy Riley Memorial Scholarship Fund

Eastern Michigan University

Department of Music

Ypsilanti, MI 48197-6068

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68

by Malcolm Ingram

"'\ ,Tiolists will be saddened to hear of theV death of Watson Forbes on June 25, at

the age of 87. He was well known as a violaplayer, teacher, arranger, and producer. Hewas born in St. Andrews, Scotland, trained atthe Royal Academy of Music, and later stud­ied with Sevtik in Czechoslovakia and withAlbert Sammons.

He joined the Stratton Quartet in theearly 1930s and with them made the firstrecording of the Elgar Piano Quintet at thecomposer's request, later recording the stringquartet for HMV as a present for Elgar. Heplayed in Beecham's London Philharmonic inthe 1930s and in the RAF Orchestra duringthe war. After the war he continued withquartet playing, in the Aeolian Quartet, and

founded the London String Trio and LondonPiano Quartet. From 1954 on he was profes­sor of chamber music and viola at the RoyalAcademy and in 1964 became of head ofmusic for BBC Scotland. Some of his manyrecordings have been reissued, and he is ofcourse well known worldwide for his innu­merable arrangements and editions of violamusiC.

As an amateur viola player, playing a Luffinstrument formerly belonging to Forbes, Iwas privileged to sit down recently with agroup of his friends and play the Elgar pianoquintet in his memory.

Malcolm IngramGlasgow, Scotland

Arranged, edited and transcribed byWatson Forbes" is how many colleagues

worldwide will remember the Scottish-bornviolist.

I first met Watson Forbes in my teenswhen he was the adjudicator at the Hudders­field Competitive Festival; I was taken withhis constructive and encouraging comments.After the competition I tentatively approachedhim about having some lessons with him laterin the year. From my first lesson he became amajor influence on my life and career, and Ishall be forever grateful for all his help andinspiration.

Watson Forbes was born in St. Andrewson 16 November 1909. His first teacherwas his father, an amateur violinist. He laterstudied in Dundee before becoming a violinstudent of Marjorie Hayward at the RoyalAcademy of Music. During his time there hewas encouraged to play the viola by his cham­ber music coach, Herbert Withers, and hadlessons with Raymond Jeremy. Further studiesfollowed with Sev6k in Czechoslovakia.

In 1932 Forbes was a founding member

of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, buthe was best known as a fine chamber musicplayer. In 1933 the Stratton Quartet, which hehad recently joined, was invited by Sir EdwardElgar to record the composer's String Quartetand Piano Quintet with the pianist HarrietCohen. These recordings, recently re-issued onCD, were a great solace to Elgar in the last fewmonths of his life. When George Stratton leftthe quartet it was decided to change the nameto the Aeolian Quartet, and it soon becameone of the country's most popular ensembles,giving numerous first performances and fre­quently heard on the BBC. Forbes was also amember of the London String Trio and theLondon Piano Quartet.

In the 1930s he made a number of solorecordings, including sonatas by Bach,Schubert, Walthew, and Bliss, and commis­sioned many composers to write new worksfor him. When William Primrose made hisJapanese debut in the early 1970s, he was sur­prised to find that his fellow Scot, WatsonForbes, was better known through his numer­ous arrangements and transcriptions!

Forbes became professor of chambermusic and viola at the Royal Academy andhelped launch both the Alberni (of which Iwas the violist) and Lindsay String quartets.In the midsixties he made a major careerchange when he accepted the position ofHead of Music for BBC Scotland, which wasdescribed as "an inspired appointment."Amongst his innovations was a BBC ViolaCompetition in Glasgow when the adjudica­tors were Gwynne Edwards, Frederick Riddle,and for the final, William Primrose.

Watson Forbes was awarded an honorarydoctorate by the University of Glasgow. He

T he spring of 1997 held considerable violainterest for residents of the Los Angeles

basin, one main focus being two remarkablysimilar viola-piano recitals. Both were beauti­fully presented by young female artists (intheir twenties), representatives of majorAmerican orchestras, and both were assistedby artist-level male accompanists. Bothrecitals took place in small, neighborhoodchurch settings, with enthusiastic and ampleaudiences, which repaired, immediately afterthe last encore died away, to a fellowship hallfor abundant refreshments and socializing.

The first recital was given on May 17 byLeticia Oaks Strong, who joined the viola sec­tion of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1994as its youngest member. Her collaborator atthe piano was Robert Thies, who did an espe­cially sensitive and technically fluent job withthe F-minor Brahms Sonata. The concert waspresented at the chapel of The Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the eastedge of Pasadena. The regular program endedwith an effective transcription of an attractiveLatin character piece, Requiebros, by GasparCassada, originally for cello and piano. Herencore was Girl with the Flaxen Hair byDebussy, which was, indeed, self-descriptive.

The second of these recitals was pre­sented 21 June at the West Los AngelesUnited Methodist Church, whose congrega­tion is mostly Japanese, by Lembi Veskimets,who will join the viola section of the

recounted his career as a violist in his memoir,Strings to My Bow, published in 1994.

In recent years he continued to makemusic, with his wife Jean at the piano, untilwell into his eighties. He was an avid readerand during the twelve months before hisdeath was reading Churchill's History of theSecond World ~r.

There will be a special tribute to WatsonForbes during the XXVI International ViolaCongress in Glasgow in July 1998.

John WhiteRoyal Academy of Music, London

Cleveland Orchestra in September. Herpianist was Eric Charnofsky, whose specialinterest in accompanying was immediatelyapparent. This was a benefit concert for thechurch's Commission on Worship. Mr.Charnofsky, formerly organist at the church,was clearly a favorite with the audience.Currently he is on the theory and accompa­nying faculty of the Cleveland Institute. MissVeskimets, born in Canada to Estonian par­ents, was a student of Robert Vernon at theCleveland Institute. Her program includedthe Capriccio for solo viola by HenriVieuxtemps, a work new to this listener. It'snot at all capricious in spirit, but serious, anddour. The Veskimets-Chamofsky collab­oration was outstandingly successful in the"Rasch" movement of the Miirchenbilder bySchumann, where great clarity was achievedin a movement that is often just a muddle.The encore for this attractive program was atranscription by John Newton of the vocalise­etude Habanera by Ravel, a work that reallylends itself to the medium.

The next day, June 22, in Studio City, atthe Unitarian Universal Church, a new groupcalled The Los Angeles Viola Quartet gave itsfirst public concert. The setting was woodsy,old San Fernando Valley-not new, glassy, orair-conditioned-with a high ceiling, fansturning slowly and silently, and wonderfulacoustics. The quartet consists of fourwomen: Alexis Carreon, Dee Dee Paakkari,

69

70

Helen Crosby, and Phyllis Moss. These arecompetent, but not virtuoso players, and theypresented a varied, informal program of violaensemble music to a small but discerningaudience. Two of the works were actuallywritten for four violas: the Fantasie for FourViolas by York Bowen, which is something ofa staple of the genre, and a less familiarentree, Divertissement by Claude-HenryJoubert, a 1992 work by this Paris-basedcomposer. The Divertissement is most attrac­tive in rhythmic content, partaking freely ofjazz, blues, French music hall and cabaret ele­ments ... characteristics not often found inviola repertory.

On 19 April The Long Beach Sym­phony, with Paul Freeman as guest conductor,presented Harold in Italy by Berlioz with KaziPetelka, the orchestra's principal violist, play­ing the solo part. The problem of all the restsfor the soloist in the last movement was han­dled in a novel way. After the "reminiscences"at the outset of the movement, the soloistretired to the rear of the stage and took a seatnext to the percussion section. As the "Orgyof Brigands" got underway in earnest, the twoviolinists and 'cellist who were to make upthe little trio called for toward the end of themovement moved from their symphony seatsto stage-rear also. All four played their finalfew measures from the back, and then they allleft the stage. One critic carped that it was"staging," and distracting. Perhaps, but itmight be better than standing idle in front ofthe orchestra; it was an interesting solution.

Sunday afternoon, 18 May, the AsiaAmerica Symphony, conducted by Heiichiro

Ohyama, presented A String Around Autumn,which is a short concerto for viola andorchestra by Toru Takemitsu. The concert wasadvertised as a tribute to Takemitsu, who diedin 1996. The soloist was Yasushi Toyo­shima, principal violist of the New JapanPhilharmonic. Ohyama, former principal vio­list of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, wasfeatured in a Sunday L. A. Times interviewarticle (complete with large picture) in earlyApril, where his many musical activities weretraced. Presently, these do not include violaperformances.

Some brief Los Angeles viola intelligence:Jan Karlin, the Southwest Chamber

Music Society's dedicated twentieth-centuryspecialist, premiered in April a solo viola workcalled "Amid the Winds of Evening" byAnthony Payne, the British composer knownfor his Elgar scholarship.

The Armadillo Quartet, at this point afamiliar Los Angeles ensemble whose violist isRaymond Tischer, continued their long rela­tionship with composer Peter Schickele, bypresenting ''An Evening with Peter Schickele,"in Pasadena, 17 March. An encore on thatprogram was a quodlibet titled "ViolaDreams," a new piece by Schickele.

In May, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, a vio­list at the Crossroads School for the Arts andSciences, was a grand prizewinner ($1000) ofthe Emerging African-American ArtistsAwards, sponsored by public televisionKCET, Los Angeles.

Thomas G. HallChapman University

Nokuthula Ngwenyama, whose New Yorkdebut in the Young Concert Artists Series waswidely praised, was announced in April asrecipient of a 1997 Avery Fisher CareerGrant. She was winner of the PrimroseMemorial Scholarship Competition at the1993 AVS sponsored Viola Congress. Her

teachers have been Alan de Veritch and latelyKaren Tuttle at the Curtis Institute.

Milton Katims was given, in May, the awardof Lifetime Achievement in the Arts by theSeattle Corporate Council for the Arts.

71

AVS CHAPTERS

Editor's Note: Each president ofa localAVS chapter is requested

to send news ofthat chapter to the editor of]AVS.

by Tom Heimberg

2865 Valle Vista StreetMinneapolis, MN 55421

Tel. 612.544.1021

Maker 01 Violas. Violins and Cellos

Special thanks were given to EleanorAngel, who founded the Northern CaliforniaViola Society in 1994 and has served as itsPresident ever since. Many of us had day­dreamed about such an organization; she actu­ally started it. She will continue to serve asEvents Coordinator.

And there will be events-among the proj­ects currently being discussed are more openrehearsals, viola play-ins, special master classesby local experts (audition preparation, practiceworkshops, etc.), and general all round violapartying. As our communication tools getestablished (a regular newsletter, a phone tree,the web) we will be able to share news andplans about performances, special events, andspecial needs. (For example, it will be easier totrack down music needed on short notice.)

Plans are also afoot to solicit composi­tions for viola and to provide opportunities for

William Robert Scott

AwarJeJconsistantly over the last 12years for workmanship anJ tone.

T he Northern California Viola Society heldan enjoyable event on April 9. With the

friendly cooperation of the management ofthe San Francisco Symphony, twenty-threemembers (including Tom Tatton, our nationalPresident) attended an open dress rehearsal ofYuri Bashmet performing two works with theSymphony: Morton Feldman's The Viola in MyLife, and the Bartok Viola Concerto.

Bashmet was at the top of his form at thatrehearsal. He is always an interesting player,willing to explore a variety of sounds on hisinstrument (traditional beauty, yes-but alsowhisper, hiss, roar) in the pursuit of dramaticexpression. It was good to hear and see him.

The breaks were good, too, as the guestsmet with some of the Symphony violists. DonEhrlich's newly acquired ergonomic viola byDavid Lloyd Rivinus attracted a lot of atten­tion. He generously demonstrated it, and letanyone interested try it out.

After the rehearsal, the Societyhosted Mr. Bashmet at a luncheonheld at Max's Opera Cafe, not farfrom Davies Hall. There was a smallold-school reunion when SergeiRakitchenkov, the Associate Prin­cipal Viola of the San FranciscoOpera Orchestra, arrived. He andthe guest of honor have known eachother since they were both studentsin Moscow. "O.K. everybody, Sergeiis here-no more English!" Iannounced-but it didn't work.

The luncheon was followed by abrief but effective business meetingat which new officers were electedand installed. The new President ofthe Society is Tom Heimberg. (I amgrateful, and enthusiastic.) SusanMarie Hall is the new Treasurer, andTed Seitz will continue as Secretary.

Maker ofFine InstrumentsSales December 1996 to July 1997

Russell L. Cae

72

violists to play them and other works as well.More details to be announced.

Several Northern California violists haveplayed in public during the past few months:

On 21 March, the newly formed AdessoEnsemble performed on the prestigious cham­ber music series at Old First Church in SanFrancisco. One of the featured performers wasCarla Maria Rodrigues, the Principal Violist ofthe San Francisco Opera Orchestra, playingthe difficult Music for Viola and Percussion byColgrass. Her virtuosity was gripping and hertone was warm and beautiful. The audienceshowed its appreciation with enthusiastic sus­tained applause.

The Melodiya Chamber Ensemble, a won­derful group made up mainly of local formerBolshoi Principals, gave a concert at St. John'sPresbyterian Church in Berkeley on 12 April.The evening's viola solo was Sergiei Rakit­chenkov playing the Schumann Miirchenbilder.I was unable to attend that evening, but I'veattended many other Melodiya concerts, andI'm sure it was great. I know Sergei's work­the 1980 All-Soviet Viola Competition winnerdefinitely still has it.

On 27 April Geraldine Walther, our popu-

Sukey Barnhart-The NetherlandsRoseanne Bole~Farmington Hills, MI

Aaron Butler-Osceola, INHank Horowitz-Brooklyn, NYMichael Palumbo-Ogden, UT

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lar principal of the San Francisco Symphony,gave a recital at Holy Names College in Oak­land, accompanied by the eminent pianist RoyBogas. The program was formidable: Bliss,Paganini, Britten, Brahms. Susan Marie Hallwas at the event, and she loved it! Geraldine'swonderful blend of great playing and personalcharm always pleases the audience.

On 13 May, Uri Wasserzug played theWalton Concerto with the orchestra ofthe California State University at Sacramento,Leo Eylar conducting. Susan Marie Hall wasable to attend this event also, and she reportsthat "Uri did a really good job."

In early June two Northern California vio­lists were presenters at the Silver Jubilee ViolaCongress in Austin, Texas. Geraldine Waltherplayed the Paganini Sonata for Grand Viola,and Mark Volkert, assistant concertmaster ofthe San Francisco Symphony, played Land­scapes for Solo Viola. I was honored to discuss"The Art of Practice" for an hour and a half,offering my personal blend of career experi­ence, serious scholarship, and stand-up come­dy. It must have been a success; several peoplepresent told me they went back to their hotelrooms to practice-that's where it counts.

On 16 June, Carla Maria Rodrigues playedagain, helping to celebrate her own birth­day at Vivande Ristorante in San Francisco.Her playing of Brahms' E flat Sonata and theviola part of the Geistliche Lieder was beautiful.The restaurant, though hospitable, is not yetideally set up for chamber music (on that par­ticular evening, some clients did not knowabout the music; they had come only for theexcellent food-imagine!), but that will changein the future. The restaurant's owner, CarloMidione, is-a violist! He hopes to find waysto dedicate one night a week to chamber musicand its listeners. Vivande Ristorante couldbecome a great home base for musicians, as itis within a block of the Performing ArtsCenter. (And he has promised to show some ofus his Finckel bow.)

All in all, there is a great deal of healthyviola activity in Northern California, and Ilook forward both to reporting it and partici­pating in it.

TOm HeimbergSan Francisco OperaPresident, Northern California Viola Society

NEW WORKS

73

On 17 April Russian violist Yuri Bashmetperformed the world premiere of a new

viola concerto written for him by Sofia Gubai­dulina, on commission from the ChicagoSymphony. Afterwards, puffing nervously on acigarette in an alley behind Orchestra Hall,Bashmet expressed relief even as he critiqued hisperformance: "It is a difficult piece and I was alittle nervous," he admitted. "But I think it is amasterpiece, like the Schnittke, one of the greatviola works of the late twentieth-century."

The city's major music critic agreed. Johnvon Rhein of the Chicago Tribune called theconcerto, conducted by Kent Nagano, "haunt­ing and challenging.... The solo viola broods,cries, whispers and wails in moody, glissando­laden soliloquies that interrupt the largeorchestra's static, chant-like figures but arehardly affected by them. Soft, slow, austere andalmost painfully withdrawn for much of its30-minute length, the single-movement con­certo creates a gripping sense of expectancy.When the viola and orchestra finally unleashtheir pent-up emotions in a cataclysm ofrapidly shifting meters and eerie col legnoeffects, one feels a tremendous catharsis hastaken place, even if the viola's last thoughts endthe piece with a quiet question mark." VonRhein called the concerto "a masterpiece of thelate twentieth-century-a major addition tothe all-too-slim repertory of modern violaconcertos."

Bashmet said he had less practice timewith the piece than he would have liked, hav­ing received the complete score in January,when he was busy performing on the road. Infact, he had begun studying the solo part inearnest only 10 days before the performance.

The piece calls for full orchestra and aquartet of solo string instruments as well assolo viola. Li-Kuo Chang, the CSO's assistantprincipal violist, occupied the viola quartetchair. He called the principal solo part "verydemanding and harsh, tailor made forBashmet." Similarly the quartet part was "verydramatic and difficult," calling for lots of con-

trasting dynamics and glissandi, tremolo andsuI ponticello playing. "You cannot really prac­tice it; the notes aren't hard, but the effect isvery difficult," he said.

Not everyone was entranced with the con­certo. During rehearsals a joke circulatedamong some orchestra members, admittedlynot always the most receptive audience to newmusic, that the piece was the "latest violajoke." And many Orchestra Hall listenersseemed to have a hard time warming to a long,nontraditional piece featuring the viola per­forming in such awkward registers.

Gubaidulina, who was in the audience,seemed pleased with the result as she took sev­eral rounds of bows. Born in the former Sovietrepublic of Tatar, Gubaidulina admits toEastern as well as Western musical influences.Now sixty-six, she started gaining an inter­national reputation with the opening of theSoviet musical establishment in the late 1980s.Today she lives near Hamburg, Germany.

Also pleased was CSO's president, HenryFogel. "Gubaidulina is a wonderful composerand we had been wanting to commissionsomething from her for years. At the same timeBashmet had been after her to write somethingfor him, so when she told us she was writing aviola piece for him and asked if we wouldaccept it, we thought that was terrific."

Calling the piece "deeply moving,extremely dramatic and virtuosic," Fogel pro­nounced it "a major addition to the violarepertoire."

Bashmet, who plays a 1758 Testore, con­tinued on with the concerto to Boston, wherehe played it with Bernard Haitink. He per­forms 140 times a year, half as a soloist andhalf as the leader of the chamber ensembleMoscow Soloists, which he founded in 1992."I stay quite busy," he said laughing, as he fin­ished his cigarette and joined Fogel for a cele­bratory dinner.

LesJacobsonChicago

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Address _

State _

Name _

City. _

Telephone _

Zip _

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brteex

thMake check payable to the American Viola Society and submit to:

David Dalton, Editor JAVS, BYU Music HFAC, Provo, UT 84602In.

75

T his attractive suite consists of fourmovements in a conservative twentieth­

century style making thorough and consis­tent use of baroque string techniques. Theexplanatory preface states that it was original­ly written in 1985 for Rivka Golani as anhomage to Bach on his 300th birthday.Golani recorded it, but it has been revised forthis 1993 edition. The movements havebaroque names: "Sinfonia," "Capriccio,""Lamento," and "Giga." They are unified bykey relationships, so it could be presented as afour-movement work, or the movementswould stand alone, rather like the concertetudes of Palaschko.

The rhythmic vocabulary is baroque,using a few meter changes, but with regularpulses. The work is thoroughly tonal, andextreme registers, difficult double-stops, orawkward leaps are avoided. In a word, it's

"playable," some fast metronome indicationsnotwithstanding. There are no bowings orfingerings, and all page-turns except one arewell thought out.

Following good baroque custom, somepre-existent musical elements are found. The"Capriccio" uses the D-minor two-partinvention by Bach in a clever and obviousway, as well as the b-flat, a, c, b-natural signa­ture motive Bach used occasionally. The"Lamento," which may be the most successfulmovement, is based on a theme by Bruchner,as is acknowledged in the preface.

All four movements would make thepiece just over 15 minutes long. Essentially itis happy in mood, and with much contempo­rary music so tortured in spirit, and vastlychallenging technically, it might be a pleasantand useful change to indulge in some faux­baroque music well written for viola alone.

H ere is a work for solo viola firmlyentrenched in unmistakable 20th-cen­

tury idiom. It is utterly atonal (until the lastnotes of the last movement, which are asomehow-unsettling C-major triad), with anabsolutely pulseless slow movement and clev­erly syncopated fast ones. If one begins tofeel a phrase or melodic idea or a cadenceapproaching, Mr. Taub does something to besure that it's stopped. There are four move­ments, and the title page shows a duration ofabout 14 minutes, but that may be on theshort side.

Dynamic, articulation, and tempo indi­cations are copious. Some are ambiguous:above the staff "N." (often followed by abroken line), "S. T." and "S. P." are encoun­tered frequently, but there is no legend toexplain what these mean. Perhaps parts ofthe bow, but these are not standard mark­ings. Harmonics are indicated simply with a

circle above a pitch, leaving the way the pitchis produced up to the player. At least thisappears to be the system used; there is no

76

explanation. There are no fingerings in thewhole Sonata, but there are some bowings.In measure 14 of the first movemenr, there isa middle-C to open A string double StOp,which could be an error (awkward at best),but other than that, the work seems wellthought Out for the viola, even though thewriting style does not naturally lend itself to

the instrument's most characteristic nature.

The first movement, tided "Variations,"is a series of 6 sections each about 20 mea­sures long unified by some rhythmic-melodicsimilarities. The second movement is a"Scherzo," fast pizzicato throughout, all insixteenrh notes except at cadences. There arefrequent changes of meter, and many accents.One would get blisters practicing this move­ment, and it would require a lot of practice.

The third movement named,"Elegy," is muted throughout,with the tempo of 40 to thequarter, much of it markedpianissimo or less. The lastmovement, double-named"Gigue" and "Rondo," seemsthe most approachable. It is astring of 6 sections, 15 to 20measures long, plus a coda. Thenotion of a returning idea isevident, and there is rhythmiccontinuity, so the notion ofdance is present also, if some­what clouded. In performance,a necessary page-turn wouldneed to be solved.

The Peters Corporationshould be thanked for publish­ing this work, which certainlydoes not hold the promise ofgreat commercial success. Aprofessional violist would find ita major technical accomplish­ment to include it in recital, andit would be a satisfYing achieve­ment for the player. It wouldtake a special audience to sharethat sense of satisfaction.

Thomas G. HallChapman Cniversity

RECORDINGS

77

Bax: Sonata for Viola and Piano, Bloch: Suitefor Viola and Piano,Encores by Kreisler and Paganini. WtlliamPrimrose, viola, Cohen, piano;Pearl PRL 9453 (Koch International)

Note: Pearl and Biddulph seem to be in arace to bring out all of Primrose's 78 RPMrecordings in excellent reissues. Isn't itwonderful!

Berlioz: Harold in Italy, Lubomir Maly, viola,Frantisek Jilek, condoCzech Phil., Supraphon 3095 (KochInternational) 1981 recording

Brahn1s: Sonatas #1, #2 for Viola and Piano,Benjamin: Elegy and Waltz and Toccata,Harris: Soliloquy and Dance, Kreisler:Praeludium and Allegro, Wtlliam Primrose,viola, William Kapell, Gerald Moore, FranzRupp, pianos, Pearl PRL9253 (KochInternational)

Brahms: Two Songs for Soprano, Viola andPiano, Sonata for Viola and Piano #1, Sonatafor Viola and Piano Ope 108, Yuri Bashmet,viola, Masur, soprano, Lobanov, piano. LiveClassics LCL 661, (Qualiton)

Bruch: Concerto for Clarinet, Viola and arch;Other works by Lutoslawski and Strauss,Tabea Zimmerman, viola, Bruner, clarinet,Zagrosik, condoBamberg Symphony Orch., Schwann SWN311065 (Koch International)

Diana Burrell: Das Meer, Resurrection, JaneAtkins, viola, Northern Sinfonia, JohnLubbock, conc. ASV CD DCA 977 (KochInternational)

Coulthard: Sonata Rhapsody for Viola andPiano, Martinu: Sonata for Viola,Mendelssohn: Sonata for Viola, RobertVerebes, viola, Dale Bartlett, piano. SNE 550(Allegro)

Dvorak: Four Romantic Pieces Ope 75; RondoOpe 94; Sonatina Ope 100;Romance Ope 11, etc., Bernard Zaslav, viola,Naomi Zaslav piano, Music & Arts CD-953

Enescu: Concert Piece, Britten: Lachrymae,Hindemith; Sonata Ope 25 #1,Devienne: Duo, Paulos: Five for the Flowersnear the River, Schumann: Miirchenbilder,Cynthia Phelps, viola, Jeanne Baxtresser, flute,Judith Gordon, piano, Cala, CACD 0510(Allegro)

Review: A triumph for Ms. Phelps. As far asI know this is Phelps' first solo album andher performance is outstanding with excel­lent technique, pitch and tone quality. I wasvery fortunate to hear her perform Haroldin Italy with the NY Phil. under KurtMasur about a year and a half ago and wasvery impressed with her playing. It's nowonder that Ellen Taaffe Zwilich wasannounced as writing a special work thatwill feature the "killer" (sic) viola section ofthe NY]?, which is led by Ms. Phelps. Thisrecord is part of Cala's NY Legend series fea­turing first desk soloists of the NTI Ifyoubuy one viola record this year, let it be thisone.

Hindemith: Complete works for Viola, Vol. 3,Three Sonatas for Viola and Piano,Trauermusik, Paul Cortese, viola, JordiVilaprinyo,Philharmonia Orchestra, Martyn Brobbins,cond., ASV CD DCA 978 (KochInternational)

Note: This completes the three CD record­ings of the entire viola output ofHindemith's viola compositions. The firsttwo volumes were CD DCA 931 and 947.

Hindemith: Composers in Person Series,Sonatas for Viola solo, other works with assort­ed artists, Paul Hindemith, viola. 2 Angel55032

f

78

Juon: Sonatas for Viola in C and F, Gantsher:Triolet erotique, Prokofiev:5 Melodies, Stepchenko, viola, Abolitz,piano. Russian Disc RD CD 10 060 (Albany)Kancheli: Caris Mere, Night Prayers, KimKashkashian, et al. StuttgartKammerorchester, Dennis Rusell Davies,condoECM New Series 156878118-21568-2(BMG)

Rudolphe Kreutzer: Grand Trio, Molino: Trio,Beethoven: Serenade, Paul Silverthorne,viola, et al. Meridian 84199 (Allegro)

Migot: Trio for Violin, Viola and Piano; Trioou Suite a Trois, Renard, viola, et al. Accord205.742 (Allegro)

Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante K. 364,Concerto for Violin #5,Leonid Kogan, violin, Pavel Kogan, viola.Moscow Chamber Orch, Rudolph Barshai,condo The Sinfonia is taken from a 3/26/70recording.Arlecchino ARL 186 Oem Music)

Reger: Sonata for Viola, 3 Solo Cello Suites,Ivo Van Der Werff, viola,

Keith Harvey, cello, Simon Marlow, piano.ASV CD DCA 976 (Koch International)Rochberg: Sonata for Viola and Piano,Creston: Suite, Heiden: Viola Sonata, Carter:Elegy, Lawrence Wheeler, viola, Tomfohrde,piano. Albany Alb 141

Arnold Rosner: Duet for Violas, StringQuartets #2, 3 and 5. Deirdre Buckley,Mark Ottesen, violas, other members of theAd Hoc String Quartet, Albany Alb 210

Rosza: Concerto for Viola, SinfoniaConcertante, Paul Silverthorne, viola, et al.,Sedares, condoNew Zealand Symphony OrchKoch International 3-7304-2

Vanhal: Concerto for Viola, Paganini: GranViola Sonata, Weber: Variations on anAustrian Folk song, Malipiero: Dialogo #5Ernst Wallfisch, viola.Faerber, Wiirttenberg Chamber Orch. "InMemoriam," Bayer BYR 200028

Submitted by David O. BrownBrentwood, New York

Do you know any violists who live in Viola, Wisconsin?!

""'St ant! ott66th Annual

Viola, WI 54664

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:iVHE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY (AVS) is an association for the promotion of viola~ performance and research. Your personal and financial support is appreciated. As an

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