JAVS Fall 2023

the Father is Marcilio Ficino, his sons are Leonardo da Vinci and Pico della Mirandola. As for the object made “from the origin of all things,” there is no doubt that it is this viola, a magical object conceived according to the archetypal scheme that the Platonic academy has just discovered. This viol is the first viola, because it is built, as we have seen, from the unit of measurement that is the arm. Speaking of arms: Pico even transforms the title of the text (Bereshit) into another word: Brascht. Accordingto the Kabbalistic technique of reversing the letters: Bratsch. The contraction of braccio, which, in German, will give Bratche: the viola!

And I forgot to tell you ... Bereshit, the first word of the Torah, is found in Genesis. It means: «In the beginning.»

In the beginning was the viola.

THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY: A HISTORY AND REFERENCE SECOND EDITION

By Dwight R. Pounds

$24 Spiral Bound $28 Hard Cover (recommended for library use)

Dwight R. Pounds 651 Covington Grove Blvd. Bowling Green, KY 42104-6601 dwight.pounds@insightbb.com

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 2, Fall 2023

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