JAVS Fall 1997

MOES & MOES VIOLIN MAKERS

New Instruments made by Peter & Wendela Moes

Donna Lively Clark Professor ofViola

Sound Adjustments (by appointment)

- fl~T{T~lsiTY J urdan College of Fine Arts Indianapolis, Indiana For more information, call 800 I 368-6852, ext. 9637

New Address: 134 Brooksdale Road Stamford, CT 06903 Phone (203) 461-9560 FAJ{(203)461-9562 Be sure to check out our web site!

e-mail: moes@connix.com www.chamfer.com/moes

serious enough and the university seemed "like playboy school. The teachers at Miami were generally from northern universities, sick, and came down so they could live in a nice climate. We came to the conclusion that we were not improving our viola capabilities." On returning to New York in 1941 Fisch took up private viola study with Emanuel Vardi. A position in the Minneapolis Sym phony Orchestra soon followed but was un fortunately interrupted after only a year and a half when Fisch was abruptly drafted into the armed forces in November 1942. After two and a half years in the United States serving as a medic and bandsman playing tuba in the military band, he was transferred to Germany, just one month before the war ended. He recalls that the United States forces and the Allies at this time were surrounding Berlin. At the end of the war he was stationed in Leipzig as part of the military police. His musical outlet through this period was as a pianist, trumpeter, and conductor in dance bands, as there was little demand for a violist! On his release in March 1946, Fisch re joined his wife in New York, having married

his involvement with Serly's reconstruction. I am grateful to Fisch, whose name is generally unknown among contemporary violists, for his willingness to be interviewed in late June 1997 and for his recollections of the events of 1948 and of his career in general. A native of New York, Fisch began violin lessons with Constance Seeger (Pete Seeger's mother). He recalls: "When I was about six years old, my mother was walking down the street and saw a shingle that somebody had hung out-a violin teacher-and she thought it would be nice to get me lessons." At age eleven he won a scholarship to the Juilliard School where he continued studies with Conrad Held. His studies at Juilliard continued for nine years, initially only part time due to his still being at regular school. After graduating as a violinist in 1940, Fisch took up viola. "I got a scholarship to the University of Miami with a friend of mine who was also a violist, and we both went down to school." But the two new students were dissatisfied with the instruction they received there and quit after less than a year. To Fisch, the learning environment was not