JAVS Fall 1997

81

After his retiremenr from the Philharmonic in 1972, Lincer devoted his efforts to teach ing-a "second career" that he had actually begun in 1927. By 1929 he was supervising five schools in Long Island. Bur probably his greatest teaching legacy will remain in the quarter century that he spenr on the faculty of the Juilliard School. His students hold important positions in many of the world's greatest orchestras, chamber ensembles, and universities; and through them the musical ideals of this great man, who was mentor to so many, lives on. -Vincent Lionti, violist, M~tropolitan Opera Orch~stra

in the then-compulsory retirement age of sixty-five, allowing him to stay an additional five years. Even then, his "retirement" lasted only a few months. Music dilector Riccardo Muti valued his expertise, took him on tours, and saw to it that he returned as a substitute playing season after season. Mogilllast played with the Orchestra in 1992. Born in Philadelphia, Magill graduated from the Philadelphia Musical Academy and Curris Institute of Music. At twelve, he played the violin on a weekly radio show. He changed to viola when he entered Curtis, and he was seventeen when his teacher recom mended him for the new Robin Hood Dell Orchestra. Five years later, Leopold Stokowski engaged Magill for Philadelphia, where he was for many years associate principal; for rwenry years was principal violist at the Robin Hood Dell. Magill taught at Temple University and continued to teach privately until his death. When the Orchestra toured China in 1973, Magill took copies of his published teaching materials and developed a connection that brought several Chinese students here. When Magill retired, the Chinese governmenr sent him a pi'pa, an ornate lute. He continued to publish studies for vio lists and was working on others when he died.

-Dani~l Websur Philadelphia

SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO LEoNARD McGILL

I began studying the viola with Mr. Mogill in 1971. I remember going to my first viola les son on a cold January day and arriving ten minutes late after getting lost. Mr. Magill was not angry with me, but was glad that I arrived in one piece. I always looked forward to my lessons, which involved playing quite a varied repertoire of pieces. One of Mr. Magill's greatest gifts was his receptiveness to new ideas and methods in string pedagogy. He was never in the grip of "one theory," as so many teachers are. He treated each pupil as a special individual and prescribed fingerings and bowings to suit the individual needs of each pupil-but always with aesthetic goals.

JL.eonarb jillogill, eighty-six, a vio list who played more than sixty years in the Philadelphia Orchestra, died 28 October 1997 after suffering an apparent heart arrack at his home in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. When Magill retired from the Orchestra in 1981, he had the distinction of having played all fifty-two summer seasons the Orchestra had played, beginning at Robin Hood Dell in 1930. Although Magill was expected to retire in 1976, his fellow players negotiated a change