JAVS Fall 1999

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series of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesell schaft. Some of them were granted the "Grand prix du disque." With these recordings, the music for viola d' amore became accessible to a larger public for the first time. In addition, Seiler produced 11 records with viola music for the Elektrola label; he also produced three records with Collosseum in which he played the original historical instruments of the Ger manisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. Even before the war Seiler could be heard on a recording of Harold in Italy by Hector Berlioz. Some of Emil Seiler's numerous students be came interested in playing the viola d' amore. In addition to his intensive teaching activities, Seiler played in the Berlin String Quartet for many years. With his colleagues Rudolf Schulz (first violin), Willi Kirch (second violin), and Lutz Walther (cello), he went on numerous concert tours abroad. The list of works dedicated to Seiler which he wrote down himself includes 13 composi tions for viola. Works for viola d' amore are not listed, not even the above-mentioned composi tions by David. It is possible that another list of viola d' amore pieces dedicated to Seiler might exist. The viola list reads as follows: • David, solo sonata • Frank Mich. Beyer, Sonata for viola and organ • Genzmer, Sonata for viola and piano • Tiessen, Amselrufe (viola and piano) • Hannenheim (student of Schoenberg), Suite for viola and piano • Theodor Wagner, Lamentatio (viola and piano) • Wilh. Keller, Psalmenweisen (viola and piano) • Konr. Roetscher, Triptychon (viola and piano) • Gottfried Muller, Canzone (viola and piano) • Tiessen, Ophelia (viola and piano) • Ahrens, Sonata for Viola and Organ • Bertram Sonata for Viola and Organ • Richter Gotthold Ludwig, 3 pieces for viola and organ "Es ist genug." In 1974, Emil Seiler retired and did not play in public anymore. He moved back to Freiburg and founded the music kindergarten

in 1946, he played the Schwanendreher Con certo from Hindemith's handwritten parts be cause no printed material was available in Austria. A few weeks later he continued on this course with the Viola Concerto by William Walton. At Christmas 1946, all native Germans were expelled from Austria, and Seiler came to Freiburg via Munich and Nuremberg. In Freiburg he started teaching at the Musik hochschule before he became professor for viola, viola d'amore, and chamber music in 1947. Joining the chamber music group formed around flutist Gustav Scheck, the direc tor of the Hochschule, Seiler committed him self again to contemporary and early music. (Concert tours featured the Debussy Trio and solo sonatas by Reger and Hindemith.) In February 1955, Emil Seiler moved to Berlin, where he had been offered the vacant professorship of his former teacher Pro£ Hans Mahlke. In Berlin he tried to revive the spirit of his own studies with Hindemith and Sachs. In the collection of musical instruments, he found a duplicate of Hindemith's viola d'amore that was built by Sprenger and Frank furt. Seiler notes, "Hindemith liked to play the Sprenger viola d' amore very much because it stayed in tune so well." In the archives of the Hochschule he found Hindemith's manu scripts, which included many copies of works for viola d' amore and other historical instru ments. Seiler's list from memory reflects the repertoire of those pioneers in the field of viola d' amore and early music in Berlin: • Petzold, Suite for viola [d'amore] alone • Ariosti, at least 3 sonatas for viola d' amore and continuo • Biber, 1. Partita for 2 violen d'amore and continuo 2. Partita for 2 violins and continuo • Rust, 2 sonatas for viola d' amore and ptano • At least 6 sonatas for violin and continuo by Biber (which Hindemith repeatedly played in concerts) • Stamitz, Duo Sonata for viola d' amore and violin Since the 1950s, more than 16 recordings with early music were produced in the Archiv