JAVS Fall 2005

Viola Alta and Felix Draeselu's Sonatas, Franco Scia.nnamco wrote: Ritter was also interested in rescu ing the 11iola f rom the hands of those "foreigners" who continued to play smaLL violas out of their physi cal ineptitude or laziness.. .. The "infirm, decrepit" musician, moon Lighting on the t;iola so much depre cated by Wagner; did represent for Ritter the un-Germanic, unwho!Ly [sic), "foreign" type ofviolist he and Wagner wished to dispense with. fn sum, the 11iola alta had become for Hermann Ritter the "Teutonic" viola, an instrument ofWagnerian magnitude in every respect. ' 6 Nevertheless, the viola alta's size posed many practical probl ems; for exampie, sinee it was propor tioned exactly like rhe violin, the upper bouts of the instrument had been enlarged to the point where it was difficult to reach around them ro play notes in higher positions. Ritter conceded rhis fact, and in 1898 he added a fifth string to the viola alta that sounded rhe same pitch as the violin E string. O ther problems

Musicians, Bal ling compared Ritter's struggle for acceptance of rhe viola alta ro Theobald Boehm's efforts in the realm of the flute, testifying, "The viola players of rhe old type were great ly alarmed and hated the viola alta and irs player. They ridi culed both, bur with lirrle effect... .Ir was roo large and too l o ud."'~ Thus criticisms fell into one of two catego ries : those of the viola alta's size and those of irs sound . Whi le these concepts relate to each other in char the instru ment's large size contributes to its different tone, the former criti cism addresses a mechanical prob lem while the latter indicates an aestheti c preference . The viola alta's large size became to Ritter a matter of pride, bur concerns that the viola alta was too big were entirely justifiable. Most of the violists of Ritter's rime were accustomed to play ing instruments much smaller than today's, some no more rhan vio lins strung with viola strings. To Ritter, such instruments were indicative of their players' weak constitution. In his article The

related to rhe viola alta's size cou ld not be so easily remedied; many violists simply had neither rhe reach to navigate fl rsr posit ion on irs lengthened fingerboard nor the strength to draw the des ired sound from its srri ngs. Not only does a larger viola impede agili ty whi le playing, it may contribute to playing-relared inj uries. Physica l a il ments associ ated with larger violas include soreness of the chin and neck, tendonitis, bursitis, and fib rosis of rhe arms and shoulders. 17 Such afflictions can prematurely end careers, as was the case for famed violist Li onel Terris, who champi oned large violas in the ea rly twentieth century but was forced into ea rly retirement because of fibrosis of the arms developed by playing a 17 118-inch viola. 1M T he violists of Ritter's time who were accustomed to playing small vio las undoubtedly experienced pain after playing the viola alta for even a short period of rime, hence the overall disdain for the insrrument. In his defense of rhe viola alta, Balling claimed that pain could be prevented with proper technique, asserting, "One who wishes to master the viola al ra musc srudy i r in the same way as the violin- that is to say, from the beginning. And the beginn ing is to learn how ro hold rhe insrrument. " 1 ' 1 Too few people found the viola alta's advantages over the standard viola signifi cant enough to mas ter a new tech nique, so the instrument's popu larity wa ned by the beginning of the twenti eth century.

THE WALTER W. NAUMBURG FOUNDATION Announ ces VIOLA COMPETITION In honor of EUGENE LE/JNER OCTOBER 12-18,2006 This vinlu r·om1w titio n is opr n to a ll vio lists, ugr·s l R-32 , who t'l'sidr ot· study in Nurth Amt•r·in r Ftw uppl it-utions send u slumJwd st· lf-uddn·ssf'd t•u v t•lo]H' tn : Tlw \Valtm· W. Nunrn hut·~,; Found ution (i(l l.in•·oln Ct• rll er· l'lu1.11 • Nr·1v Yor·k, N.Y. I 002:1- li~Hil 2 12.674. 1150

JO URNAL OF THE AME R1 ~AN VTO LA SOClET~Y _______ 24