JAVS Spring 2007

Air Force Orchestra, a highly com peren t string orchestra from the American military. Maurice and his wife Leila came to New York City where I mer them in a modest motel in the 1imes Square area. We mulled over the details ofa congress at his universi ty for a few hours and came up with a pretty impressive roster of people for recitals, master classes, panels, and lectures, many of them from the Michigan area. And so for three days in June, 1975, violistS, srudenrs, reachers, viola soloists and others descended on Ypsilanti ro rake in an extraordinary array of viola happenings, unique in many ways. Zeyringer flew in from Styria and two other officers of the VFG came from Germany. They were amazed ar the turnout and the vari ety and quality of eventS. The offi cial total number ofattendees was 423. They were from Australia- l , Austria, 1, Canada, 26, Germany, 2, England, 3, Italy, 2, Ukraine, 1, USA, 387. Many notable viola soloistS came to this congress, but without question the most electrifying and important person robe there was William Primrose. I had ro negotiate some special arrangements for Primrose ro be able ro come and so travel expenses from Keiraville, Australia and comfortable accommodations for him at the congress had to be made. The Rileys were purring a whole bunch of us up from the VFG and VRS at their home {Wolfgang Sawodny, Dietrich Bauer, and myself), as well as his children who were in the US Air Force Orchestra, and their chil

William Primrose acknowledging the applause ofthe Congress audience after receiving an honorary doctorate bestowed by Eastern Michigan University. dren. Primrose was also invited to for placing the viola on an equal have some space there bur he plane with the more established declined, writing that he was the stringed instruments. "world's worst house guest."

J1Jur presence at the jim International Viola. Congress in America makes this a very special occasion in the his tory ofmusic. It is a great honorfor us to present this citation to you in appreciation ofyour unique contri butions to the viola and to music. This citation now is on prominent display with other Primrose mem orabilia at the Primrose Archives at Brigham Young University. Space does nor permit a detailed critique of the congress bur here are the major highlighrs: Violists who performed in various capacities were Ralph Aldrich, Henry Barrett, Lyman Bodman, Francis Bundra, Harold Coletta, Robert Courte, Burton Fine, Nathan Gordon, Nannie Jamieson, Louis Kievman, Uri Mayer, Patricia McCarty, Donald Mcinnes, Salvatore Nania, Robert Slaughter, Ernst Wallfisch, and

During the congress, Primrose was given an honorary doctorate, pre sented with a scroll by this writer to honor his outstanding achieve mentS, moderated a panel discus sion -"The Future ofViolisrs Professionally," and responded to an informal session - "Questions and Answers Concerning the Viola" (1 still have all those scrap paper questions, bur, alas, his answers are lost in time). My pres entation of the Viola Research Society scroll to Primrose was pref aced with: I think I speak for all ofus here (()day - thefanner students who were fortunate enough to have been touched by you, and the manyyoung peoplefor whom your superb artistry has been an unending source of inspiration. As aperfonner, a teacher. and editor ofmany editions ofviola. music, you, more than any living violist, have been responsible

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