JAVS Spring 2019

Special Feature

Pursuing a Commission David Dalton

A year or so before the Congress, which would take place the following July, I was given a tip that a good starting place in identifying potential composers was the American Music Center in New York City, and specifically one, Margaret Jory. “Peggy,” as she was known, was not only knowledgeable, but helpful, even encouraging. I felt I had struck a vein of gold. Money being the bottom line, it became the top priority of discussion. “What would a commission cost for a full-length sonata or concerto?” Her immediate answer was $5,000 for a sonata and $7,000 for a concerto. ($5,000 would be equivalent to about $17,000 in 2019 dollars). This did not strike me as an insurmountable sum, but it bode of hours of hard work with prospective donors. Who would these be?

Joseph de Pasquale (center) shaking the hand of William Primrose (right) following the premiere of Rochberg’s Viola Sonata on July 14, 1979 at the International Viola Congress in Provo, Utah, with pianist Vladimir Sokoloff (left). Photo by Dwight Pounds.

I soon learned it was too late on national, and sometimes state,

calendars for arts funding, so I had to turn elsewhere. Would BYU contribute even more than it was already doing in behalf of the Congress? And what about the American Viola Society, with only modest recourses? The larger and amorphous circle of viola devotees? Would there be one individual in “Friends of Primrose,” who would gladly step forward and honor his friend and his art by guaranteeing the commission? I recited to Ms. Jory my short list of composers from whom I would personally like to imagine a new viola work. “My first choice would be Samuel Barber,” I said. I knew his violin concerto and cello sonata, and I thought his lyricism would fit the viola superbly. She answered

As organizer and host of the 1979 International Viola Congress at Brigham Young University, I was hopeful to commission a major work for viola to be premiered at the Congress in commemoration of William Primrose’s approaching birthday. Perhaps I was overly ambitious, which is possibly one of my foibles in wanting a sonata or concerto by a well-known, even major American composer. Several problems immediately loomed. What would it cost? Which composer? How to make contact? When I started on this quest, I had no money to pay a composer and only a vague idea of possible funding sources. These circumstances convinced me that mine was a brazen idea. But I decided to plunge ahead as far as I could go.

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 35, No. 1, Spring 2019