JAVS Spring 2019

Figure 1. Letter from Samuel Barber to David Dalton. Graciously provided by David Day, curator of the Primrose International Viola Archive.

that I was free to approach him, and furnished his contact information. But she was not optimistic because he had been ill and already had several commissions awaiting his attention. Nevertheless, I did write Barber and he graciously declined in writing my offer of a commission (fig. 1). Similarly, I contacted Aaron Copland, though Peggy advised he was no longer composing. She seemed to have current and encyclopedic knowledge of American

composers generally, and could guide me away from others I had suggested, i.e. George Crumb, Elliott Carter. I had even approached William Walton for another concerto. After all, it was said that Walton had indicated to Tertis he might want to write a second work for the violist. And Primrose had said he and Walton were “old friends.”

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

21