JAVS Spring 2023

Recordings and later worked in the sound booth helping the conductors trouble shoot mistakes on the early disc recordings. 6 Kerr also studied privately with Prokofiev and possibly Stravinsky. 7 Louise Kerr and her husband moved from New York to Phoenix, Arizona in 1936 for the health of one of their eight children. There she helped to found the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, the Phoenix Chamber Music Society, the Bach Madrigal Society, the Arizona Composers forum, and the Arizona Cello Society. 8 Many of Kerr’s works were premiered by the Arizona State University Orchestra and the Phoenix Symphony. She was a friend of violin solo artist Isaac Stern who came frequently to perform at her studio in Scottsdale, Arizona.

the state capitol. Her manuscripts are at Arizona State University’s Haydn Library in their archives in the Kerr Collection MS 90 waiting for an army of enthusiastic graduate students and editors to bring them to the public, like so many historic women composers whose music is still waiting in the ivory towers and libraries to be edited and enjoyed.

Figure 2: ASU Concert 1952 Program, Featuring Louise Kerr. 10

In addition, living women composers are creating new works for the viola on an ongoing basis. In developing this list of women viola composers, I discovered many pieces that I had not known of before. I am indebted to Dr. David Sills for his repertory list of works that he has performed by women composers as the inspiration for this list. Additionally, ARS Femina out of Kentucky introduced me to the orchestral works of several women composers through their research and publications. They published several works in a “Treasury of Music by Women Before 1800” edited by William Bauer. This list is not designed as the last word, but rather as an introduction to the subject. A complete annotated bibliography of women viola composers has, to my knowledge, never been written. Some transcriptions have been included in my list; however, the vast majority are original works for the viola. It is important to keep in mind that most of these pieces will be difficult to find or order music. Many were published at an earlier time but may be out of print, especially if they are from the 18th or 19th century. Music publishing operates on a “supply and demand” basis; therefore, it is important to keep asking publishers

Figure 1: ASU Concert 1952 Program, Featuring Louise Kerr. 9

Many of Kerr’s pieces combine melodies of the Hopi Indians and Spanish folk songs with classical genres. Kerr and other members of the Phoenix Composers Society composed in the Southwest Impressionist genre of music. She was also fond of jazz rhythms, especially in her string literature. Much of her music was written in the 1940’s to the late 1970’s after her children were grown. Kerr was given an honorary Doctorate from ASU and is now a member of the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame near

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2023