JAVS Summer 1997

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received honors. At great personal effort he attended AVS Board meetings as an interested observer, advisor, and mentor. While plan ning the latest congress, Roger Myers, host of Congress XXV at the University of Texas, sought Dr. Riley's advice only weeks before his passing. Just as we pay him homage today, he did the same to those who had labored in behalf of the viola before him. Concluding his chap ter on "The Future of the Viola" in History of the Viola, Volume 1, Maurice Riley wrote: Tertis and Primrose succeeded as concert artists because of their dedication to the instrument, their love of it, their ability to convince others of the viola's potential, and above all, their great artistry. Others, lacking T hroughout my life I always felt very for tunate because I had a man I could look up to. He was my father. I knew what good ness was all about. I knew this because I wit nessed it in the nicest, gentlest, strongest man I've ever met, my dad. He taught me and showed me so much. But Dad, it was you what you were as our father, and how you lived your life-that always meant so much to me, my brothers, and our whole family. You were our leader and our role model. You always showed us how much unending love you had for us. That love was there all the time. And we always felt it. And love radiates equally from our dear mother, Leila, because you and she were always one and inseparable. The two of you had the greatest bond and union two people could possibly have. Your love for one an other was awesome to behold and no pair could have been closer than you two. All of the Viola congresses and viola books that my dad wrote were the product of the two of them working together. Everything they did, they did as a team. I'm not alone in the way I look up to my dad because people allover the world look up to him. There are students of all types in structed throughout his teaching career. They

their artistry and charisma, can do, and are doing, much for the instrument and for themselves by developing and spreading a faith in its unique qualities, and by con stantly promoting, publicizing, and propa gandizing the salient virtues of this magnifi cent voice. At no point would it have occurred to this tireless scholar that, more than any other person, he was describing himself. There is a folder upstairs in my filing cabinet which I highly treasure. It is labeled "Correspondence with Maurice Riley" and is about three-quarters of an inch thick. It is quite small compared to what is stored in the hearts and minds of violists and scholars who ever knew Maurice Winton Riley. would not be enjoying the fruits of their labors as much if it were not for him. And their whole lives would not be quite as great if it was not for what he did for these people. And they know it because they have honored him on many occasions. When he retired from Eastern Michigan, he did not retire at all because he single handedly created a new world that no one had discovered and he promoted the viola world by organizing the first International Viola Congress in this country. It was an instant success. His books on the history of the viola are not only popular, they have broken sales records for books of this type. But more than that, they have actually brought a message of peace to this world. Think about it. People have been getting together and making music at these Viola congresses where they would not be doing this if it were not for Maurice Riley-work ing together in peace and brotherhood through music-making. What more wonder fullegacy could anyone leave than that?

Volute

fond

Chevalet---------- Arne

Ben Riley, son Member of the cello section US Air Force Orchestra