JAVS Summer 1989

TRIBUTE TO PAUL DOKTOR Delivered to the XVII International Viola Congress by Alan de Veritch Last night at our opening ceremonies, President David announced to thi~ congress the death yesterday morrnng of one of my dearest friends, mentors and colleagues. The reactive gasp from everyone in the room said more than I could ever begin to say. However, the executive officers of the American Viola Society, when making the decision to dedicate this congress to the memory of Paul Doktor, asked that I spend a few minutes tonight reviewing the impact this musical giant has had on us as individuals and violists. Anyone who was fortunate enough to have known Paul knew him as a true showman with a strong sense of humor. He would have considered a serious heavy eulogy a tragic bore. For that' reason I will try to present my comments in a way that I hope would please him. Tomorrow during my lecture, I will spend a little time emphasizing the business side of playing the viola. Tonight I have no choice but to stress the artistic side, for that was Paul and what music and the viola meant to him. What a wonderful love triangle: Paul, music and the viola. And it was a love affair that, thank God, he insisted on sharing! Even though my actual studies with Paul consisted of one summer during my early teenage years, for me the experience was impressive and eye opening, and effected my life thereafter so very positively. His sense of style, energy, wit, enthusiasm, vivid imagination and love of life was always reflected in his playing and teaching. He taught, recorded, and performed just about everywhere in the world. Paul Doktor actively participated in the development of the AVS serving as a

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sessions during the week. (Please refer to the Minutes following.) A number of persons were recognized with an appropriate citation for the distinguished service they have rendered to our Society or to their profession through teaching, performing, or other extraordinary service. They are Charles Avsharian, Eric Chapman, Harold Klatz, Louis Kievman, Donald McInnes, Robert L. Oppelt, Joseph de Pasquale, Leila Riley, Thomas Tatton, Walter Trampler, and Emanuel Vardi. If there was one shadow cast on the emotional and natural sunniness of the event, it was the announcement relayed to us on the opening day of the death of one of our AVS board members and eminent colleagues, Paul Doktor. Many of t~ose. in attendance had been directly and indirectly touched by his life and now by his passing. It was only natural that we as a presidency elected to dedicate the 1989 Congress to Paul Doktor's memory. A tribute was given by a long-time friend and associate Alan de Veritch, who was elected t~ assume Paul's position on the AVS Executive Board. Alan became as a youth in Los Angeles a student of William Primrose and continued with him at Indiana University. He was taken into the Los Angeles Philharmonic by Zubin Mehta at age twenty-one and served as principal violist. After leaving the orchestra, de Veritch turned to real estate and land development and is now head of his own firm and also in charge of the education division of the California Realtors Association, the largest of its kind in America. A man of diverse talents, Alan continues to teach as a member of the staff at the University of Southern California, and is on the faculty this summer at the Congress of Strings. I welcome Alan and his considerable abilities to the AVS Executive Board.

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David Dalton, AVS President